MTV Is Dead: The Hulk's 4 Best Movie Appearances

Like most of the Avengers, Dr. Bruce Banner's journey as an onscreen hero has sadly come to an end. But most of his -- and his alter-ego's '-- live-action movie appearances are infinitely rewatchable. With the possible exception of The Dark Knight's Harvey Dent, never has a dissociative disorder been so captivating. Not even Tyler Durden is crazy enough to join a fight club that includes the Hulk. Legendary comic book writer Stan Lee dreamed the Hulk up in 1962 and actors Eric Bana and Mark Ruffalo brought him to life in spectacular fashion years later (so did Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno but we're sticking with movies on this one).

4. Hulk

Hulk is the only movie to provide an in-depth origin story -- a logical and compelling one, at that -- for the big, green monster. It's also a far superior film to the one named for the character that is an official installment of the MCU. That movie, 2008's The Incredible Hulk, is so disappointing that Marvel has downplayed its existence almost since the moment that it was released.

Hulk explains how maverick scientist David Banner conducted experiments on himself which resulted in an alteration to his DNA, which was passed on to his son Bruce. Years later, this genetic abnormality allows an adult Bruce to survive a lab accident in which he's bombarded with radiation. However, this same accident combined with his unique genetic make-up transform him into a gigantic and invincible monster during times of stress.

The most underrated Hulk movie, this origin story is the only one to possess the tragic weight and gravitas of the 1970s television series, which itself was a departure from other small screen superhero fare like the ultra-campy Batman and Wonder Woman series. Hulk also goes a long way toward explaining how and why the man became a (part-time) monster.

Geneticist David Banner's work centers on attempting to replicate the process by which soldier Steve Rogers was enhanced to the peak of human physical capability during WWII. Because the formula was lost with Rogers' apparent death (though Rogers isn't mentioned in the movie), Banner has to start from scratch. His theories involve combining human DNA with that of animals. But after being prohibited from moving forward with human trials, he uses himself as a test subject. Following the birth of his son, Bruce, Dr. Banner detects abnormalities in the infant that resulted from the experiments. And when the military learns what he's done, he's removed from the project altogether. After Banner accidentally kills his wife, he's sentenced to a long prison stint and Bruce is adopted by another couple, the Krenzlers.

Unaware of the familial connection, Bruce grows up to become a leading geneticist like his biological father. Ironically, his work with nanomeds, intended to repair damaged human cells instantaneously following exposure to low levels of gamma radiation, is also being eyed for military applications. After the machine used for emitting the radiation short-circuits during routine maintenance, Bruce is subjected to a lethally high dose when he selflessly shields one of his colleagues from the radiation.

While he's hospitalized and miraculously survives, Bruce's colleagues, including Elizabeth Ross, the daughter of the man who oversaw his father's work, are mystified as to why his exposure wasn't fatal. Meanwhile, his father, David, has taken a job as a custodian at the Berkeley Biotechnology Institute, where they work. When he reveals his true identity to his son, Bruce is initially skeptical. But he subsequently runs a DNA test which confirms the mysterious janitor's story.

After succumbing to stress, Bruce experiences a significant increase in size and strength and his skin and hair take on a green hue. Consumed by rage, he demolishes the lab. Betty's father, General Thaddeus Ross, questions Bruce about any possible collusion with his father and has him placed under house arrest.

While under home confinement, Bruce is contacted by David, who explains that his earlier transformation was the end result of his mutated DNA being exposed to the radiation. He also informs him that he's abducted Betty and plans to kill her in the hopes that Bruce will transform again. Meanwhile, soldier-turned-entrepreneur Major Glenn Talbot, Bruce's romantic rival for Betty's affections, who'd hoped to profit from their work, arrives at Bruce's home and threatens him. This angers the usually mild-mannered scientist, triggering another transformation and resulting in Talbot barely escaping with his life. After arriving at the location where Betty's being held, the monster kills the dogs that his father mutated into gigantic, exceptionally powerful beasts when they threaten Betty. Hours later, Bruce is arrested by Ross' men after reverting back to his human state.

