Thing's History
In the early years of the war against Apocalypse, Bruce Banner was a scientist working for the United States government under the purview of General Thaddeus Ross. Banner was in love with the general's daughter, Betty, and the pair were engaged. General Ross wanted Banner to create an army of super soldiers to combat Apocalypse's most deadly mutants - known as "Alphas" - but his experiments were unsuccessful. As America fell to Apocalypse, General Ross took Betty to Europe, where the remnants of humanity had banded together.
Banner, too, made his way to Europe, and began to work for the Human High Council. When Mikhail, Apocalypse's "Lost Horseman", claimed that he would ally with the Human High Council, he brought an offer to Banner - he would give him test subjects in exchange for loyalty, a deal that Banner agreed to. Banner eventually tested upon himself, causing him to be able to change at will between his human form and the Thing.
He was working on the warhead project when Mikhail attacked the Field Command Center where he was stationed. Ben Grimm and Sue Storm were the first to encounter the Thing, and Sue shot him in the side of the head. The Thing fled and turned back into Banner, but neither Sue nor Ben connected the two events. Banner stayed on the sidelines until Tony Stark and Gwen Stacy infiltrated the lower deck of Mikhail's ship. After the two disposed of the humans on duty there, Banner transformed into the Thing and attacked Gwen. Gwen shot him in the back when he went after Stark, causing him to attack Gwen once more. However, Stark announced that Apocalypse's sea wall defense system had been launched, and told the Thing to revert back to his Banner form. Banner, not wanting to die himself, helped Stark pilot the Flagship, allowing them to leave before the sea wall destroyed them.
Escaping Earth's orbit, the human forces found themselves under nuclear attack. Fending off most of the weapons, the humans were unable to destroy one remaining missile, an adamantium-armored gamma bomb designed by Banner himself. Turning into the Thing, Banner left the spacecraft and prevented the bomb from reaching the humans, though he was unable to prevent the bomb from exploding. Forcibly reverted to human form, he fell to earth where he assumed a more primal, green-skinned form.
After this battle, Banner must have been captured by Apocalypse, as he then spent some time in the slave pens. There he underwent telepathic conditioning by mutants who put blocks within his mind, erasing his memories and suppressing his powers. Over a decade later, after the fall of Apocalypse and the rise of a new tyrant, Banner lived in a small shack surrounded by books on science, all of which were forbidden for humans to own. He was found by the reformed servant of Apocalypse known as Goodnight, who informed him of his true identity. Banner refused to believe it, so Pierce began to badger him with evidence to the contrary, saying that he'd acquired hundreds of books on subjects he used to be a master of. Pierce began to assault Banner, hoping to provoke a change, which eventually happened. The Thing grabbed Pierce's arm, threatening to rip off his limbs. Pierce claimed to know where Betty was, and would help Banner find her if he attacked the Dark Beast's laboratory immediately, a place where Apocalypse's "Alphas" were being resurrected.
The Thing complied, and smashed into the facility while Dark Beast was interrogating the captured members of the X-Terminated. While rampaging through the facility, Weapon Omega himself appeared, teleported there by Azazel. Though Weapon Omega admired the Thing's ability for destruction, he attacked him to stop the devastation to his plans. The Thing stood his ground against Weapon Omega, shrugging off the overlord's attacks and demanding to know where Betty was hidden. Weapon Omega gave him no answers, admonishing him for acting like a weak human despite his strength and opportunities. As he shot the Thing in the chest with his energy cannon, the labs exploded due to a bomb left by Prophet. The Thing was killed in the destruction, and later it was revealed that Prophet and Goodnight had manipulated Banner, neither knowing if Betty Ross was still alive at all.
