Betty Ross

Harpy (comics) redirects here.

Betty Ross should not be confused with Betsy Ross, reputed seamstress of the American flag, or Betsy Ross (aka Golden Girl).

Betty Ross Banner
File:Ultbettyross.jpg Ultimate Betty Ross (Art by Bryan Hitch)
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Incredible Hulk #1 (1962)
Created by	Stan Lee Jack Kirby
In-story information
Full name	Elizabeth Ross Talbot Banner
Notable aliases	Harpy, Mr. Blue

Betty Ross (Full name Elizabeth Ross, later Betty Talbot and then Betty Banner) is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe, and love interest of Bruce Banner. In the 2003 film, Hulk, she was played by Jennifer Connelly, and in the 2008 film, The Incredible Hulk, Betty is portrayed by Liv Tyler.

Publication history

Betty Ross first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962), and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Betty Ross Banner received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89 #1.

Fictional character biography

The only daughter of the renowned General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross, Betty spent her formative years firmly under her father's strict supervision. Thunderbolt Ross had wanted a son, and his disappointment at having a daughter was reflected in the way he raised her. After her mother died during Betty's teenage years, she was sent away to boarding school. After graduating, the introverted young woman returned to her father's side. Thunderbolt Ross was then in charge of a top-secret project to create a new type of weapon involving gamma radiation. The head scientist on the project was Bruce Banner, whom her father detested. An attraction between Betty and Bruce soon developed.

Their relationship was forever changed when, during the test of a gamma radiation bomb, Bruce was struck by the full force of the detonation and became the Hulk. Banner tried to keep his condition secret from Betty, which alienated them. Betty was then romantically pursued by Major Glenn Talbot, the new aide attached to her father's Hulkbuster task force. Eventually, the secret of Banner's dual identity became public knowledge, and his transformations and rampages created a rift between him and Betty. Betty married Major Talbot out of desperation. Their union soon ended in divorce, however, and Talbot died trying to destroy the Hulk.

Betty continued to find herself entangled in the lives of Bruce Banner and the Hulk. At one point she was transformed by the villainous MODOK into a gamma-empowered flying menace known as the Harpy. In this form, she was an insane green creature with a woman's head and arms, but the wings and body of a giant bird of prey. She could fly and fire energy blasts.

Despite these events, she eventually married Bruce Banner. They two spent years living together as fugitives until the Hulk's enemy Abomination used his own blood to poison Betty, which would appear to be the work of the Hulk himself (due to the high levels of gamma radiation present in both of their bodies). Betty was placed in cryogenic suspension by her father.

Betty was thereafter revived by the Leader; underwent surgery which considerably altered her appearance; was granted superhuman strength; and for a time aided her fugitive husband as his shadowy contact, Mr. Blue. The Tempest Fugit story arc later explained her resurrection as a hallucination created by Nightmare, and she was most recently later confirmed as deceased.

Other versions

Heroes Reborn

In the Heroes Reborn Universe created by Franklin Richards in the aftermath of the Onslaught crisis, Betty was known as Liz Ross, and served as the head of security for Stark International. As a result, she took Iron Man's apparent appointment as Tony Stark's personal bodyguard as a personal insult, and was also present when Bruce Banner was exposed to the gamma radiation that would turn him into the Hulk. Shortly before the heroes returned to their world, it was revealed that Liz was dying of cancer as a result of the gamma exposure.

House of M

In the House of M universe, Betty Ross is married to Major Glenn Talbot.

Ultimate Betty Ross

In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Betty is the daughter of General "Thunderbolt" Ross. She was the roommate of fellow "Army brat" Janet van Dyne during her college years when Jan started seeing Hank Pym at NYU. She earned a degree in communications at Berkeley and started dating the Super-Soldier Program's head scientist, Bruce Banner. Her relationship with Bruce soured after Bruce's failed attempts at cracking the super soldier problem turned him into the Hulk. After the Hulk was captured by her father, she ended her relationship with Bruce and temporarily moved to SoHo.

