Fan Casting The Hulk

In 1998, Banner was present in the instrumentation bunker at the test site for the first underground test detonation of the Gamma Bomb. Observing that a civilian had breached security and entered the restricted test area, Banner told his colleague Igor Starsky to delay the countdown while he tried to escort the civilian to safety. Starsky, secretly a Soviet agent, did nothing, confident that Banner would die in the explosion, bringing the project to a halt. Reaching the civilian, a teenager named Rick Jones, Banner threw him into a protective trench. Before Banner could get himself to safety, the Gamma Bomb detonated, and intense waves of radiation reached the surface. Banner was irradiated with highly charged radioactive particles. Bruce died, but the Gamma Bomb had created the first manifestation of a metaphysical barrier called the Green Door that connected Earth with the Below-Place, the bottom layer of the Multiverse. The Green Door brought Bruce back to life, but the time span between his death and resurrection was so short, his death went unnoticed.[67] The Gamma Bomb also caused Bruce to alter his body, causing him to frequently transform into the vastly powerful, grey-skinned, humanoid monster whom General Ross named "the Hulk."[57]