Ever since the first Hulk movie, MCU has demonstrated Bruce Banner in a constant conflict with his counterpart. That was until Banner worked out a way to combine both of his identities during the blip in Avengers: Endgame. That was a big step for the character but somehow Marvel missed explaining this mystery, given the size of the movie. So, even though they forgot to explain things in Phase 3, the Phase 4 movies can perfectly explain everything about the missing Hulk mystery from Endgame.
Avengers: Endgame saw some of the biggest character changes in the 5 years gap. During this time, every superhero dealt with the guilt of losing to Thanos in their way. Some superheroes went into a depression-like Thor and Hawkeye, some tried to adapt to the new conditions like Cap and Natasha. But some of them tried to improve on their mistakes by bettering themselves, or their tech, as in the case of Iron Man. As for Bruce Banner, he falls in the category that worked to better themselves.
Like many superheroes, Banner may have blamed himself for the Avengers’ defeat, because he couldn’t turn into The Hulk. So it made sense when we found out that he had experimented on himself with gamma rays to combine his two personalities. And he was successful in doing so, hence the Smart Hulk in Endgame.
However, Marvel writers seemed to have missed the part where it was their problem to explain this mysterious transformation. Or was it deliberate? Like they were waiting for Phase 4 to explain. Because if they were, there are two Phase 4 projects where they could perfectly clarify this mystery.
SHE-HULK CAN EXPLAIN BANNER’S SMART HULK TRANSFORMATION!
She-Hulk is the first of the two projects that could show Banner’s Smart-Hulk transformation properly. Given that the show is about another Hulk character, Marvel writers could properly show how Banner managed to merge himself with Hulk. From what we can tell after the trailer, the show will see Bruce Banner training Jennifer Walters on how to keep her conscience while being in her Hulk form. This is something that Bruce never learned for the better part of his life.
On top of that, we might finally see if the Smart-Hulk state is permanent. We doubt this because of his brief appearance in Shang-Chi’s post-credits scene where he appeared in human form. And considering that we see Jen going back and forward with her Hulk persona, we might see Banner teaching her how to do that. After all, he would have mastered it by now if he had been at it since the blip.
SECRET INVASION COULD BE THE PROJECT TO SOLVE THE MYSTERY!
After the snap, Marvel’s time jumped by 5 years, and never showed what happened in those 5 years except in some projects. TFatWS gave an idea of a kind of peace that spread over the world. Hawkeye saw Clint in his Ronin days, but nothing much. So, given that Secret Invasion will be set during those 5 years, this could be the first project to dive into the years MCU calls the blip. Banner was also known to have been experimenting on himself during those years, so his inclusion in the series as a subplot is plausible.
Hulk has been one of the doomed Marvel characters for a lot of reasons, the primary being the deal with Universal. But even if you exclude that, Hulk has been in so many supporting roles that even when he went through a big transformation, it was overshadowed by time travel and Iron Man’s sacrifice. So even though he might appear as a supporting character in Secret Invasion, we hope that we see him in She-Hulk as a major character. This could finally be where he explains his transformation and takes the spotlight while doing it.
What are your thoughts about this missing Hulk mystery? Let us know your answers down in the comments.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter for more content.
Also Watch:
