Body and Soul: The Endgame Fix

Part 7: Breakthrough

Summary: This is part of the Banner and Hulk story arc Kevin Feige promised us, which should have been delivered in Endgame. In this part, Bruce returns to Willowdale, Virginia, seeking professional help from Leonard (Lee) Samson whom we last saw in The Incredible Hulk (2008). Warning: We are dredging up Bruce's childhood memories, so there will be remembered domestic/child abuse.

Notes: This is a flashback from October 30, 2023, to Friday, July 6, 2018, which is seven weeks post-snap and almost four weeks after killing Thanos at "The Garden." No music, but a good bit about Dissociative Identity Disorder, which appears to be the direction the MCU went, similar to Peter David's storyline in the comics from back in the early 1990s. It resulted in the version of the Hulk that fans dubbed "Professor Hulk," but Marvel labeled the "Merged Hulk" with Banner's brain and Hulk's brawn. It's also the version that led to Maestro in Mr. David's famous "Future Imperfect" storyline.

Part 7: Breakthrough

Bruce watched over Natasha as she slept. His mind was genuinely too preoccupied and his heart too full to settle down and join her in a nap. He took his time and savored the pure joy of thinking through all of the possibilities for a future together that had just resurrected from the ashes like a fiery phoenix. He felt more hopeful than he had since five years ago when he'd first traveled down to Virginia to talk with Leonard Samson. It was seven weeks after Thanos' Snap, and Lee was still coping with loses himself. Betty had been one of the 50% of people who were dusted, and Lee was suddenly a single parent with a three and a five-year-old to raise alone.

This was the first time Bruce had been back to Willowdale, VA, since he'd been searching for a cure to his "condition" and had the dustup with Betty's father, General Thaddeus Ross, and his subordinate Emil Blonsky at Culver University. Lee and Betty had been living together in the Arts and Crafts-style bungalow Bruce and she had bought a year before their involvement with the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project and Bruce's accident. After the so-called Battle of Harlem, she and Lee had gotten back together after some time apart. Bruce was happy for them and relieved he'd not ruined her life. That didn't keep him from feeling responsible for not stopping Thanos, but that was what he was here to fix.

On the one hand, things could hardly be more "complicated" between the two men because of their shared past experiences; on the other, the psychiatrist had more insight into Bruce's situation than a different therapist starting from scratch would have. Lee didn't take many clients since he was an academic and primarily involved in research and running the psychology graduate program at Culver, but considering the unique circumstances, he agreed to work with Bruce. The physicist met Samson at his house where they'd talked in Lee's home office, which doubled as a consultation room. Bruce and Betty had mainly used it as a study, but it brought back old memories. Some of the furniture was even the same.

After catching up and some pleasantries, they'd gotten down to business. "Bruce, this is very new territory for me. I've only treated one other person with Dissociative Identity Disorder because it's so rare, especially in men, and yours is so extreme that calling it a unique condition is probably more accurate."

"I understand that. I also know that not everyone in your field believes it exists," he returned with a wry smile.

The psychiatrist gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. "True, but I'm not one of them. So, what do you hope to get out of this, Bruce?"

"I need to communicate with my other half, so some way of doing that would be at the top of my wish list. Then, we need to find some way to get along because clearly, we're not. At this point I'm completely open to suggestions for how to accomplish that."

"Is there some way I can communicate with your other personality?"

"If you're okay with it, I can see if he's finally willing to come out. Like we discussed on the phone, he refused to come out at all after we came back to earth from outer space." Bruce looked around at all of the smashable things, "Maybe we should try it someplace else though. I don't want to mess up your office or the rest of your house."