Looking Back At The Hulk’s MCU Arc, The Franchise Has A Way Better Opportunity To Make A Game-Changing Storyline Happen Than I’d Previously Realised

The MCU may be sitting on a game-changing story arc for the Hulk if his cinematic story so far is anything to go by. At this point, Bruce Banner and the Hulk feel like two of the most underserved characters in the MCU, with the cinematic franchise opting to sidestep delving into Bruce Banner’s compelling and tragic backstory and nerfing Hulk to make other heroes appear more powerful by comparison. This is a real shame, even if the fact that The Incredible Hulk is the MCU’s lowest-grossing movie for over 15 years makes it somewhat understandable.

Still, it isn’t as if Hulk’s MCU career is over. I’m hopeful that Mark Ruffalo is among the names that are still to be announced for Avengers: Doomsday, even if a little miffed his name wasn’t included alongside fellow Avengers and Revengers founder, Chris Hemsworth. After all, if Avengers movies are the only spaces in which Hulk’s story gets to be fleshed out, then he’s due another spotlight, and I know exactly where Marvel can take him.

The MCU’s Hulk Storyline Has Stagnated Since Avengers: Endgame

Smart Hulk Has Barely Featured In The Multiverse Saga

The Infinity Saga was dedicated to the original Avengers, with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, in particular, taking center stage. While Thor didn’t receive a heartfelt send-off in Avengers: Endgame (which I’m happy about), his story persisted into the Multiverse Saga with Thor: Love and Thunder, making him the only Avenger (so far) with four solo movies. The same courtesy, unfortunately, was never extended to Hulk, who also survived the events of Avengers: Endgame and proceeded to take his place in the sidelines.

This is especially egregious when considering nearly the entire cast of Hulk’s debut movie reappeared in Captain America: Brave New World. The closest we have gotten to Smart Hulk’s story progressing beyond orchestrating the Blip in Avengers: Endgame is an off-screen side-story in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, where his main role was to bestow his cousin with and then tutor her on her Hulk powers. Despite She-Hulk ending with a Hulk-related bombshell in the form of his secret son, Skaar, there is still no sign of this narrative thread being addressed in a future MCU installment.

The MCU’s Smart Hulk Is Theoretically A Perfect Way To Open Up An Unused Part Of The Character’s Story If Used Right

Smart Hulk Suggests More Hulk Personas

Before Skaar and Jen Walters, the biggest thing that happened to Hulk was his transformation into Smart Hulk, which, again, occurred off-screen during a five-year time-jump. Setting aside yet another sidelining of Hulk’s story, this transformation does at least reveal that the MCU is open to exploring one of the most interesting aspects of Bruce Banner in Marvel Comics. Smart Hulk is based on Professor Hulk in Marvel Comics, which is just one of several iterations of the Hulk all based on Bruce Banner’s dissociative idenтιтy disorder. Other Hulk personas in Marvel Comics include:

Savage Hulk
Grey Hulk/Joe Fixit
The Maestro
Guilt Hulk
The Green Scar
Worldbreaker Hulk
Devil Hulk
Kluh/Sad Hulk

The Green Scar was Hulk’s persona while living on Sakaar in Marvel Comics, meaning this iteration may have been adapted in Thor: Ragnarok.

Each variation of the Hulk embodies a certain aspect of Bruce Banner’s tortured psyche, with Professor Hulk/Smart Hulk arguably being the most composed. Then again, Joe Fixit is also a compost mentis version of the Hulk that could easily be adapted from the Smart Hulk persona currently in the MCU, seeing him become a more morally ambiguous version of the character. Whatever the case, the MCU is sitting on a narrative goldmine.

Why Showing The Different Sides Of The Hulk Would Be Good For The MCU

It Opens Up Wider Narrative Possibilities

Put simply, there is a Hulk for all occasions in Marvel Comics. One of the main criticisms levelled at Smart Hulk is that he isn’t as fun or interesting as his predecessor, and Bruce Banner’s contributions to the MCU could be even more engaging if a new manifestation of his Hulk persona were to arise within any narrative circumstance. My hope is that Skaar is heralding a World War Hulk adaptation, and that Worldbreaker Hulk – a ruinous version of the Hulk that gives Earth’s Mightiest Heroes real cause for concern as he is ostensibly at his most powerful.

Bringing forth a new Hulk would be the perfect way of opening up an exploration of Bruce Banner’s tragic backstory, something that the character sorely needs before a possible reboot of the MCU writes him out of it entirely.

It would additionally add further depth to Bruce Banner by having alternative Hulks appear as representations of his fractured psyche. As it stands, Bruce Banner is not only at peace with a condition he once decried as a curse, but rendered a far less compelling contributor to the MCU as a result. Bringing forth a new Hulk would be the perfect way of opening up an exploration of Bruce Banner’s tragic backstory, something that the character sorely needs before a possible reboot of the MCU writes him out of it entirely.

Hulk

Created By: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
First Appearance: The Incredible Hulk (1962)
Alias: Robert Bruce Banner
Alliance: Avengers, Defenders, Horsemen of Apocalypse, Fantastic Four, Pantheon, Warbound, S.M.A.S.H., Secret Avengers
Franchise: Marvel