10 Wild Ideas For The Hulk In Phase 5
6. Kung Fu Hulk
His physical therapy has reached a dead end, and Bruce can’t cope with the constant, unremitting agony from his burned arm any more. As the Hulk, regular painkillers are completely ineffective, and the only thing Banner can think of to try is more screwing around in a gamma lab in an effort to trigger a transformation that will heal his injuries.
Seeking to avoid such a potentially cataclysmic last resort, Bruce looks for a solution in transcendental meditation, and is referred by his psychiatrist (a gentleman by the name of Leonard Samson, as an Easter Egg for comics fans) to one Shang-Chi, Master Of Kung Fu.
As Shang-Chi and Banner meditate, it becomes clear that there are multiple voices in Banner’s head, and that, far from being physical and/or genetic, the problem of the Hulk is psychological. ‘Bruce’ realises that he isn’t Bruce Banner, but merely a new Hulk persona that thinks he’s Bruce Banner, created by his own subconscious to fool Banner into thinking he was cured as yet another way of refusing to deal with his repressed trauma and anger.
Meanwhile, Shang-Chi is knee deep in intrigue with the Ten Rings and the Mandarin, and just as Bruce transforms into a smaller, meaner gray Hulk, the building is targeted by rocket launchers and explodes...