After being transported to an isolated facility in the desert, Bruce is placed in sensory deprivation tank so that he -- and the monster -- can be studied. Meanwhile, David recreates the conditions that led to Bruce's hospitalization but when he exposes himself to gamma radiation, he discovers that instead of metamorphosing into a colossus, he attains the ability to absorb the properties of anything with which he comes into physical contact. He later surrenders to the military so that he'll be taken to the same location where Bruce is being held.

After a repressed memory of the incident in which his father killed his mother resurfaces during his sleep, Bruce awakens and transforms, breaking out of the tank. When Talbot fires an RPG at the Hulk in an attempt to obtain a tissue sample, the grenade ricochets and kills him. The monster then escapes from the site and proceeds to evade the troops equipped with attack choppers, tanks and fighter jets in pursuit. It isn't until he makes his way to San Francisco and encounters Betty that he regains his humanity.

After he's incarcerated and sedated in another facility, Bruce's father pays him a visit and attempts to provoke another conversion. After failing to enrage his son, David bites an electric cable and begins to absorb the city's electric power.
When some of the electricity makes contact with Bruce, the shock and pain is enough to unleash his inner beast, which immediately attacks David. The two fight their way to a lake, where the elder Banner absorbs much of the water, taking the form of an enormous liquid bubble. When he begins to draw the monster's raw power in as well, he discovers -- too late -- that its more than he's prepared to handle. While he's compromised, a missile fired at the two impacts, seemingly killing them both.

However, the military receives reports of unconfirmed sightings of the monster a year later.

3. The Age of Ultron

After joining the ranks of the Avengers, the team's first sequel features the big green monster pitching in to help save the world. And Dr. Banner finds love...temporarily.

After joining the Avengers Initiative in The Avengers, Bruce has become an invaluable, albeit unstable, member of the team. Three years after the Battle of New York, we see him raiding the Sokovian compound of terrorist Wolfgang von Strucker with Steve Rogers, Tony "Iron Man" Stark, Thor Odinson, Clint "Hawkeye" Barton and Natasha "Black Widow" Romanoff. At the completion of the mission it's revealed that the latter (likely with Banner's help) has developed a method of calming the Hulk, which triggers a reversion back to his human state.

Later, at a party held at Stark Tower, Natasha makes advances toward Bruce and Rogers assures him that it's more than mere flirting. This new dynamic between the two is in direct contrast to their hostile introduction and subsequent interaction aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier three years earlier. Taking a break from the festivities, Banner and Stark experiment with Loki's scepter, recovered from von Strucker's facility, in a seemingly failed attempt to create an advanced artificial intelligence for use in a planetary defense system, called Ultron. However, after the two engineers accept defeat and return to the party, Ultron achieves sentience, overwhelms Stark's A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S. and notifies the Avengers of his intentions: to kill them before wiping out the rest of humanity, thereby protecting the Earth from its greatest threat. After using Stark's suits to attack them, Ultron is quickly defeated; but not before fleeing with the scepter. Possessing the ability to download himself in a variety of hardware, he constructs a new body and a drone army at von Strucker's compound.

After murdering von Strucker and recruiting Pietro and Wanda Maximoff -- a pair of Sokovian twins who developed enhanced abilities as a result of the former's experiments on them using the scepter -- Ultron heads to South Africa in order to procure vibranium (the substance used to make Rogers' shield) for use in the construction of a new, indestructible body for himself. When the Avengers track the trio to arms dealer Ulysses Klaue's Johannesburg headquarters, most of the heroes, including Banner, are targeted by Wanda, using her powers of mind-manipulation. While the others merely experience emotionally-compromising hallucinations, Banner is triggered into transforming into the Hulk and he proceeds to run amok through a heavily-populated area of the city. The monster is only subdued by Stark's assault on him donning his special Veronica armor, which he and Banner developed specifically to take on the latter's uncontrollable alter-ego. However, when footage of the rampage is circulated, the Avengers, and, especially, the Hulk, are branded fugitives; a warning from Maria Hill about the public outcry prompts the team to hide out at Barton's family farm. While the others regroup, Romanoff reveals her feelings to Banner but he rebuffs her, citing his inability to have a family. She, in turn, confesses that she was sterilized in her youth during her FSB training, and consequently, considers herself a monster as well.

