When Bruce Banner overheard his Avengers teammates deciding which actors would play them in a movie of their lives, getting cast as Steve Buscemi was the last straw, leading to a savage Hulk rampage through Manhattan. Although this proved to be the catalyst necessary to truly unite the team, the rampage cost lives and led to Bruce receiving a death sentence.
In the Ultimate Universe, Bruce Banner is reimagined as a government-sponsored genius who is constantly haunted by his previous transformations as the Hulk. Drugged and monitored daily, Banner is given a chance at redemption when Nick Fury tells him he's been tapped to crack the Super Soldier serum for the U.S. government, but with a boatload of stipulations. Unfortunately, his efforts are met with failure and further complicated by the reappearance of the original Captain America and the attention other members of the Ultimates (this world's Avengers team) receive. To make matters worse, he works alongside his ex-girlfriend Betty Ross, all factors combining into a situation where Banner could Hulk out at any time, yet he does not.
In Ultimates #4 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch, Bruce Banner's rough patch continues as Betty insults and belittles him. Weeks later at the Triskelion, members of the Ultimates are distracted from increasingly negative public opinion by Fury announcing a movie is in the works with Captain America to be played by Brad Pitt. Encouraged by the distraction, Fury proceeds to cast the movie with him portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson (long before this happened in the real world), Johnny Depp playing Iron Man, Matthew McConaughey playing Hank Pym/Giant Man, and Lucy Liu portraying Janet van Dyne/the Wasp. When Hank Pym takes control talking about who should portray Bruce Banner, the suggestions range from Woody Allen to Haley Joel Osmont to Stuart Little, until it's revealed Banner was listening nearby. Deeply hurt by discovering the team belittling him behind his back, Banner runs off, with Pym observing that his actual answer was just going to be Steve Buscemi.
Fan casting has been a regular discussion with comic book fans for years and it was interesting to see the characters themselves participate, assembling a cast of the Ultimates from 2002's Hollywood. Although it would have been interesting to see Pitt's Captain America or Depp's Iron Man, the only one that became an actual reality was Samuel L. Jackson's casting as Nick Fury in 2008's Iron Man and beyond. While the discussion was fun, Hank Pym's casting can't be completely to blame for what came next, as it was the last straw following years of belittlement and frustration. Despite his past achievements and accolades, Bruce Banner failed to create the next Super Soldier, his colleagues openly disrespected him, and his relationship with Betty Ross had become deeply dysfunctional.
Hours later, Bruce called Betty to let her know that he had injected a modified version of Hulk formula mixed with Steve Rogers' blood into his body, apologizing for his weakness before explaining that he did it to give the Ultimates an impressive threat to put down and to feel "big." The resulting rampage killed dozens of people - some of who Hulk actually cannibalized - and cost millions in damages before the Hulk could be neutralized, something that haunted everyone including Bruce Banner for years to follow.
Darker and less forgiving than Marvel's mainstream reality, the Ultimate Universe took Banner's self-pity and unhealthy relationship with rage and depicted a Hulk who truly fulfilled the promise of the original, tearing down the world around him like a superpowered infant. Bruce Banner has always been a tragic figure, but The Ultimates took the surprising approach of making him even more responsible for the Hulk's horrifying violence, ironically stripping him of the affability that would have made Steve Buscemi the right actor for the role.