The Incredible Hulk is one of the MCU’s most iconic superheroes, yet the lead-up to Avengers: Doomsday has made it clear that the franchise still doesn’t know what to do with him. Avengers: Endgame Encore, the rerelease of the MCU’s 2019 hit, features several new scenes, one of which features Bruce Banner in the aftermath of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The scene is a video log of Bruce as he experiments in seclusion due to the return of the Savage Hulk, only for Doom to appear and seemingly absorb Hulk’s energy. This is clearly a major setup for Doomsday, with Hulk going from unconfirmed to potentially one of the film’s most important characters.
However, this Hulk scene also shines a light on how poorly the MCU has handled the character, a criticism that fans have had for years now. Despite being one of Marvel’s most iconic heroes, he hasn’t been represented well in the MCU, and the franchise may be running out of time to fix it.
There are several problems with Endgame Encore‘s Hulk scene, all of which point to fundamental flaws in how the MCU has handled Bruce. The main narrative appeal of Bruce Banner is his battle to maintain control of the Hulk, with the character clearly being reminiscent of similar stories like Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Unfortunately, this internal battle has been given very little focus in the MCU, and what has been shown was mostly surrounding Ed Norton’s incarnation of the character, not Mark Ruffalo’s. Since Bruce has been Smart Hulk since Endgame, it is shocking that Doomsday is skipping over another opportunity to explore Bruce’s internal battle in favor of having him be incapacitated by Doom before the movie even starts.
On top of that, this is another key Hulk storyline that has happened offscreen. Many of Hulk’s most significant MCU storylines have happened in between films, such as Hulk’s time on Sakaar, the birth of his son, his transformation into Smart Hulk, and the invention of his gamma inhibitor. While rights issues make Hulk solo movies difficult, this storylines could have at least been major parts of crossover movies rather than merely explained through exposition.
Even when Hulk does appear on screen in MCU projects, the character often suffers from a lack of agency. Rather than exploring the internal battle, movies like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Brand New Day have Hulk rampages that are prompted by mind-controlling villains. Similarly, Bruce doesn’t have the ability to turn into Hulk at all in Infinity War, and Doom seemingly will have stolen his powers in Doomsday. We rarely get to see Bruce while he has the potential to turn into Savage Hulk, meaning that his main superpower and conflict are both shoved to the sideline in nearly every appearance he has.
Hulk is a character with a pretty clear appeal, and tons of other adaptations and comic book storylines have been able to explore this arc without a problem. While the Hulk rights issues definitely complicate things for the MCU, that still isn’t an excuse for how poorly the franchise has handled this iteration of the character. Most other Marvel characters have received fantastic adaptations in the MCU, with Hulk being the biggest outlier.
This Endgame Encore scene implies that Hulk will have a role in Doomsday and Secret Wars, which is undoubtedly much better than him not appearing in the film at all. However, this may be the MCU’s last chance to address these issues. After all, Ruffalo is 58 years old as of the writing of this article, and it is hard to imagine him playing an action hero forever as he continues to age. It’s something that puts a timeline on where to go with the character and that’s even more concerning when you look at the future of the MCU as we currently know it.
There are no confirmed appearances for Hulk after these Avengers films, and of the announced projects, none of them have a reason to include the character. So, Doomsday and Secret Wars need to spend a lot of time doing the Hulk justice after so many projects have failed. Making these films his big farewell would be good enough, as long as he gets the spotlight. However, this Endgame Encore scene has definitely gotten things off to a rough start.
I hope the MCU will finally do right by the Hulk. Do you think they can? Let us know in the comments.
