Natasha was assigned to a new mission: trail the runaway scientist, Bruce Banner, because the agent previously assigned to the case, Jasper Sitwell, had been redeployed to Puente Antiguo. She first came across him during the military siege at Culver University, when he became the Hulk right before her. Fury ordered her not to let General Ross take the Hulk away, but his own destructive force prevented her from doing anything more than report on his fight with Emil Blonsky