Bruce Banner has always been afraid of one thing: The Hulk. Most recently, he's been able to handle that pretty well, having come to terms with his condition and forming his Smart Hulk persona. But his fear remains very much alive—look no further than She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's premiere episode.
But the signs were there far before that, notably in The Incredible Hulk, when he stopped an entire soda bottling factory to track down one stray blood drop. To him, it was clear that such a mistake could bring apocalyptic events.
It makes perfect sense that Bruce would be terrified of his blood being used at all. After all, even the slightest bit of mixing into his cousin's system turned her into the world's second Hulk for life.
Sadly for him, however, while he has been off-planet, it seems his worst fears may have come true.
Bruce Banner's Fear Has Come True
She-Hulk: The Attorney at Law wasted no time in establishing how the titular hero came to be. Who would have known that a simple road trip could change one's life so greatly?
Well, Jennifer Walters certainly didn't—but thanks to an unfortunate crash due to a spaceship clearly not following the rules of the road, Jen got into a wreck, and some of her cousin's blood entered her system. The result? Well, She-Hulk, of course.
Thankfully for Jen, her cousin, Bruce Banner, was there to help her through it all. He was even able to analyze her blood, confirming that due to their similar DNA, her system was able to synthesize and handle a lethal dose of gamma radiation.
It's here where Bruce Banner's biggest fear is revealed to Jen: their blood cannot ever risk getting into the wrong hands, no matter what. In fact, he even dramatically burns her samples with dozens of lasers ("It's way too dangerous to get out in the world").
Not long after that, Jen is back to her life, and Bruce Banner is off to an unknown location—likely the planet from Thor: Ragnarok, Sakaar.
Cut to Josh, Jen's date from Episode 6's wedding. It seems like everything is going great between the two of them until his radio silence is thrown into question by Emil Blonsky's little therapy group. In fact, they even convince Jennifer to delete the man's number.
What she doesn't know, however, is that her former crush actually did something pretty awful on their special night.
It seems Josh took to cloning and/or copying, Jen's entire phone. But that's not the worst part.
Josh not only seems to be a part of Inteligencia, but he's texting HulkKing directly, referencing Jen's She-Hulk blood with emojis.
It's not immediately clear if Josh has somehow gotten her blood at this point, seemingly off-screen, but he's certainly compromised her phone.
If he didn't get her blood, the implication is clear that steps have been made to further that very goal. Odds are, when they get it, nothing good will come of it.
Bruce Banner isn't going to have the best homecoming when he learns someone has stolen Hulk blood.
What's Gonna Happen With That Blood?
It seems that a big Hulk event is being cooked up in the MCU. First, there's the race for Jen's blood in She-Hulk, and then Captain America: New World Order will be bringing back Tim Blake Nelson's The Leader, who was previously infected with Banner's blood all the way back in 2008.
That's not to mention how Tatiana Maslany's hero, and even Mark Ruffalo's Avenger, may even play a role in the upcoming movie.
But after that? Well, those reports of a World War Hulk movie surely seem a lot more plausible now. These events could even play into Armor Wars, now a movie instead of a Disney+ series, since rumor has it that the project's LLC is a direct reference to the contaminated soda pop in The Incredible Hulk.
The world is about to have a lot more Hulks on its hands. Could She-Hulk end up introducing some more to the world before it finishes up its first season?
She-Hulk is now streaming on Disney+.
