52 Ancestors Week 35: Free Space

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 35's theme is "Free Space." I intended for this to be a week for you to choose whatever you want to write about. (Though that's true every week!) But also feel free to riff off of the theme -- maybe an ancestor who went West for land, going to a family vacation spot, or a bingo-playing ancestor? Have fun with this theme!

Can't get more wide open than this.

    If you're following me on Twitter, you might see where this is going. "Free space" or "open mic" nights are where I tend to get more creative than usual. Whenever we would have a "#genchat" and an open mic night is the topic of the evening, I would offer up random topics and sometimes I would bring up superheroes. Shocking, right? Hear me out before you click away from the blog! Comic book characters and their stories have long been considered to be the modern mythology since their humble beginnings in the late 1890s/early 1900s. Since the 1960s, they've evolved into characters with faults and foibles thanks to the creative minds of writers such as Stan Lee and artists like Jack Kirby. Over time, many of these writers would develop extensive family trees for the characters in order to fill out the world in which they live and make it seem like our own reality. Other universes have dabbled into this idea too like Star Wars, Star Trek and especially Game of Thrones.

    For this week's blog, I thought I would transport ourselves into the world of comics and figure out how we might research one of the characters inhabiting the pages. In the real world, I highly advise against creating a tree linking yourself to the mighty Thor or someone mythological. The Allfather looks down upon false genealogy and may smite you! Big talk coming from him, I know. Wait. No. I'm confusing him with Zeus. You know. That OTHER thunderous character. Odin has far more chill. ;)

That's right. Hulk was GRAY
in his first appearance!

    There are literally millions of characters out there who we could turn our attention to. You could research the Kents and learn about how their ancestors were some of the original settlers of Kansas. You could research the parents of Bruce Wayne and learn about how they came into their vast fortune. You could even learn about the parents of Peter Parker provided you have a level nine S.H.I.E.L.D. authorization code and access to the C.I.A. database. Spidey's parents were really important. Whew knew? Let's make it simple on everyone and research Bruce Banner aka the Incredible Hulk.

   

    Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the pages of "The Incredible Hulk" #1 in May of 1962, the character has seen many iterations over the years from the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno television series to his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was portrayed by Mark Ruffalo. Like in the comics, Bruce is a charter member of the Earth's mightiest heroes, the Avengers. He was bombarded by gamma radiation when he pushed a teenager out of the way of a nuclear explosion and now whenever he got angry he would turn into a gargantuan green....well....hulk. 

    If you were a genealogist in the Marvel Universe and you were researching Banner, his superhero origin would be well known. It's not like he has a secret identity or anything any more. In fact, Bruce is actually considered to be one of the greatest minds on planet Earth. His intelligence matches those of his contemporaries like his science bro, Tony Stark, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four and noted geneticist Professor Charles Xavier to name a few. Not too shabby, huh? Marvel is not short on royal smart people. Benevolent or otherwise.

    Bruce was born in Dayton, Ohio to atomic physicist Brian Banner and his wife, Rebecca. Thanks to the Marvel sliding timescale, no specific date has ever been given. In the current comics, it's been almost twenty years since Reed and his family took to the stars and received their fantastic powers. Back to Bruce. This is where things get a little heavy.

    If you looked up newspapers in Dayton, you might find articles where young Banner was praised for his scholastic achievements. Since Brian was semi-famous, you could go to the Dayton city hall and libraries and research Bruce's birth, try to find his parents' marriage certificate and dig up all kinds of information about the Banner family. He had a grandfather who was also named Bruce and his ancestors worked with gamma radiation similar to how Marie Curie worked with radium. That's honestly an interesting spin on things and it's clearly a recent revelation as writers have spiced up Banner's backstory. Sometimes this works in a character's favor. Sometimes it just adds more confusion. Look up Wolverine: Origins for example.

    Banner's ancestor, Samuel Sterns studied the then unknown gamma radiation around the turn of the century (Again. Just like Madam Curie!) A crafty researcher would be able to dig up some information on him. There was apparently sordid affair involving him, his brother Robert and Robert's wife, Beatrice Banner. Gotta love all this alliteration, right? Information on the Sterns and the Banner families may be a little hard to come by because they haven't been too fleshed out in the comics so far. For example, there is a brief snippet about an ancestor who fought in the first world war.  You could possibly find that ancestor's draft card. Writers haven't given him a name. He was probably Brian Banner's grandfather. I really wish they had a link to Captain America and his adventures during the second World War. But, that would have been too convenient since a lot of characters already connect with Cap. Let's go back to Bruce because his life, was about to become anything but sunshine and rainbows. 

    Young Bruce was a victim of relentless abuse brought on by his own father who was actually jealous of his son since his wife showed the child more affection than she showed her abusive husband. To make matters worse, Brian felt that his work in radiation somehow made his son a mutant. (Oh, boy. THAT would take way too long to explain. Let's just say people born with their powers in the Marvel Universe are umm...looked down upon, hunted and feared just for being born different. It's an allegory for racism and prejudice in general.)

    Since Brian was a noted atomic physicist, that information may not be widely known and hidden in Bruce's S.H.I.E.L.D. file somewhere. His wife may not of filed for divorce or anything for fear of her life. However, this next part would have definitely made the papers in Dayton. In a fit of rage, Brian murdered his wife and was sent into an institution for his crime. Articles would be written and of course there would be court documents, and records at the institution where Banner would live for a good portion of his life. Yes, he was eventually released. This is comics. Everyone escapes from institutions somehow. I swear there's a revolving door at a few of them. Looking at you, Arkham Asylum. 

    After his mother's death, Bruce was sent to live with his father's sister, Susan. There's not much about her in the comics aside from her marrying a man with the last name Drake and eventually getting divorced from him. Chances are good those records would be available. She apparently never wanted to deal with Bruce's father after what happened in Ohio. She did try to undo what happened to Bruce and she was not alone!

   Brian's sister Elaine and her husband, L.A. Sheriff Morris Walters lived out in sunny California and did what she could to help young Bruce, too. Also helping Bruce to deal with his trauma was his cousin, Jennifer who would one day become She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. (Now playing on Disney +!).  Bruce's aunts did their best to help the young boy grow and even though he was withdrawn and angry it was found that he was in fact a child prodigy. 

    Bruce's scholastic achievements wouldn't be too hard to find. There's no stigma attached to success after all. So, you can bet the newspapers covered everything from his time at Science High School (Yes. That's the name.) to when he began studying Nuclear Physics at "Desert State University" in Navapo, New Mexico. At this point, a genealogist in the Marvel Universe could look up his yearbook photos if he or she desired. Just look for the nerdy looking kid with the glasses and the alliterative name.

    Young Banner still had unresolved issues from his childhood. So, chances are good that you would be able to find medical records as his aunt tried to help him cope with the years of abuse at the hands of his father. You would also find more articles about this next big milestone in Bruce's life. In fact, you could even argue that it was the one event that changed his life forever.

    

That's gonna leave a mark.

    After college, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross recruited Banner as he saw potential in the young man as he excelled in the field of nuclear physics at CalTech, one of his many alma maters. Ross gave him command of a nuclear bomb testing facility and things were going well until teenager Rick Jones wandered onto the test site when a bomb was going to go off. (Rick actually went in on a dare.)

    Naturally, Bruce ran onto the site and pushed the teen into a ditch, saving him. However, his life was never going to be the same ever again. Banner was bombarded by what should have been a lethal dose of gamma radiation! However, something inside his body prevented him from dying and now whenever he got angry, he became the rampaging jolly green giant we all know and love. 

One of Smilin' Stan's final creations
for Marvel!

        From this point on a genealogist in the Marvel Universe would have no trouble looking up information on Banner and his alter ego, the Hulk. Bruce did not stay out of the news and honestly you can't really miss a seven foot tall fighting mad rage monster. It also didn't take long for the government to put two and two together and figure out Banner was the Hulk. It's hard to keep THAT a secret!

  

    The Hulk's exploits were common knowledge for the most part and Banner tried hard to live as normal a life as possible. All further information can be found in various newspapers. Banner even attempted to reconnect with his cousin, Jennifer at one point during his self-imposed exile. That event nearly turned tragic and Bruce had to save her life using his own blood.

   Thanks to Jennifer and Bruce sharing the similar "mutation" that saved Bruce's life when the gamma bomb exploded, she was transformed into the sensational She-Hulk!  I'm not sure if that story is widely known in the Marvel Universe. However, Jennifer IS a very famous lawyer  having been a member of the Avengers AND the Fantastic Four. 

    Though, as a researcher, you could conceivably use Jennifer's own interviews as a way to research her cousin. I think she even has an in-canon book about her life. She never lost control as a Hulk. In fact, she can control her Hulk form most of the time and embraced her "Gammazon" lifestyle as a lawyer and as an adventurer. That's something Bruce was not always able to do unless Hulk had Banner's brain in control. This is attributed to the abuse Bruce suffered.  This is a debate about that is best left to a psychology blog.

Language.

    Despite all of his adventures and wanting to be left alone, Bruce has found himself in many romantic relationships. From General Ross's daughter, Betty to even aliens from other planets. As a genealogist working in this universe, you probably would have no idea about that relationship or The Hulk's children. And man did he have many! You'd have to go into space to research those kids or other realities. These are his known children:

1. Skaar, a son he conceived on Sakaar while being a gladiator.

2.Lyra, a daughter from an alternate future. Comics have a lot of those types. A lot.

3. Two children who claim to be Bruce's. But, they haven't taken a DNA test. Of course they could just ask Bruce to administer it himself. I mean he IS qualified.

     If you really want to get down to it, researching Banner or any other superhuman would be no different from researching a celebrity. Information would be widely known and you could find various tidbits of information in newspapers, records, biographies and everything else. Comic writers have always strived to make their characters as human as possible and characters like Bruce Banner have decades worth of lore to dive into as different writers have added into the mythos. Some bits may have also been retconned. Some may have been added onto in order to spice up a character. It's all about how you can hook the reader in with the story and it's been working for over half a century at this point!

    Banner's family history is definitely not one for the faint of heart. But, it is interesting to see how a genealogist could find out information on how his family has always worked with gamma radiation. At the same time, you can only hope Bruce broke the cycle of abuse that plagued his family for generations. Of course that really depends on who is writing the Hulk at the time. Banner has gone into therapy for his issues and there have actually been different forms of the Hulk himself. It's complicated.

    I've only covered a small portion of  Banner's family history here. There are tales involving alternate futures and what happened with his offspring. Comics are weird. But, they have been entertaining us haven't they? Can't say they aren't creative!

    I've had fun delving into the genealogy of a character I sort of like. If I'm going to be honest, I like She-Hulk a bit more than Bruce. But, that's more because she tends to break the 4th wall and has been doing so for a decade before Deadpool came around. If you're going to do genealogy on fictional characters, I suggest you try it because it can be fun and you never know what amazing things you can discover when you look into a character's family story. The stories have been written and there are definitely more stories to come. So, pull up a couch and start reading, true believers!

See ya next time! Excelsior!

The Incredible Hulk and related characters are property of Marvel Comics.

(Man, this was fun. I hope we get a chance to do a free-space blog again. I want to tackle Captain Picard, next. I mean there is an autobiography of him....)