Bruce Banner has had a troubled life ever since he got exposed to gamma radiation and turned into the green beast known as Hulk. Unfortunately, this metamorphosis also ruined his love life with fellow scientist Betty Ross. The two faced turbulence in their relationship mainly due to Hulk's adversaries or the interference of her own father, General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross.
Despite these challenges, their love has also got stronger over the years with the two even marrying later (after a few failed wedding attempts). While Betty is mostly a ing character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so far, she has a larger role in the comics as she also turns into a Hulk-like creature, much like her significant other.
Their Wedding Was Ruined Because Of The Leader
In the Hulk comic issue from the 1970s, The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #124, Reed Richards helps Bruce stabilize his transformation. As a result of this controlled behavior, the hunted fugitive gets pardoned and decides to start a new life by proposing to Betty.
Betty agrees to the proposal and the two decide to have a small wedding until The Leader steps in as an uninvited guest. He causes Bruce to turn back into a savage version of Hulk, leading to much chaos in the wedding. The aftermath includes Betty suffering a nervous breakdown and General Ross getting seriously injured.
Betty Fought Bruce's Hulk While Transforming Into Harpy
MODOK once kidnapped Betty in The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #168 and exposed her to so much gamma radiation that she turned into the bird-like hybrid creature, Harpy. With uncontrollable rage, Harpy attacks Hulk on the orders of MODOK and even manages to knock him out.
This fight further concludes with an unexpected appearance by the Bi-Beast, who abducted the two and trapped them in his floating city in the sky. Back in his human form, Bruce is willing to fix the floating mechanism of Bi-Beast's city, as long as he gets the technology that can cure his partner. Betty would, however, go on to become Harpy yet again in the future.
They Married After Hulk's Brief Detour To Crossroads
Before getting married, Bruce and Betty have had an on-and-off relationship, mainly due to the former's instability as the Hulk. When Doctor Strange uses his dimensional travel powers to banish Bruce into an alternative dimension called Crossroads, there is no sign of him returning. This prompts Betty to start dating a man called Ramon.
When Bruce returns to the planet and is able to get rid of his Hulk persona at Gamma Base, Betty is willing to give him a second chance. Bruce even asks her hand for marriage and the two finally end up getting hitched in 1986's The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #319. However, as Bruce's tragic lore goes on, the couple would separate yet again in the latter issues.
Betty Lost A Baby Shortly After Leaving Bruce
After being pronounced husband and wife, Bruce continued suffering from withdrawal from Hulk's parasitic control. When Betty finds out that Bruce still unleashes the Hulk at times, she becomes disappointed and leaves him (even though she is pregnant with his child).
Betty, yet again, had a brief fling with Ramon but left him too, deciding to gain some clarity in her life. Meanwhile, a sudden tragedy occurs in her life as the Marvel comic demons, D'Spayre and Nightmare, plague her mind through nightmares. The trauma of this experience is such that Betty loses the unborn child.
Ultimate Hulk Created Mayhem Because Of Betty's Adultery
In the Ultimate Universe, Bruce Banner's Hulk is more unstable than usual and can also be seen as an antagonist at times. In The Ultimates, it is revealed that Banner turned into Hulk and killed 815 people in New York City. This fit of rage was a result of Bruce finding out that Betty cheated on him with the actor Freddie Prinze Jr.
For his destructive actions, Bruce is sentenced to death by a nuclear bomb, as Betty confesses his love for him during the trial. This incident only goes on to show that Bruce and Betty would continue having a toxic romance in all different iterations of the Marvel Universe.
Betty Died Due To Bruce's Radiation
Even if Bruce didn't transform into Hulk, some of the gamma radiation was still present in his bloodstream and body. This led to Betty getting infected to the point of death. As a last resort to save her, Bruce developed a cure using his own blood. But when the recurring Hulk comic book villain, Abomination, swapped the sample with his own blood, Betty's condition grew worse.
General Ross put Betty in a cryogenic state after this, with her eventually undergoing the same process that Ross underwent to become Red Hulk. As a result, Betty also gains the ability to become Red She-Hulk. Incredible Hulks #612 finds her telling Bruce that they are no longer married, as she is legally dead. The two, however, resume their romantic relationship later.
Major Glenn Talbot Has Often Been Bruce's Replacement
Even before Betty married Bruce, she was wedded to Glenn Talbot. A Major in the US Army and a close associate of General Ross, Talbot is mostly involved in hunting down the Hulk. He is also romantically smitten with Betty and this further fuels his enmity towards Bruce.
The Incredible Hulk vol. 2 #188 finds Talbot proposing to Betty after the Hulk has mysteriously disappeared from Earth. Their subsequent honeymoon is cut short when General Ross is captured in the Soviet Union. Glenn goes to rescue his superior but is himself abducted by the Gremlin in Siberia. Freed from his captivity later, he attempts to rekindle his romance with Betty, who rejects his advances when she discovers that it was Talbot who sent the Hulk away to a Sub-Atomic Universe. She even tells Rick Jones that she had always loved Bruce, even when she was with Glenn.
Betty Has It Out With General Ross During Her Wedding With Bruce
After The Leader interrupted Bruce and Betty's first comic book wedding, the couple's sophomore effort saw the interference of none other than General Ross.
While the two lovers walk to the altar, Ross holds Bruce at gunpoint and demands that the wedding be stopped. He even fires a bullet at Rick Jones when he tries to intervene. Finally, the short-tempered General surrenders when Betty herself starts shouting at her father. She shames him for controlling her all her life and for being hostile towards Bruce, even in situations when he has no control over the Hulk.
Betty Turned Into Ultimate She-Hulk To Intervene Between Wolverine And Hulk
Following the rampage caused by Hulk in The Ultimates, he runs away to Tibet. The 2000s comic issue, Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk, finds the adamantium-clawed mutant being sent by SHIELD to kill the green giant once and for all. A violent battle ensues that is cut short by Betty Ross in an altered She-Hulk state.
It turns out that Betty injected herself with the Hulk serum, becoming the Ultimate Universe version of She-Hulk. The fight eventually ends in a stalemate with Betty and Bruce planning to meet in Casablanca where they can be away from the SHIELD forces.
Betty Decided To Become A Nun After Bruce's Death
An explosion at Gammatown leads to Bruce's disappearance and he is believed to be dead. In Incredible Hulk vol. 1 #371, Betty comes to with this news. Traumatized by Bruce's death, Betty decides to accept spirituality for a brief while and even trains to become a nun.
She spends some months in a New York convent but when Bruce returns, she gets back to her ordinary life. Bruce is still on the run as a wanted man but Betty decides to him, living together as fugitives.