The Story of Bruce Banner/Hulk (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Hunting a Cure: Meeting Mr. Blue

While they continued to avoid detection, Betty Ross and Bruce then arrived at the Grayburn College in Harlem, New York City, where they planned to finally meet with the mysterious "Mr. Blue", a resident scientist named Samuel Sterns. Ross at first greeted Sterns, who was surprised to meet her before Banner made himself known, with Sterns amazed to finally meet Mr. Green.

Accompanying Sterns to his lab, Banner and Ross listened as Sterns expressed his amazement at meeting Banner, noting he was shocked that such an unassuming man had so much gamma radiation inside of him. They learned that Sterns had completed the possible antidote that could potentially cure Banner's condition, or merely reverse a specific transformation, although Sterns warned that the procedure did hold the risk of killing Banner if anything went wrong.

In order to test the antidote's effectiveness, Stern would be forced to trigger a Hulk transformation, and an underdose would prove futile and make Hulk wreak havoc again, while an overdose could kill him. Despite the risks, Banner agreed to test Stern's antidote and was restrained, becoming quite nervous when Stern had begun kicking the machinery to get it all working. With Ross standing close by him, Banner attempted to relax as Stern began the experiment. Sterns then gave Banner an electric shock directly to his head, which caused him to undergo his transformation into Hulk, with Sterns looking on in amazement at the power Banner was manifesting.

When Hulk inadvertently knocked Sterns overdue to attempting to break free of his restraints, Betty was forced to then jump onto his chest and attempted to keep Hulk as calm as possible. Using this brief distraction, Sterns was able to administer the antidote. The antidote succeeded in granting Banner control over Hulk for the first time shortly before prompting Hulk to revert back into Banner.

Exhilarated by the success of the antidote, Sterns began gushing how the antidote had never worked for any of his previous test subjects. When Banner questioned what he meant, Sterns revealed that he had synthesized Banner's blood sample into a larger supply with the intention of using its gamma-irradiated properties to benefit mankind, adding that his test subjects did not survive because they were not administered Dr. Ross' myostatic primer, which allowed Banner's blood cells to absorb much of the radiation instead of outright killing him.

Appalled by what Sterns had done and fearful of Hulk's power falling into the wrong hands, Banner then attempted to convince Sterns to immediately destroy the blood supply, claiming it was too powerful if it were to fall into the government's hands. However, just as Sterns attempt to convince Banner that he was being paranoid regarding the government's interest, Banner was shot in the back by a tranquilizer from an SOCC snipers. As Banner dropped onto the floor, Emil Blonsky charged into the room and attempted to trigger his transformation into Hulk, only to be stopped by his fellow SOCC soldiers.