After retrieving a new, experimental body, containing the scepter's gem (which Thor discovers is actually the Mind Stone), that Ultron intended to download his consciousness into, Banner and Stark upload J.A.R.V.I.S. into it instead. After Thor activates it with lightning, a new, synthetic lifeform, Ultron's ultimate Vision, is created. Banner subsequently sneaks into Ultron's drone factory to rescue Romanoff, who was captured during an earlier confrontation. After releasing her from her cell, Natasha pushes Bruce off a cliff in order to forcefully provoke his metamorphosis into the Hulk for the upcoming battle with Ultron and his drones.

Ultron's plan, which includes using a vibranium-based machine to raise Sokovia's capital city to a significant altitude so that it can then be dropped, resulting in planet-wide extinction. The Avengers, with the assistance of the Maximoff twins, who turned on Ultron after discovering his plan, manage to rescue most of the Sokovians and shatter the falling landmass. But Pietro is killed during the battle. During the aftermath, the Hulk flees the planet in a Quinjet, ignoring Natasha's pleas for him to return.

"The sun's gettin' real low."

2. Infinity War

The Hulk begins Infinity War on the Asgardian refugee ship that fled the destruction of their homeworld following the Ragnarok. Having been intercepted by galactic warlord Thanos' command vessel, half of the ship's passengers are being systematically murdered by his henchmen. Thanos' ultimate goal is to eliminate half of all life in the universe in order to prevent the overcrowding that led to the destruction of his homeworld, Titan. After having devoted many years of his life to this cause, he's realized that the task can be completed instantaneously with the help of the six Infinity Stones: unfathomably powerful gems that are as old as the universe. After a prompt from Loki, who's onboard as well, the Hulk attacks Thanos, only to be soundly beaten by the Titan. But before the latter can deliver a killing blow, Asgardian sentry Heimdall transports the jade giant to Dr. Stephen Strange's Sanctum Santorum in NYC via the Bifrost.

After awakening in his human state, Dr. Banner explains Thanos' intentions to Strange, Wong and the newly arrived Tony Stark. However, the exchange is interrupted by the nearby arrival of two of Thanos' lieutenants -- Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian -- who are in search of the Time Stone, which is housed inside Strange's amulet, the Eye of Agamotto. During the ensuing battle, Banner finds that he's unable to transform into the Hulk and has to be rescued at various points by the other three. Following Strange's abduction by Maw, who's pursued by Stark and Peter Parker, Banner uses Stark's phone to call Steve Rogers and alert him of the threat.

Later, Thanos lieutenants Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight ambush the Vision and Wanda Maximoff in Edinburgh, Scotland intent on retrieving the Time Stone from the android's forehead. After former Avengers Steve Rogers, Sam "Falcon" Wilson and Natasha Romanoff fight the two Black Order members off, the group joins James "War Machine" Rhodes and Banner at the Avengers training facility, providing the latter and Romanoff with an awkward and short-winded reunion.

In an effort to remove the Time Stone from his head without killing him, the Vision is taken to Wakanda, with the others in tow to offer protection from any further attacks by Thanos' operatives. As expected, the Mad Titan's forces, led by Glaive, Obsidian and Midnight, blitz the African nation's borders in an attempt to seize the one Infinity Stone that remains on Earth. And during the engagement, Banner, donning Stark's Veronica armor, joins the fight but is still unable to summon the monster. After a protracted struggle, he succeeds in using his wits to kill Obsidian. He subsequently joins in an attack on Thanos himself, who entered the field late. Though Banner survives, the skirmish ends with Thanos, having ripped the Mind Stone from the Vision's skull, triumphantly snapping his fingers and snuffing out half of all life in the universe.

