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Repetitive Arcs Destroy Growth
Like I said, the oldest Hulk story is about Banner trying to separate them, but that worked because it was the first one. Banner and Hulk had a great dynamic where Bruce fought to rid himself of what he saw as a dangerous curse, and the Hulk fought to survive and live a life he wanted. Over time, however, that dynamic evolved. Banner and the Hulk have accepted each other multiple times over the years, such as when they merged their consciousnesses into the Professor Hulk persona, or worked together to become a great warworld in Planet Hulk. These moments of them coming together are typically seen as markers of growth, with Professor Hulk being the ultimate signifier that Banner had accepted every part of himself and become the best person he could be. A constant shift back to status quo is the norm for comic books, but unlike characters like Spider-Man and the X-Men, Hulk’s status quo is the beginning of a character arc. Thus, the reset not only eliminates all the progress he made, it also forces him to constantly tread through the same realization again and again.
Beyond the characterization reason the constant drive Banner has to be rid of the Hulk works against them, it also fails from a meta perspective. Hulk and Banner are one of comics’ best duos because of how they bounce off of each other. Banner is the humanity that guides Hulk and the intelligence that can solve problems Hulk’s fists can’t, where Hulk is the raw emotion to contrast Banner’s often cold logic. They pull each other back when either goes too far, and the story is all the better for it. The story does not need Banner to try and get rid of the Hulk to produce tension, because it always comes from their uneasy relationship. Hulk and Banner are designed to work together, and neither can run a story on their own. It can work temporarily, but they are always linked and fans love them, so it’s not like Marvel’s ever actually going to permanently separate Hulk and Banner. That reality just makes Banner chasing the impossible dream even worse because we all know it’s pointless.
