It’s been a rough year for Bruce Banner and his green alter ego, between Hulk’s defeat at the hands of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, to Bruce’s failure to prevent the subsequent Decimation. But according to a new theory courtesy of ComicBook.com, Avengers: Endgame could reveal one more depressing twist for Mark Ruffalo’s character.
For context, it’s observed that while Bruce and Hulk occupy the same body, the two of them are essentially separate beings, with Infinity War in particular demonstrating how Hulk has thoughts and feelings of his own that often conflict with Bruce’s needs. With that in mind, the theory goes that Hulk himself may have been among the victims of the snap, leaving Bruce alone as the sole inhabitant of his body.
Though there’s not a lot of evidence to back up this idea, you could certainly argue that snapping away one half of this duo would fit nicely with the theme of reducing the population to tackle resource scarcity (the ‘resource’ in this case being Bruce’s body), while also allowing for an emotional reunion that would resolve the arc of their relationship.
Nonetheless, the suggestion definitely has its issues, perhaps the biggest of them all being that the twist probably wouldn’t fare well with fans.
To elaborate, after Hulk sat out most of Infinity War, you can imagine there’d be significant backlash if we barely saw him in the sequel as well. It’s no accident that the six Phase 1 Avengers were still left standing after the Decimation, and just as viewers would be seriously disappointed if Tony Stark spent the entire movie stuck drifting through space, audiences are expecting Hulk to make up for lost time in a big way.
In any case, we’ll find out what’s in store for this most erratic of heroes when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.