Research and Development
Why the Knowledge Gained in 377 was the Worst Thing That Could've Happened to Bruce
The Defenders- Why the Hulk was quite possibly the least important member
Throughout the charting of the Incredible Hulk's chronology
I've noticed a few things. Up until the time of Incredible Hulk
vol. 2 #271 the Hulk was in a constant state of regression. When
the Hulk was first created he was born the gray surly Hulk,
representing Bruce Banner's teenage years. 
Since that
time, with of course a few exceptions, the Hulk's incarnations
have led towards the Savage Hulk. I speculate on the Savage Hulk
page that the Savage is the most powerful version of the Hulk
because it was most likely the brutal murder of his mother that
originally fractured Banner's psyche. I think that might also
explain why the Hulk was created Gray (the most recent) into the
Savage (the most powerful). It might also explain why the Savage
Hulk had the most "time in the sun".
Occasionally Banner would take control of the Hulk, but always, and usually without any real explanation, he would revert into the Gravage persona of the Hulk. It seems Banner's ideal is the Merged Hulk (now the Professor and no longer the solution), but he wasn't mentally strong enough to gain any real measure of control. His most notable sucesses were the Banner Hulk in 272-299 and the Merged Hulk in 377-425. Banner Hulk actually was somewhat of a fluke in how long it lasted. Even in the first appearance (272) Banner partially slipped into the Savage persona. The Merged Hulk's sucess would have to be attributed to the fact that he understands what he is up against. He guarded against losing control but, as I speculate later in the page, this may have been what would destine Bruce to fail.
Why the Knowledge Gained in 377 was the Worst Thing That Could've Happened to Bruce
The Psychological Ramifications of Gamma Radiation (found in Incredible Hulk #393) states that the nature of transformation due to gamma exposure is due largely in part to the subject's subconscious. The Abomination's appearance is due to his own self hate. Leader's self worth might explain his "big head". Samson fulfilled his unconscious desire to fulfill his namesake, even to the point that cutting his hair robs him of his strength. There is only one problem. Bruce Banner has a mental disorder. His transformations are constantly in flux because of his unstable unconscious. One minute he might be a child throwing a tantrum, the next he might be a foul mouthed, foul attitude teenager.
Bruce Banner has also been noted for his dark, pessimistic side.
Arming Bruce with the knowledge that his own attitude might affect a change is, in effect, a proclamation of failure. Telling Bruce that he can affect his own transformation doomed his cure in 377. He felt he would freak out and so he did. Fortunately with damage control Bruce managed to, in affect, put his own "cap" on the amount of damage he could do. He affected his tranformation in that when he reached a certain anger level he would revert to Bruce Banner. And while this might be viewed as a minor victory it was also the first stage at seperating Bruce from his merged version- he would never really regain it.
Look also at Bruce's meeting with the Maestro. Despite his complete repulsion at what the Maestro had become when the chips were down Bruce caved to the pressure and in fact ensured that some form of the Maestro existed in his timeline. While Maestro was used in a constructive way, his existence wasn't really necessary. Nobody was fooled into believing that this wasn't the Hulk claiming to be the head of the terrorist group.
Lastly let's look at Banner's dark side. No matter how happy Bruce is there is always a spot inside him that is telling him that any good thing in his life will end. Because he feels that he doesn't deserve happiness. Bruce's illness comes from a part of himself believing what his father told him long ago- that he was a monster. Bruce hates himself, if only part of the time, and that self-loathing is what I believe has developed the most recent incarnation that has been revealed- The Devil. And sadly I believe that the Devil was correct in that now that Banner has seen his face, and knows that subconsciously he might change into the Devil will in fact cause it to happen. Maybe not now, or even soon, but you know Banner can't help himself from hating himself. Be afraid.
The Defenders- Why the Hulk was quite possibly the least important member
First let me start off by saying that the Defenders as a book generally dealt with villains of either a magical or behind the scenes planning nature. To be of any real assistance one would need to study magic or be a detective. The Hulk was neither. In fact the Hulk for almost his entire tenure among the Defenders was the struggling to speak, bean eating type. By the time Hulk gained the intelligence of Bruce Banner, and actually be of some use, he had decided to quit the teamHe rarely, if ever, even understood what was happening much less contribute to the solution. Occasionally he would stumble upon the truth of a situation, but alot less frequently than he did in his own book as he probably had less time to do so. Okay so the Hulk would occasionally help out in the fighting department, and occasionally it would even matter if it was him instead of Namor or Power Man. But often Hulk was just as much a detriment to his team. When Dr. Strange was holding the Wrecking Crew inside a bubble to prevent them from escaping the Hulk was standing outside pounding on the bubble to get in, weaking Strange. Another time the other Defenders had to have Hulk chase them, all the while threatening to smash them, just to get him to fight who they wanted. At the beginning of the run most of the members were actually quite rude to the green goliath. Even if Hulk was sure of what he was speaking about the other team members would usually dismiss it as the confused reality of the adle-brained Hulk.
Now aside from those points there is another factor diminishing the Hulk's importance in the Defenders. The Hulk had his own book and therefore the character development of Hulk's character was non-existant. Valkyrie turned from a spaced out girl, into a gladiator, and eventually into a hero. Nighthawk turned from a villain, into a marginal player, into the leader of the team and dependable hero. Hulk was a dull child and eventually turned into...a dull child who resented his friends for constantly treating him as a moron or non-factor. And people wonder why the Hulk wanted to be left alone.
