The 5 Best And 5 Worst Things About The Hulk Of The MCU

If you're still trying to avoid Avengers: Endgame spoilers, stop reading now. It's time to take a close look at just where the Infinity Saga's finale has left Marvel's green giant.

It seems a relatively safe assumption that Hulk's (Mark Ruffalo) smashing days are over in the MCU. While he survived Avengers: Endgame and didn't wind up aged like Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), the Hulk was the only Avenger powerful enough to wield the Infinity Stones in Endgame and undo Thanos' Infinity War decimation. Hulk's right arm was horribly scarred by the feat, and at the end of the film the arm is still in a cast. Speaking with ComicBook.com, co-director Joe Russo confirmed the damage to Hulk's arm is permanent. "He's lost an arm... that's not coming back." Russo said. "It's irreversible."

So with what appears to be the Hulk's MCU sunset here, it's a good time to review Marvel's films and take a look at what was great about their depictions of the Green Goliath, and what wasn't so great. From breaking the traditional superhero mold to surviving a rare MCU re-cast to being besieged by complex movie rights issues, the Hulk has been unique in Marvel's movie pantheon. The situation has proven challenging for filmmakers, and at times frustrating to the hero's hardcore fans. 

Taking all of that into account, here's what we think are the five best and five worst things about the Hulk of the MCU.

For a myriad of reasons, we didn't get to see another solo Hulk movie after 2008's Incredible Hulk. Fans of the character had to settle for Avengers flicks and his co-star spot in Thor: Ragnarok (unless you count the Iron Man 3 post-credits cameo, and you shouldn't). And hey, that's pretty good. A president of, say, the Moon Knight fan club might understandably tell a complaining Hulk fan to be grateful and stop whining. 

The problem is that as a result of the character not getting his own solo vehicle, he's never the focus. In Ragnarok, the spotlight's mainly on Thor (which is fair, since his name is half of the movie's title). In the various Avengers entries he needs to share time with the rest of the team, and even when Hulk takes center stage, things are usually revolving around his relationships with them. In Avengers, a lot of his time is focused on his growing friendship with Stark and his questioning over whether he belongs with the team at all. In Age of Ultron, everything is about his unpopular relationship with Natasha (Scarlett Johansson). We barely see the "Other Guy" in Infinity War, and while he was an integral part of Endgame, so much was left unexplained and unanswered.

Just as David Banner (Bill Bixby) always found himself back on the road at the end of every episode of his Incredible Hulk show, the Hulk of the MCU never had a home, and it showed.

While the filmmakers have done an admirable job of making the most out of the difficulties in bringing Hulk to the screen, that doesn't mean the bumps in the road haven't shown themselves. In Ragnarok, Banner tells Thor that if he turns into the Hulk again, he might never be able to change back. This is completely forgotten. The Hulk is largely absent from Infinity War, and while the directors answered the question of why, it's never directly explained in the narrative of either Infinity War or Endgame. Banner's words to Hulk about working things out at the end of Infinity War hint at the kind of Hulk/Banner confrontation Mark Ruffalo teased, but instead we get an all-too-brief explanation about Banner doing more lab work on himself. 

Important Hulk mythos characters like Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), Abomination (Tim Roth), Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), and Leonard Samson (Ty Burrell) are never heard from after Incredible Hulk. General Ross (William Hurt) returns as Secretary Ross, but he's never even in the same room as Banner.   

By the way... why is Bruce Banner not in jail or at least on the run in Endgame? Before Infinity War, the last time most people in the MCU saw the Hulk, he was wanted for tearing apart Johannesburg. In Endgame he's dabbing for fans in a diner. Did Thanos' snap kill everyone's memories too?

You're familiar with the Worf Effect, even if you don't know it. It refers to Worf (Michael Dorn) from Star Trek: The Next Generation and how often he got his Klingon butt handed to him. It's a TV and film trope used to convince the audience a villain is a threat by having the villain take out the biggest, strongest good guy before anyone else. That brings us to the outcome of the Hulk's battle with Thanos in the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War. Unfortunately, not only does Hulk not show up again in Infinity War after getting Worfed, he doesn't even get a rematch in Endgame. 

A different but similar thing happens in Thor: Ragnarok. Instead of being used to convince you the villain is a threat, the Hulk is used to teach you something new about the main hero — namely, Thor's emerging lightning powers. When the two fight in the arena, Thor's near-victory makes no sense. Looking at the trouble Thor has with Loki and Ultron (James Spader) in previous movies — and in comparison how both villains are hardly nuisances to the Hulk — it becomes clear that Thor should've been out long before Odin (Anthony Hopkins) had the chance to send him psychic help.

This is another unfortunate side effect of the Hulk not having his own solo franchise. Without it, he's left as a tool to push forward the narratives of other characters. 

So, we know Bruce Banner is always angry. But... why? 

In the comics, we don't need to ask why. Banner was regularly beaten by his father, who eventually beat his mother to death. That trauma splintered Banner's personality, creating the character that would later be given physical form when he's exposed to lethal amounts of gamma radiation. We get none of this background in the films. In fact, we don't learn anything about his family. A deleted scene from Thor: Ragnarok has Banner mentioning his regret over missing the death of his father because he was too busy with work, a notion any Hulk comic book fan would find strange, considering that in the comics, it's Banner who kills his own father. 

In Age of Ultron, after Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) uses her powers on various Avengers, we get to see the visions that visit each character... except Bruce Banner. His visions send the Hulk into a homicidal rage. What does he see? It's bound to be more interesting than what the other Avengers see (which always seems to include dancing for some reason), but all we know is the aftermath. 

It seemed like maybe, with Avengers: Endgame and the need for Banner and Hulk to find some kind of peace with one another, we'd finally get at least a snapshot of that piece of the Hulk's comic book mythos. But, unfortunately, no dice. We got The Dab.

With the news that the Hulk permanently lost the use of his arm in Avengers: Endgame, so much potential is lost along with it. 

Of Marvel's marquee heroes, the Hulk is one of the most unique. He's a man at war with the world around him — the same world he ends up saving — as well as being at war with himself. He's a character whose abusive past could open narrative channels that have gone unexplored in the MCU. As Bruce Banner, he's a cerebral hero... and unlike Tony Stark, he's one who doesn't hide behind a billionaire playboy act. He's a good-hearted but thoroughly damaged man whose potential for both light and darkness are without limit. 

He isn't the only one benched by Avengers: Endgame, but arguably he's the only one benched with the surface of their narrative potential barely being scratched. Mark Ruffalo, Joss Whedon, Taika Waititi, and the Russo brothers did wonders with the Green Goliath, and it's a shame they couldn't do more. 

But, among other things, he did get to sucker punch Thor that one time. And that was all kinds of awesome.