Bruce Banner, meet the Mark XLIV.
They’ve met before, mind you, after Tony Stark was forced to call in Veronica, a fail-safe protocol that involved launching a super-sized version of his Iron Man armor from space, in order to sedate a raging Hulk in Age of Ultron.
It’s arguably one of the standout scenes from Joss Whedon’s Avengers sequel, and though Thor: Ragnarok served up an incredible, space-faring arc for Mark Ruffalo’s hero back in November, Avengers: Infinity War is set to take things to a whole new level.
Case in point: a pocket of Marvel enthusiasts have theorized that Bruce Banner is actually the one piloting the Mark XLIV armor during Infinity War‘s maiden teaser. And though it’s impossible to know for sure at this early stage, a talented artist by the name of Chuekjai (h/t ComicBook.com) has rendered a new piece of fan art that quite literally puts the ‘Hulk’ in ‘Hulkbuster’. Check it out down below along with some awesome fan posters that surfaced earlier this week.
When it comes to the whole Bruce-Banner-piloting-the-Hulkbuster theory, it’s worth noting that during the Wakanda scenes of Infinity War‘s trailer, the Jade Giant and the Mark XLIV armor are never pictured together.
That means one of two things: either the teaser trailer was edited in such a way that Hulk and the Mark XLIV never shared the same screen, or Avengers: Infinity War is about to shake things up and place Banner in control of the armor designed solely to placate his raging alter-ego – you know, if the Hulk ever got out of control.
Desperate times, desperate measures? If nothing else, the Hulkbuster would be a handy way to transport Banner to Wakanda, given he was rooted in New York City – ditto for Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Wong and Tony Stark – in the full Avengers: Infinity War trailer. So many questions, so few answers.
