Avengers: Infinity War was a massive movie and we had never seen anything of this scale before this film came out last year. It presented some very interesting story arcs for certain characters, and one of the big twists of the film was the non-emergence of Hulk. After getting the beat down of his life, he never really wanted to come out. Avengers: Endgame is supposed to explain why that happened, and how that will be fixed, but we may already have the answer to that.
While people thought that he did not want to come out because he’s afraid, the Russos suggested an alternate answer. They hinted that Hulk could just be tired of fighting Banner. That could be true, but there’s a part of that truth that we all have been ignoring. Reddit user donotmatthews has presented a point which truly has some merit to it. And what’s great about it is that it comes from a scene of Thor: Ragnarok that is actually funny, but still delivers the message.
Here’s what the Redditor wrote:
“In Thor Ragnarok the Hulk is on Sakaar for a pretty long time it seems. In this time he doesn’t allow Banner to take back control, learns to speak pretty well, and even has a new friend in Valkyrie. His mental state seems to be that of a child around 7 years old, give or take a few years.
Eventually Thor and Hulk duke it out and afterwards end up in Hulk’s room. Thor and Hulk get into an argument and Thor says some really mean things to the Hulk. Thor ends up apologizing for everything he says except for one thing, he tells Hulk that everyone hates him on Earth anyways. From the scene, those words look like they really affected Hulk.
After that, Hulk fights on Asgard with no problems, and fights on the rescue ship with no problem. He is then sent to Earth, where everyone hates him. In Hulk’s little kid brain he takes this literally that EVERYONE hates him. So when he’s being asked to fight, he won’t, he’s pouting, and doesn’t want to help a planet that hates him. It could also be he’s afraid of hurting more people like last time. I don’t believe it has anything to do with Thanos and it has everything to do with being back on Earth.”
So yea, it is not just that the Hulk doesn’t want to fight anymore because he was tired of it, but the fact that he doesn’t feel accepted on Earth could also play a key factor. Scarlet Witch showed him a mystery vision which sent him into berserker rage wanting to smash everyone and everything in his way.
Veronica was enough to stop him, but Thor did hit a nerve when he said that Earth really hates him. For 2 years, he was a champion on Sakar and people celebrated him, but that isn’t the case on Earth.
It is more or less a given that we will get Professor Hulk will be in Avengers: Endgame and Bruce will figure out the problem that the Hulk is facing. So let’s see whether this is a part of that problem or not. But we know thing becoming professor Hulk would mean that Hulk and Banner will accept each other. So the split personalities that are constantly at conflict will start to work as one.
Here’s the official Synopsis of Avengers: Endgame:
“After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins due to the efforts of the Mad Titan, Thanos. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers must assemble once more in order to undo Thanos’ actions and restore order to the universe once and for all, no matter what consequences may be in store.”
Do you think this is the reason why Hulk did not emerge? Tell us in the comments.