A lot of Bruce
Banner’s repressed feelings were held in check because of
one very strong fear…the fear of becoming like his father.
Bruce’s experiences with emotions were never of much good to
him. He was sad and lonely as a boy, and the only other emotion
that he seemed to experience was his father’s anger. But
what of Brian Banner? Bruce was not the first on his male side of
the family to experience abuse. Brian Banner revealed to Bruce
after being released from the mental institution, where he was
incarcerated for murdering Rebecca Banner, that he underwent
therapy there. He uncovered things from his own past that he had
buried, abuses that his own father had heaped upon him. Obviously
Brain Banner was once a small boy that was very similar to his
own son Bruce. Perhaps it was this degrading that lead Brian to
believe that his son could only be a monster.
Brian Banner was declared mentally fit to re-enter society by a group of doctors. They felt that Brian was cured of his sickness and was ready to rejoin society. Not to say that the mental and medical professions are beyond error, but it was only a short time after that, when Brian was reunited with Bruce, that he slipped right back into his same patterns. Brian even suggested it himself when he said that perhaps the sickness was not with him, but with Bruce. Bruce tells Brian that he was acting more and more strangely as time went on, and that by the time it was the anniversary of Rebecca’s murder Brian was once again convinced that his son was indeed a monster, and he had also reverted to his abusive ways. Brian Banner may have very well killed Bruce had Bruce not fought back at killed his father in self defense. Why the sudden and dramatic reversion in Brian’s mental health? It doesn’t seem all that improbable that it was the addition of the company of Bruce Banner himself.
It’s my belief that Bruce Banner was very much headed in the direction of his father. The Hulk is merely an extension of Bruce Banner. Indeed the incarnations themselves are recognized as different aspects, or time periods of Bruce Banner’s life, but the Hulk has long been recognized as a sort of an “Id” to Bruce Banner. Bruce Banner held his rage in check to prevent himself from becoming like his father. The Hulk on the other hand has been a raging cauldron of anger…and yet what is the Hulk but a manifestation of Bruce Banner? In issue 417 of the Incredible Hulk the Hulk tells Samson that one of the things that scared him about the Maestro was that when he looked into the Maestro’s eyes he saw his father looking back at him. This might be an extreme example, but no less illustrative.
When Brian Banner was angry he expressed his rage through physical violence. Bruce never let his rage out, and yet when it finally erupted in the form of the Hulk, how did Hulk’s anger manifest itself? Through violence. Violence and hitting on the kind of extreme that one might expect from a thousand pound monster. There are many other ways to release anger, but Hulk generally opted for the most violent and extreme avenue. Bruce detested the Hulk’s behavior to be sure, but that didn’t stop it from happening. We can see that Brian Banner was not proud of his actions after getting out of the institution, but it didn’t prevent him from nearly killing Bruce on his dead wife’s gravesite. For these reasons and others I’ll point out in a second I think that it may be a good thing (for Banner and the world in general) that the baby Betty Banner was trying to have had miscarried. Don’t get me wrong, miscarriage by itself is a horrible tragedy, but this one might have saved the world.
The baby had never even been born, but lets look at the few instances where Bruce was left to react to the child in any way. After the baby had died a shapeshifter that had seen the Hulk in action was so impressed with Hulk that it thought it would be a remarkable thing to be like it in its next life. After the being died it took the shape and even the DNA of Bruce Banner to form itself into an entity that became known as David. The Hulk at the time was the Bannerless Hulk, and so again perhaps it may be an extreme reaction, but one can see a pattern developing. Doc Samson brought young David to see the Hulk when the Shi’ar came to arrest the shapeshifter for previous crimes. Samson introduced David to Hulk and told him who he was. Hulk’s face went blank for a moment and then replied that he was pleased to meet him, and then tells both Samson and David to get lost. Certainly not throwing his hat into the ring for father of the year.
But perhaps the
most telling incidence from Bruce regarding his feeling towards
his offspring was when Doctor Strange broke the news to Bruce
about the miscarriage. Bruce gets very cold and says that maybe
it was for the best since the baby would probably become a freak
anyway. Sound like anyone? Brian Banner was convinced before he
was ever born that Bruce would be a monster, and now Bruce had
done the same thing to an 
unborn baby
that wouldn’t even get the chance at life.
Not a lot is known about Brian Banner previous to Bruce’s birth, but what we do know is this: 1- He was an abused child that knew the horrors of a father lording it over his son. 2-He was affectionate to his wife Rebecca so much so that she verbally expressed her disappointment at Brian’s reaction to Bruce’s birth. 3- When he was away from Bruce he was remorseful for his crimes, but when around Bruce he unwillingly reverted to violence. Bruce Banner was an abused child who knew the horrors of an abusive father, and he was also a loving husband to Betty. And finally it is plain to see that Bruce can in no way control his rage. With the addition of a bouncing baby that seems like it had the same type of affect on Bruce that a baby had on his father Brian...God help the world that was exposed to a Bruce Banner who would fly off the handle in a murderous rage the way his father would. Goodbye world, hello Dystopia.