I’m convinced the MCU could use one Marvel villain perfectly to redeem the Hulk’s current story in the franchise – especially because they’ve already helped set up said villain’s debut via all three Iron Man movies. The MCU timeline hasn’t exactly had a villain shortage by any means in the years since it first began, but there are still many prominent and potent Marvel antagonists yet to face the spotlight in the franchise. This is exciting for a lot of reasons, but perhaps most prominently because it offers the chance to take the franchise in new and promising directions that otherwise might not be possible.

For example, the lore and comic stories of several Marvel villains offer ways for certain heroes to be more central to the franchise’s plot, or otherwise to adjust their overall arcs in response to them having to face these new threats. I think one such Marvel villain offers a prime chance for the MCU to redeem the Hulk’s arc in upcoming MCU releases, and could even do so in several different ways thanks to one of Marvel’s most interesting recent comic stories regarding the character.

The MCU’s Hulk Needs A Big Villain To Get Him Back On The Right Track After Brave New World Has Captain America Fight Red Hulk

The MCU’s Hulk story has stagnated in recent years – partially because of the lack of Avengers movies, since the Hulk’s MCU story has primarily been told through these crossover films, and partially because focus has been far more on other aspects of the franchise. The chance for this to be changed around seemed to present itself before the release of Captain America: Brave New World, since the story having so many major Hulk villains – including both The Leader and the Red Hulk – looked as though it would tie in naturally with the Hulk himself making an appearance.

However, this was not the case, meaning the Red Hulk’s MCU debut fight was instead against a lone Captain America, reducing the capacity with which the MCU iteration of the character can be considered an opponent of the Hulk – and limiting the chances of us getting to see a Hulk vs Hulk fight in the MCU, since Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross ends up sentenced to time in The Raft following his berserker breakdown and transformation into the Red Hulk. As such, it seems more likely that a Hulk resurgence will require other villains instead.

With The Leader also in confinement at the end of Captain America: Brave New World – and it looking perhaps too early to bring Red Hulk and The Leader back into play as central antagonists – it seems the MCU may find itself in a position where using a different comic villain to center its version of the green goliath may be a more beneficial approach. This setup seems to make one particularly interesting Marvel antagonist a prime foe for the iconic hero to face.

Marvel’s Minotaur Could Work Perfectly To Reignite The MCU’s Hulk Story

Dario Agger – also known as Marvel’s Minotaur – works on a few different levels as a prospective MCU enemy of the Hulk. Perhaps the most pressing to consider is that one of the villain’s most interesting recent stories – found within the Immortal Hulk series – sees the character effectively mind-control the general populus to revere fellow Marvel villain Xemnu rather than the Hulk, and also manage to tweak not only the general public’s perception of the Hulk in this way, but also Banner’s own perception of himself, too, with him actively forgetting he is the Hulk for a time.

This would give the MCU a chance to “reset” the hero – letting Banner and the Hulk become separate enтιтies fully again and rebuild their dynamic – or otherwise provide a viable way for the MCU to reignite the Hulk’s story by justifying some major switch-ups in terms of his overall placement in the franchise, adding some more dimension to a currently pretty stagnant point in the hero’s arc. That said, even just having the Hulk physically fight the Minotaur in full form by itself would be a majorly interesting premise that could help make up for the lack of epic Hulk fights we’ve gotten in the past few years.

It’s also worth noting that the Minotaur has been as much an antagonist for Thor as he has been for the Hulk. With this in mind, the MCU would perhaps more easily be able to bring the villain into the field for the Hulk to face, given this could be folded into a crossover story within something like Thor 5 or the upcoming Avengers movies. In this way, Agger is able to serve as a modular villain: able to easily be adjusted in a way that could suit however the MCU wants to use him, while also having plenty of story promise.

Iron Man First Set Up The Potential For The Minotaur’s Debut Almost Two Decades Ago

While Dario Agger hasn’t exactly been a name the MCU has been flinging around during its development, the franchise has actually already set the groundwork for the character’s appearance in one major way: by setting up the company he controls in the comics. Roxxon has been a part of the MCU since its very earliest days, with the original Iron Man movie showing the company was a part of the franchise’s world when Iron Man and Iron Monger’s fight sees them collide with a Roxxon truck, providing an easy-to-miss but clear signal the organization was also part of the live-action universe.

There have been an ᴀssortment of other ways Roxxon has appeared in the wider MCU, including a Roxxon car appearing in the race Whiplash and Iron Man interrupt in Iron Man 2, and Iron Man 3 featuring a Roxxon scandal regarding one of its oil tankers spilling oil into the sea. The original Daredevil show also explored a lawsuit Roxxon was looking at levying against a prior employee, wherein the unfortunate ex-worker had discussed details about one of their plants with a medical professional out of fear working there had made them ill – which helps Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson decide to start their own law firm to protect the innocent.

This builds a picture of Roxxon that certainly suggests it’s just as brutal and cutthroat of a company as the comic version that Agger oversees, meaning it would seem very much in line for the MCU to also reveal that the Minotaur has been pulling the strings with the company behind the scenes for some time. Playing off the almost two decades of these more low-key storylines in such a big way would no doubt hold a lot of benefits, but it looks like this could be most beneficial for the MCU‘s Hulk, depending on how the franchise’s cards are played.