The Entire Hulk MCU Timeline Finally Explained

Few heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been as entertaining to follow over the years as the Hulk. The Jade Giant has one of the most interesting, albeit confusing, stories in the entire history of the MCU. From perpetual inner conflict — until more recent times, at least — to his temper, nearly limitless strength, and near invincibility, the character has plotted a uniquely absorbing story that few of his fellow heroes can match.

Of course, one extremely unique factor that complicates the big green guy's story is the fact that the overpowered hero shares a body with mild-mannered scientist Bruce Banner. The two characters remained locked in a running contest for literal self-control throughout nearly the entire Infinity Saga. 

At this point, the twofer superhero's adventure has gone through the fires of personal discovery, stretched across the galaxy and back again, and built to an incredible crescendo that few people could have predicted when he came galumphing onto the screen over a decade ago. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here — let's pick up the story at the beginning. This is the Hulk's MCU timeline, finally explained

By 2008, Banner has spent nearly half a year hiding in Brazil, where he works in a bottling factory. However, his tenuous situation is upended when General "Thunderbolt" Ross finally tracks him down. When this happens, he transforms into the Hulk, blows his cover, and goes back on the run. The ensuing adventure sees Banner return to America, where he reunites with his sweetheart, the general's daughter Betty Ross, and continues his quest to "heal" himself from the threat of turning into the Other Guy. 

Throughout these events, he's closely dogged by General Ross' forces, and even meets them head-on in front of Culver University — where he is directly confronted by a new antagonist, Emil Blonsky, a British special-ops commando injected with a Super Soldier Serum that allows him to survive his first encounter with the Hulk. After that, he escalates the threat by having the Hulk's blood transfused into his own body, an event that turns him into the Hulk-sized villain Abomination.

Meanwhile, Banner realizes the futility of trying to heal his condition and is finally taken into custody by General Ross, just in time for Abomination to appear on the scene. The revelation of the new threat forces the general to release Banner, as it quickly becomes apparent that Hulk is the only hope they have to contain the transformed Blonsky. This leads to a catastrophic showdown in Harlem, where Abomination is subdued and Hulk flees the scene.

When Banner reunites with the Avengers, they're in the early stages of fending off an invasion of Chitauri soldiers in the streets of New York City. As he heads into battle, he reveals that one thing he's learned over the years is how to willingly transform into Hulk when needed, quipping that his secret sauce is the simple fact that he's "always angry." Switching to the "Other Guy," the hero fully participates in the Battle of New York, smashing Chitauri, stopping a leviathan or two, and even gives Loki a particularly brutal smackdown in Stark Tower.

As one of the Avengers, Banner finds that he no longer needs to live perpetually in fear of arrest, and he settles into a new phase of his superhero career. At one point, he even attempts to help Tony Stark process some of the reformed playboy's own traumatic experiences, although he finds Tony's stories put him to sleep, and even confesses that he doesn't have the temperament to play the part of a therapist. Fortunately, he still has many other ways to provide a meaningful contribution.

After the events in Sokovia, the story takes a rather dramatic turn. Hulk encounters a wormhole while flying through space and suddenly finds himself crash-landing on the strange garbage planet known as Sakaar. Once there, his powerful physique and fighting prowess naturally guarantee that he eventually finds his way to the leader of the planet, the Grandmaster, who recruits him as one of his gladiators, a position uniquely suited to Hulk's violence-prone temperament. Hulk remains in the driver's seat for the next two Earth years. It isn't until 2017 that the cover is finally blown on his self-imposed exile when he finds himself confronted in gladiatorial combat by none other than his fellow Avenger, Thor.

After a duel between the two very evenly matched opponents, the pair retire to Hulk's private quarters where they discuss what to do next, a conversation that reveals that Hulk has learned quite a few new words over the last couple of years. While Hulk has no desire to leave his comfy situation, he does show Thor where the Quinjet landed, which inadvertently exposes him to a recording of Black Widow that allows Banner to regain control.

Hulk's absence from the first round of the war against Thanos serves as a crisis point for the hero. While it initially has catastrophic consequences, it ultimately leads the temperamental science experiment to the next step in his story's evolution. During the five years after Thanos snaps away half of the universe, Banner and Hulk finally confront one another in an attempt to find some kind of middle ground. The results: Smart Hulk.

Realizing that he needs to stop seeing Hulk as a problem, Banner decides to embrace his alter ego as "the cure" to his maladies. He dives back into his long-dormant gamma radiation research and spends 18 months in a lab, fusing his own consciousness and intellect with Hulk's physical prowess. 

The results of this new round of experiments officially bring the two-sided character together into one personality for the first time in the MCU. From there, "Smart Hulk" or "Professor Hulk," as he's commonly referred to, kickstarts a new career based on his newfound image. Over the next five years, he builds a new, positive persona as a popular hero. He helps local law enforcement, saves people from burning buildings, and does all those great things that normal heroes who aren't perpetually hung up on epic inner conflict typically do to help those in need.

While Smart Hulk's evolution from a conflicted, destructive, bipolar hero to a knowledgeable, caring, impactful member of the team is apparent throughout the events of 2023, there's one action he takes in particular that stands above all of the rest. 

After the team has traveled through time and gathered the Infinity Stones, they return to the Avengers Headquarters in Upstate New York in order to officially assemble Stark's version of the Infinity Gauntlet. Once that gauntlet is complete, though, the question is who will put it on and snap their fingers.

Thor makes a pretty good case that he should be the one to do it, but ultimately it's Hulk that steps up, declaring that his gamma radiation makes him the perfect candidate for the job. He dons the gauntlet and snaps his fingers, restoring half of the universe in an instant — and causing permanent damage to his arm in the process. The magnanimous action is indicative of how far the character has come since those early days of inner turmoil, hot tempers, and childish behavior. At the end of the day, it's Hulk that makes the sacrifice play and brings back half of the universe in the process.