Avengers: Infinity War, the biggest movie of this decade is now out in digital HD for us to own. It was a movie that had so many fan-pleasing and epic moments that we could not grasp all that at once, which is why it required multiple viewings. It was a massive undertaking as Marvel brought alive 60+ comic-book characters of relevance.
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The movie had been in the making for a decade as 18 MCU films preceding all led to this epic clash between Thanos and Avengers Assemble. It was totally worth the wait as there were big jaw-dropping moments right from the beginning as we got a battle between the Hulk and Thanos, where the Mad Titan beat his ass like a Cherokee Drum.
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Right from that moment, the Hulk was scarred for life. Never before have we seen this incredibly powerful monster so helpless and weak. He beat the crap out of Loki, called him ‘puny god’and incurred significant damage to Chittauri army in the Battle of New York. But Thanos proved to be an insurmountable challenge for him and he had his clock cleaned for good.
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As we saw throughout the movie that Hulk refused to actually come out once he got the beating from Thanos. After facing off against Thanos in the Asgardian Refugee ship in the beginning of the movie and being soundly defeated (and humiliated), the Hulk said “NOOOOOOO” when Banner called out to the Green Giant to take charge. Bruce Banner attempted multiple times to bring out the monster within but every time he failed to transform.
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This has led many of us to believe that the Hulk is now really scared to fight. After the extreme humiliation that he got from Thanos, he is hiding behind Banner, refusing to take control even in the harsh situations. Is Hulk traumatized for life? Will he ever come out and take over? Have we got this right? Could there be any other reason for him not coming out?
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Well, Director Joe Russo thinks that there is another reason for that as he is not hiding and neither is he scared. Here’s what the co-director of Infinity War said about Hulk’s peculiar behavior:
“I think people have interpreted it as Hulk’s scared. I mean, certainly, that’s not a… I don’t know that the Hulk is ever… he’s had his ass kicked before, and he loves a good fight. But I think that it’s really reflective of the journey from Ragnarok,” the director said. “These two characters are constantly in conflict with each other over control. And I think that if the Hulk were to say why, it’d be Banner only wants Hulk for fighting. I think he’s had enough of saving Banner’s a**.”
So that is why the Hulk never wanted to come out. After being so many years as the Hulk, the hulk is now tired of being the one pulling the levers in Banner’s mind. He just wants to rest for now. The Hulk never let Banner out of his body, refusing to transform back into his human form, while on his time doing gladiator matches in Sakaar.
While after the battle, he refused to come out realizing the fact that banner only wants him out when he needs to be in a big fight. But after this big brawl against Thanos, he is just unwilling to go out and save Banner’s scientific butt once again. So Banner has to rely upon himself and his brains.
Now the writers have also talked about this matter and here’s what Christopher Markus had to say:
“Here we see the beginnings of Bruce’s issues.”
Joe Russo continued to say:
“People speculated whether there was some fear on the Hulk’s part about having to face Thanos again but I think ultimately what it is is that he’s tired of playing hero to Bruce Banner.”
Stephen McFeely also chimed in:
“With a movie with 23 named heroes that you know from other movies, one of the challenges is to give people the briefest complete arc. Banner has to rely on himself is essentially the briefest one line arc in this movie.”
Joe Russo concluded the conversation:
“This was an interesting journey that we went on with Banner, trying to decide how to move him forward in the Marvel. What makes him unique as a character is that there’s a host body that is being fought over by two distinct personalities who hate each other. Both want control of the host body. We though an interesting direction to take him in is, ‘Well, what if Banner, who typically uses the Hulk to solve crisis situations, what if the Hulk were no longer interested in solving those problems for Banner?’ So, the relationship is becoming increasingly dysfunctional and that’s what’s going on here.”
The Incredible Hulk has always gotten a raw deal in the MCU as Hulk solo movie remained a “no-go” zone. The fans have fought tooth and nail over demand for a standalone Hulk movie starring Mark Ruffalo but their screams fell on deaf ears. Finally, Marvel Studios decided to offer an Oliver branch to Hulk fans. Mark Ruffalo revealed in an interview that Thor: Ragnarok is the beginning of Hulk trilogy of sorts. He said:
“So basically, Kevin Feige pulled me aside before this, and said, ‘If you were gonna do a… if we were going to do a standalone Hulk movie, what would it be?’ And I said, ‘I think it should be this, this, this, and this and this, and ends up like this.’ And he’s like, ‘I love that. Why don’t we do that in the next three movies, starting with Thor 3 and then we go into Avengers 3 and 4.’ And I was like, ‘That sounds great!’ And so we are at the beginning of this arc.”
In other words, Hulk’s whole storyline has been turned into a three-movie arc starting from Thor: Ragnarok where he was feeling really good about himself, going through Infinity War where he suffered a big blow and it will end with Avengers 4 where he will redefine himself and finally be his strongest self.
Avengers: Infinity War is now the highest grossing superhero movie ever with over $2 Billion in Box office sales. The official movie synopsis reads:
“Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk and the rest of the Avengers unite to battle their most powerful enemy yet — the evil Thanos. On a mission to collect all six Infinity Stones, Thanos plans to use the artifacts to inflict his twisted will on reality. The fate of the planet and existence itself has never been more uncertain as everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment”.
Avengers 4 comes out on May 3, 2019. The brief synopsis reads:
“A culmination of 22 interconnected films, the fourth installment of the Avengers saga will draw audiences to witness the turning point of this epic journey. Our beloved heroes will truly understand how fragile this reality is and the sacrifices that must be made to uphold it.”