"We have a hulk."

1. The Avengers

Following an origin story and a better-off-forgotten solo movie that even Marvel pretends doesn't exist, the MCU's sixth entry features the green goliath working within a team for the very first time.

After being deceived into joining what turns out to be a clandestine meeting in Kolkata, India, Dr. Bruce Banner is recruited to the Avengers Initiative by espionage operative Natasha Romanoff. He's told that her agency's only interest in him is his gamma radiation expertise and that his task will be to track the newly-stolen Tesseract using its gamma emissions. During the encounter, correctly surmises that her assertion that she'd come alone was a lie and intentionally rattles her by pretending to become enraged -- the precursor to his transformation into the Hulk. When she threatens him with a previously concealed handgun, he assures her that the weapon, in fact, poses no threat at all. Banner makes the startling admission that he'd attempted suicide by shooting himself in the mouth only to morph into the Hulk, who, unharmed, subsequently spit the bullet out.

Banner meets the legendary Steve "Captain America" Rogers, a WWII hero imbued with enhanced abilities via military experimentation, when the two are flown to an aircraft carrier to begin the mission. Having learned about his condition, Rogers wonders how Banner controls his temper, thereby preventing his primitive side from emerging. After discovering that the carrier is also an aircraft itself -- a helicarrier -- Banner is introduced to arms dealer-turned-vigilante Tony Stark and the two attempt to locate the Tesseract. The carrier is equipped with a cell designed to trap and, if necessary, drop his alter-ego to his death (they hope) from high altitude.

Following an argument amongst several of the gathered heroes, whose animosities are amplified by Loki's captured scepter, and an assault by the latter's operatives, Banner is provoked into unleashing the beast. Because she's trapped in a corridor with the monster during the metamorphosis, the Hulk chases Romanoff, who only barely escapes with her life when Asgardian deity Thor Odinson intervenes. Frozen with fear by the experience, Romanoff is only awakened from her paralysis by a report that her closest friend, fellow assassin Clint "Hawkeye" Barton, is part of the invading force. Thor and the Hulk engage in brutal combat on the carrier's hangar deck, destroying jetcraft in the process. However, the Hulk takes a blow from the Asgardian's enchanted hammer, Mjolnir, to the face without sustaining any injuries. But, being unworthy to wield it, the monster's incalculable strength fails to allow him to pick the weapon up after its dropped. When a fighter pilot opens fire on him, the Hulk leaps onto his craft and proceeds to rip off the canopy in an attempt to get to the aviator, who only escapes by ejecting from the cockpit. The monster consequently falls to the ground with the aircraft.

After regaining conscious in an empty barn as Banner, the scientist is informed by a security guard who witnessed his fall that he seemingly aimed for an unpopulated area. Banner later makes his way to Manhattan on a moped as Rogers, Thor, Barton and Romanoff fight a losing battle against an alien invasion led by Loki. When Stark leads a giant Chitauri creature towards the group, Banner confesses to Rogers that thw secret to containing his angry outbursts is that he's always angry and immediately Hulks out before demolishing the alien with one blow. Astonishingly obeying Rogers command, the monster proceeds to attack the aliens with abandon before eventually discovering Loki in the penthouse of Stark Tower and beating him savagely.

After a nuclear warhead is launched at the island (on orders from the World Council), Stark steers it into the wormhole from which the aliens emerged before Romanoff closes it, on Rogers' orders. Miraculously falling through the breach unconscious at the last second, Stark is caught by the Hulk, whi cushions gim with his own body, before he hits the ground. When he initially fails to regain consciousness, Stark is snapped awake by the monster's roar.