Avengers: Endgame was just the perfect movie for us as fans. Marvel did tell us a very compelling story by tying all the lose threads left by the previous films, but they did the greatest fan service with this film. While we got the greatest battle of a Superhero movie in this one, the best part about it were the slow moments that not only brought the story to its end, but also evolved the characters into something that they were not before. But there was one little disappointment for something that didn’t happen in the entire movie.
Spoilers Follow.
Well, I’m not complaining about anything in this film, except one little element. People left the theatres totally satisfied and happy, and so did I. But there was one aspect that was missing from the film. The story wasn’t bad without it, but adding that aspect would have made it even better. That little element is Hulk vs. Thanos.
The last 3 films of the Hulk have been following a 3 story arc for him. The first one was Thor: Ragnarok, where we got a reinvented Hulk, who finally got the reigns over Bruce Banner. By the time we reach Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos beats Hulk up, and he goes back into his shell, giving Banner the control. This was taken by most people wrongly as everyone thought that Hulk didn’t want to come out because he was afraid.
As the directors explained, Hulk was resisting an appearance because he was tired of being angry all the time, and he was tired of saving Banner’s ass repeatedly. Infinity War ended with Banner saying that he has a lot of figuring out to do with Hulk. As Avengers: Endgame begun, we saw a big green Bruce Banner who had clearly merged himself with the Hulk.
There was a 5 year time jump in the film and that was used to explain how Bruce got the Hulk to emerge again. Apparently, he had spent 18 months in a Gamma Lab, and accepted the Hulk as a cure willingly. Hulk got to be the brawns while Banner got to be the brains. Their split personalities merged and the product was the best of both the worlds. Or was it?
In the comics, Banner also builds a fail switch into professor Hulk, where if the Hulk starts to get angry, he would immediately turn back into Banner. But here we didn’t see anything of that sorts. In fact Banner was almost incapable of being Angry. Sure he does have all this power of the Hulk, but he doesn’t use it as well as Hulk previously did.
When Prof. Hulk, Steve, Tony, and Scott go back to the battle of New York in 2012, they spot the Hulk from that timeline smashing the Chittauri soldiers, and Professor Hulk was actually ashamed of that. When asked to smash a few things on his way to the Sanctum, he could not even act being half as angry as the old Hulk. While it was funny to watch, the point I am getting towards here is that the Hulk was turned into a big green Dabbing Teddy bear!
Even the death of Natasha did not bring out the slightest of rage in him. All he did was throw a bench away. We get that this was a transformation where the Hulk isn’t just all about smashing, as he is also about the brains, but if we could have got a few cool fight scenes involving him here and there, then things might have been much better, and totally complete.
We get why the Hulk was really important in this story, as he was the only one strong enough to go through with the second snap. That part was beautifully set up for him. Back in 2012, Erik Selvig revealed that the Tesseract emits Gamma Radiation, and that is why Bruce Banner was brought into play, in order to track that radiation. Here the new Hulk says that the radiation emitted by the Gauntlet is mostly Gamma, and it was like the Hulk was designed to go through the Snap.
He wore the Gauntlet and snapped his fingers, safely bringing the earlier snap victims back. He survived the damage, but the disappointment comes after this. Now I’m not saying that the movie was bad or anything, and most of you may not even share my opinion. I totally love the story, but what I feel is that the Hulk was only used for the Snap. There was nothing to follow that.
Right after the snap, Thanos attacked the Avengers facility, and the Hulk helped Rocket and Rhodey survive while the big three heroes of the MCU fought Thanos. But after coming out of the debris, there was absolutely nothing shown off the Hulk. He hit one of the Outriders, and told everyone that the stones were to be taken back in time. That was it for him.
Before the film came out, we were all expecting his second face off with Thanos. Reports even suggested that we could see the World Breaker Hulk as a courtesy of Natasha’s death, or using the Infinity Gauntlet, which could have taken a toll upon his mind for a while. Both of those theories became a reality, but not the World Breaker part. The Hulk walked into battle, but he never got an iconic moment in it.
Sure the Hulk has become much more peaceful, and less Angrier, but he still is the Hulk. He still has to smash a little bit. Every major hero got a big moment in the battle. Cap lifted Mjolnir, Thor was brought in his lightning, Black Panther got a very cool Relay, Spidey brought in the Instant Kill, Captain Marvel got her one on one with Thanos, and ultimately Iron Man snapped his fingers. But what did the Hulk do? Absolutely nothing.
Yes, everyone came back because of him, but he didn’t even come as close to Thanos. Even Jon Snow got a little closer to the Night King, but the Hulk was never in a frame. I guess if the creatives could have allowed him to punch Thanos just once, things might have been a 100% perfect.
Avengers: Endgame was still a very beautiful movie and I am 99% satisfied with what it was. But a Hulk vs. Thanos, or even a few seconds of it would have made thing so amazing! Let’s just hope that the Hulk is used well in the future of the MCU. After all, Red Hulk is expected to appear and Abomination is expected to return. So let’s see what happens.
Directed by Joe & Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Danai Gurira, Peter Dinklage, Benedict Wong, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Brolin, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Chris Pratt, Paul Rudd, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Tessa Thompson, Evangeline Lilly, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, Tilda Swinton, Ty Simpkins, Ava Russo and Brie Larson.
Here’s the new synopsis of Avengers: Endgame:
“Thanos snapped his fingers in Avengers: Infinity War, and half the life in the universe instantly dissolved. Now a ragged group of surviving warriors, including Captain America, Black Widow, Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk works to counteract the Mad Titan’s genocidal action.
Since our heroes couldn’t stop Thanos the first time, what makes them think they can win in a rematch? The answer may be in overwhelming power, thanks to Captain Marvel, or in the tiniest spaces between atoms accessible to Ant-Man. Avengers: Endgame will rewrite the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. When it’s all over, nothing will be the same.”
