The Subtle Hulk Detail You Missed In Shang-Chi's Mid-Credits Scene
Contains spoilers for "Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"
With the theatrical release of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," many questions surround the mid-credits and end-credits scenes. These post-credits scenes have become mainstays in all MCU films, and the ones in "Shang-Chi" are rather intriguing and exciting. In this film, Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner is back in his humanoid form after seemingly turning himself into Professor Hulk during "Avengers: Endgame." There's clearly a lot going on with the character that we're not getting to see, but hopefully with the upcoming Disney+ series "She-Hulk," we can learn more about what's going on behind the scenes.
There are quite a few characters in the mid-credits scene of "Shang-Chi," making it easy to miss some of the smaller details. One of those details has to do with Bruce's appearance and something he's sporting, and it's something that requires some consideration.
Bruce Banner's arm is in a sling
During the mid-credits scene of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," Wong (Benedict Wong) brings Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and Katy (Awkwafina) to some type of lab where he, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), and Bruce Banner examine the rings. They admit they don't fully understand the makeup of the rings, but note that they're well over 1000-years-old.
With all of this lore-building going on, it's easy to miss one seemingly small detail. Bruce's arm is in a sling — even after he reverted to his human form. In "Avengers: Endgame," Bruce wielded a version of the Infinity Gauntlet as Professor Hulk, which worked to bring all the people back from the Blip. This caused irreparable damage, even though it didn't kill him. He may never get full use of his arm back after handling that much power, and it's possible that having handled the gauntlet might slowly kill him over time. Our best guess for when we might get some answers is in "She-Hulk," which features Banner alongside his cousin Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) as the titular character.
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" is now exclusively showing in theaters, with its shortened exclusivity deal set to expire on October 18.