Bruce Banner

Backstory

(taken from: http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Bruce_Banner_(Earth-616) )

Robert Bruce Banner is the son of Dr. Brian Banner, an atomic physicist, and his wife Rebecca. Although Rebecca deeply loved Bruce, who returned her affection, Brian hated their child. Brian never wanted children because of what happened to him and his sisters Susan and Elaine Banner. An alcoholic, and a very, very angry man, Brian was driven by an insane jealousy of Bruce for being an object of Rebecca's love. Further, Brian believed that his radiation work had altered his DNA and given him a mutant son.[3] These factors led to Brian abusing Bruce physically. One of the people who helped Bruce cope with Brian's tantrums was his maternal cousin Jennifer Walters, with whom Bruce used to spend summers in the public library reading for hours, losing themselves to books.[21]
Bruce's life reached a turning point when Brian murdered Rebecca, and was placed in a mental hospital afterwards. After that, Bruce was raised by his aunt and father's sister, Susan Banner, who understood his great pain and rage over his childhood sufferings. Susan raised Bruce with love and care, as if he were her own child. Susan never wanted to deal with her brother after what he had done to Bruce and Rebecca. Bruce, grew up as a highly withdrawn, intellectually gifted youth, in fact, a child prodigy.[22]

Education
Bruce Banner (Earth-616) from Indestructible Hulk Annual Vol 1 1
Tony and Bruce at Oxford University
After graduating from Science High School, Bruce studied nuclear physics in Navapo, New Mexico, at Desert State University as the star student of Professor Herbert Josiah Weller.[23] He also studied for a time at Harvard University.[citation needed] He later transferred to Pennsylvania State University where he briefly worked with Canadian student Walter Langkowski finding a similar interest in gamma radiation.[24][25] He also worked with Peter Corbeau, and Raoul Stoddard. It was during his time at Penn State that Banner found inspiration from noted scientist Albert Einstein and like the famous scientist, bought a wardrobe consisting entirely of purple suits.[26]
As a young student Bruce first met another student with a brilliant mind; Tony Stark. They both attended Dr. Derenik Zadian's "Forward Thought Conference" at Oxford University. This would lead to a life-long scientific rivalry between the two. They also became best friends. They eventually teamed up and joined the Avengers.[27]

Bruce obtained his doctorate in nuclear physics at the Caltech, alongside Philip Sterns, who later became Madman.[26]

Physicist
Eventually, as an adult and a genius in nuclear physics, Banner wished to pursue philanthropic brands of science, but couldn't receive any financial funding for his projects,[27] and thus in lack of other options, went to work at a United States Defense Department nuclear research facility at Desert Base, New Mexico. There Banner met General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross, the Air Force officer in command of the base, and his daughter Betty Ross. Banner and Betty eventually fell in love with each other. Banner designed and oversaw construction of the "Gamma Bomb" or "G-bomb," a nuclear weapon possessing a high gamma radiation output.[28]

The Hulk
Bruce Banner (Earth-616) from Incredible Hulk Vol 1 1 0005
Banner was present in the instrumentation bunker at the test site for the first underground test detonation of the Gamma Bomb. Observing that a civilian had breached security and entered the restricted test area, Banner told his colleague Igor Starsky to delay the countdown while he tried to escort the civilian to safety. Starsky, secretly a Soviet agent, did nothing, confident that Banner would die in the explosion, bringing the project to a halt. Reaching the civilian, a teenager named Rick Jones, Banner threw him into a protective trench.[28]
Before Banner could get himself to safety, the Gamma Bomb detonated, and intense waves of radiation reached the surface. Banner was irradiated with highly charged radioactive particles. Due to an unknown genetic factor in his body, Banner was not killed by the radiation, which instead caused him to frequently transform into the vastly powerful, green-skinned, humanoid monster named "the Hulk".[28]

At first Banner changed into the Hulk at sunset and reverted to human form at dawn. However, Banner's body eventually changed so that his transformations into the Hulk were triggered by the release of adrenalin when he became intensely excited or angry, no matter what time of day or night it was.

Usually the Hulk possessed little of Banner's memory and intelligence and was easily enraged. While the military attempted to contain Hulk, he thwarted their every attempt, with Rick Jones, feeling responsible for Banner becoming the Hulk, trying to help keep him away from the military. Hulk ultimately thwarted an attempt to destroy America by the Gargoyle, another being mutated by gamma radiation. Hulk changed back into Banner and help cure the Gargoyle, who helped Banner escape back to the U.S., where, with the help of Rick Jones, he maintained his identity as the Hulk a secret and attempted to keep the Hulk contained at night.[28]