Bruce Banner and Loki have each been the subject of various fan theories for their unexpected arcs in Avengers: Infinity War – the former for his inability to transform into the Hulk and the latter for, well, dying. It seems like a logical progression from here for theories to start emerging that attempt to kill two birds with one stone, and hence some are speculating that Bruce was merely Loki in disguise, with the trickster having faked his death to evade Thanos.
If that ideas seems pretty unlikely at face value, then it’s probably because it is, with a new Reddit post suggesting a whole list of reasons why this isn’t just another one of Loki’s feats of deception. The first argument presented by user SicariusREAL may not be the most compelling of the bunch, but already we’re seeing a few cracks in the theory.
“While in Wakanda, a little bit before Cull Obsidian died, he said something around the lines of ‘Hulk got beat the crap out of with this thing!’ He was talking about the HulkBuster suit and I don’t recall Loki seeing the HulkBuster beat up Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
SicariusREAL then addresses one piece of evidence that some have used to back up the theory: that the Hulk – or at least Loki pretending to be the Hulk – got thoroughly trounced in his fight with Thanos.
“Also, the reason why Hulk got beat up so easily is because Thanos was doing his very best, which is why he took off his armor after he got 2 infinity stones, and why Captain America could easily hold him off. Probably because Thanos thought he was so strong that he didn’t have to try anymore after wielding 5 infinity stones pretty much shows how cocky he is.”
Indeed, the Russo Brothers themselves have confirmed that Thanos doesn’t need any Infinity Stones to beat the Hulk, and that the Mad Titan went somewhat easier on his enemies once he had more stones in his possession.
The user raises a couple more points in their post – including the obvious observation that Bruce is shown struggling to transform even when he has no audience in need of convincing – but ultimately throws a rope to the people who want Thor’s adopted brother to be alive so badly that they’re willing to create such theories.
“In the end, Loki IS NOT BANNER But hear me, and rejoice, Loki may be brought back through time travel. As explained in Ant-Man and the Wasp, time travel can be done by going into a time vortex in the quantum realm.”
Perhaps that time travel theory is a subject for another time, but since it’s already confirmed that at least some of the Avengers: Infinity War fatalities will be returning in Avengers 4, a Loki comeback doesn’t seem completely off the table. So long as there’s this degree of uncertainty, you can bet that fans will be spinning their theories right up until the sequel’s release on May 3rd, 2019.