When the Ultimates were assembled, she became their Director of Communications/Public Relations Officer. During this time, Bruce attempted to rekindle their relationship but was spurned and belittled by Betty who boasted of having dinner with Freddie Prinze, Jr. This caused Banner to take some of Captain America's recently rediscovered blood, combine it with his Hulk formula and inject it into himself, resulting in his transformation into the grey-skinned Hulk and went after Betty stating that she was the only person that he had left. Bruce was eventually brought down by the Ultimates, but not before killing more than 800 civilians. Ironically, seeing Bruce's desperate devotion to her and being perversely attracted to his savage Hulk persona, she took a new romantic interest in Bruce.

When her good friend Janet was almost killed by her husband Hank during a domestic violence dispute, she revealed that she knew of Hank and Jan's past personal problems but decided to keep silent about it. She described how sometimes Jan would appear to have chunks of her hair pulled out and that Hank had once slammed her head through a door.

When it was leaked to the public that Bruce Banner was in fact the Hulk, she was devastated knowing that no jury would acquit him of his crime and it was a certain death sentence. Though she coldly went along with the government's plan to execute Bruce, she broke down during the trial. She declared her love for Bruce, offering to have sex with him while she still had the chance, and asked him for forgiveness. Bruce granted neither wish (partly because the dialogue was being broadcast live, making him feel inhibited).

When S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered that Bruce was still alive, Nick Fury asked Wolverine to find and kill the Hulk. Betty didn't approve of this but it was beyond her control. She has recently shown interest in Nick Fury but they both, along with almost all the Ultimates, were captured during the Liberators' attack on U.S. soil. They were later freed when Bruce Banner returned. Betty was seen tending to an exhausted Bruce after the battle with the Liberators and Loki in Washington DC.

Betty Ross during Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk took a new improved Hulk Serum created by Jennifer Walters to become the Ultimate version of She-Hulk. It is unclear if she is still able to change after the events although it seems unlikely due her not changing during the events of Ultimates 2.

In other media

Television

• In "The Incredible Hulk" portion of The Marvel Superheroes, it depicted Betty as a civilian hanger on with no apparent function in the Gamma Bomb as in the comics, other than the fact that she was General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross' daughter and only child.
• Betty Ross appears in the 1996 The Incredible Hulk series voiced by Genie Francis and later by Philece Sampler. Like in many comic book incarnations, Betty is seen here trying to find a cure for Bruce Banner, who becomes the Hulk whenever enraged. She is a main character, appearing throughout the entire series.
• Betty Ross will appear in The Super Hero Squad Show voice by Cree Summer.

Film

• In the 2003 film, Hulk, Betty Ross is played by Jennifer Connelly and by Rhiannon Leigh Wryn (as a child), and is Bruce's girlfriend and scientific colleague. She is the second person to learn about the Hulk, when Banner saves her from his father's gamma-enhanced dogs, and is the only person capable of calming the Hulk down. At the conclusion of the film, when Banner has been declared dead, she is contacted by her father, asking if she has heard from Banner, but she coldly informs him that, even if Bruce was alive, she hopes he wouldn't contact her (her phone lines are all being tapped), and that she loves him.

• In the 2008 film, The Incredible Hulk (which is not directly related to the above film) Betty Ross is played by Liv Tyler. Like Banner, Ross is a Harvard graduate and is now a cell biology professor. In the time she and Banner were separated, she began dating Dr. Leonard Samson. After Bruce's sudden return, she begins desperately trying to help him in any way she can, even introducing him to Samuel Sterns, who attempted to cure him, but with no success. By the end of the movie she and Bruce are separated once more, with her being unsure as to where she'll go from there. (During the film, Bruce communicates with Samuel Sterns codenamed "Mr. Blue"; as a reference to the comics."

• Betty Ross also appears in the animated films Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers 2 voiced by Nan McNamara.

• An older Ross appears in Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow voiced by Nicole Oliver.

• In Hulk vs. Thor, Betty (again voiced by Nicole Oliver) appears in Bruce's dream in which he's married and has a young son.

Video games

• Betty first appears in the video game adaption of the Hulk movie voiced by Katie Bennison.
• Betty Ross appears in video game adaption of The Incredible Hulk voiced by Liv Tyler.

External Links

• Betty Ross at Marvel.com