David Banner was a physician/scientist who was traumatized by the car accident that killed his wife Laura. He studied incidents of people who, while in danger, summon superhuman strength in order to save their threatened loved ones. He concluded that high levels of gamma radiation from sunspots were the cause and bombarded his own body with gamma radiation to test his theory.

Unknown to Banner, his equipment had been upgraded, causing him to administer a far higher dose than he intended. Soon after whenever he got angry, Banner would transform into the Hulk. An explosion at his lab made a reporter named Jack McGee believe that the Hulk had killed Banner. Banner, was forced to go into hiding while trying to find a cure for his condition.

He remained on the run for thirteen years until Hulk took a fall from an exploding plane, slowly morphed back into Banner, and died.