Betty Ross

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caption=
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Betty Ross Banner
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Incredible Hulk" #1
creators=Stan Lee
Jack Kirby
full_name=Elizabeth Ross Talbot Banner
aliases=Harpy
alliances=|

Betty Ross (later Betty Talbot and then Betty Banner) is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe, and love interest of Bruce Banner. In the 2003 film, "Hulk", she was played by Jennifer Connelly, and in the 2008 film, "The Incredible Hulk", Betty is portrayed by Liv Tyler.

Publication history

Betty Ross first appeared in "The Incredible Hulk" #1 (May 1962), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Betty Ross Banner received an entry in the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89" #1.

Fictional character biography

The only daughter of the renowned General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross, Betty spent her formative years firmly under her father's strict supervision. Thunderbolt Ross had wanted a son, and his disappointment at having a daughter was reflected in the way he raised her. After her mother died during Betty's teenage years, she was sent away to boarding school. After graduating, the introverted young woman returned to her father's side. Thunderbolt Ross was then in charge of a top-secret project to create a new type of weapon involving gamma radiation. The head scientist on the project was Bruce Banner, whom her father detested. An attraction between Betty and Bruce soon developed.

Their relationship was forever changed when, during the test of a gamma radiation bomb, Bruce was struck by the full force of the detonation and became the Hulk. Banner tried to keep his condition secret from Betty, which alienated them. Betty was then romantically pursued by Major Glenn Talbot, the new aide attached to her father's Hulkbuster task force. Eventually, the secret of Banner's dual identity became public knowledge, and his transformations and rampages created a rift between him and Betty. Betty married Major Talbot out of desperation. Their union soon ended in divorce, however, and Talbot died trying to destroy the Hulk.

Betty continued to find herself entangled in the lives of Bruce Banner and the Hulk. At one point she was transformed by the villainous MODOK into a gamma-empowered flying menace known as the Harpy. In this form, she was an insane green creature with a woman's head and arms, but the wings and body of a giant bird of prey. She could fly and fire energy blasts. ["Hulk" #167-168]

Despite these events, she eventually married Bruce Banner. The two spent years living together as fugitives until the Hulk's enemy Abomination used his own blood to poison Betty, which would appear to be the work of the Hulk himself. Betty was placed in cryogenic suspension by her father.

Betty was thereafter revived by the Leader; underwent surgery which considerably altered her appearance; was granted superhuman strength; and for a time aided her fugitive husband as his shadowy contact, Mr. Blue. The "Tempest Fugit" story arc later explained her resurrection as a hallucination created by Nightmare, ["The Incredible Hulk" vol.3, #81] and she was most recently later confirmed as deceased. ["World War Hulk" #3; "Incredible Hulk' vol.3, #110]

Other versions

Heroes Reborn

In the "Heroes Reborn" Universe created by Franklin Richards in the aftermath of the Onslaught crisis, Betty was known as Liz Ross, and served as the head of security for Stark International. As a result, she took Iron Man's apparent appointment as Tony Stark's personal bodyguard as a personal insult, and was also present when Bruce Banner was exposed to the gamma radiation that would turn him into the Hulk. Shortly before the heroes returned to their world, it was revealed that Liz was dying of cancer as a result of the gamma exposure.

Ultimate Betty Ross

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Betty is the daughter of General "Thunderbolt" Ross. She was the roommate of fellow "army brat" Janet van Dyne during her college years when Jan started seeing Hank Pym at NYU. She earned a degree in communications at Berkeley and started dating the Super-Soldier Program's head scientist, Bruce Banner. Her relationship with Bruce soured after Bruce's failed attempts at cracking the super soldier problem turned him into the Hulk. After the Hulk was captured by her father, she ended her relationship with Bruce and temporarily moved to SoHo.

When the Ultimates were assembled, she became their Director of Communications/Public Relations Officer. During this time, Bruce attempted to rekindle their relationship but was spurned and belittled by Betty who boasted of having dinner with Freddie Prinze, Jr. This caused Banner to take some of Captain America's recently rediscovered blood, combine it with his Hulk formula and inject it into himself, resulting in his transformation into the grey-skinned Hulk and went after Betty stating that she was the only person that he had left. Bruce was eventually brought down by the Ultimates, but not before killing more than 800 civilians. Ironically, seeing Bruce's desperate devotion to her and being perversely attracted to his savage Hulk persona, she took a new romantic interest in Bruce.

When her good friend Janet was almost killed by her husband Hank during a domestic violence dispute, she revealed that she knew of Hank and Jan's past personal problems but decided to keep silent about it. She described how sometimes Jan would appear to have chunks of her hair pulled out and that Hank had once slammed her head through a door.

When it was leaked to the public that Bruce Banner was in fact the Hulk, she was devastated knowing that no jury would acquit him of his crime and it was a certain death sentence. Though she coldly went along with the government's plan to execute Bruce, she broke down during the trial. She declared her love for Bruce, offering to have sex with him while she still had the chance, and asked him for forgiveness. Bruce granted neither wish (partly because the dialogue was being broadcast live, making him feel inhibited).

When S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered that Bruce was still alive, Nick Fury asked Wolverine to find and kill the Hulk. Betty didn't approve of this but it was beyond her control. She has recently shown interest in Nick Fury but they both, along with almost all the Ultimates, were captured during the Liberators' attack on U.S. soil. They were later freed when Bruce Banner returned. Betty was seen tending to an exhausted Bruce after the battle with the Liberators and Loki in Washington DC.

In other media

Animated series

* In "The Incredible Hulk" portion of "The Marvel Superheroes", it depicted Betty as a civilian hanger on with no apparent function in the Gamma Bomb as in the comics, other than the fact that she was General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross' daughter and only child.
* Betty Ross appears in the 1996 "The Incredible Hulk" series voiced by Genie Francis and later by Philece Sampler.

Film

"Hulk"

In the 2003 film, "Hulk", Betty Ross is played by Jennifer Connelly, and is Bruce's girlfriend and scientific colleague. She is the second person to learn about the Hulk, when Banner saves her from his father's gamma-enhanced dogs, and is the only person capable of calming the Hulk down. At the conclusion of the film, when Banner has been declared dead, she is contacted by her father, asking if she has heard from Banner, but she coldly informs him that, even if Bruce was alive, she hopes he "wouldn't" contact her (her phone lines are all being tapped), and that she loves him.

"Ultimate Avengers"

Betty Ross also appears in the animated films "Ultimate Avengers" and "Ultimate Avengers 2" voiced by Nan McNamara.

"The Incredible Hulk"

In the 2008 film, "The Incredible Hulk" Betty Ross is played by Liv Tyler. Like Banner, Ross is a Harvard graduate and is now a cell biology professor. In the time she and Banner were separated, she was dating Dr. Leonard Samson. After Bruce's sudden return, Betty defies her father and stands by Banner's side as a fugitive. Bruce saves her as the Hulk and takes her away, after she becomes unconscious from a helicopter explosion. The two go to New York City to find Mr. Blue, a scientist who has been assisting Bruce. After the end battle, which puts the Hulk against the Abomination, Bruce disappears again and Betty is seen looking at a photo of him. Her birth name is given as Elizabeth.

Video games

* Liv Tyler reprised her role as Betty Ross in "The Incredible Hulk" video game.

References