WandaVision has been stated to bring about some major changes to the MCU, and a new fan theory has put forward that this will include the instigation of World War Hulk.
In Planet Hulk, the enormous green rage monster was deemed too dangerous to be allowed to live on Earth and fired into space by the Illuminati (Black Bolt, Tony Stark, Doctor Strange and Reed Richards). Landing on Sakaar, he becomes a popular gladiator and eventually overthrows its ruler the Red King, only for his newly pregnant wife Caiera to be killed in an explosion of the shuttle that transported him there. Blaming the heroes of Earth for her death, he returns to his home planet and the events of World War Hulk see his boundless rage laying waste to the Inhumans, the X-Men, the Gamma Corps, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and the US Army.
Posted to Reddit by user TheLazerShell, the theory states that the events of the comic could be brought about by the Professor Hulk seen in Avengers: Endgame not being quite as presented.
“From Endgame I gather that the way Bruce decided to merge with the Hulk wasn’t to actually be on peace terms… but he actually forced Hulk out in order to merge his own mind with the Hulk’s body. [Wanda] can force Banner out and bring Hulk back to the steering wheel, who is by this point pissed because of what Banner did so he goes full on rampage with World War Hulk levels of anger and causes a ton of damage.”
The theory goes on to detail the setup far in the past, explaining:
“Remember in Age of Ultron when she showed everyone Visions? Well most of them came true. Tony lost at the hands of Thanos. Nat is dealing with her past. Cap literally went back to his past and got that dance. Thor saw Ragnarok. But we never saw what Banner saw, and I think the reason is because Banner did NOT see anything, Wanda actually gave Hulk visions. The vision of becoming World War Hulk, which is also what leads him to not trusting Banner anymore and literally just taking off to space and not letting Banner out for 2 years.”
It tracks that the Hulk was not agreeable to his and Banner’s merging, as they’re two separate entities constantly vying for control of the same physical form, so to merge them in the way suggested would mean the destruction or imprisonment of one of their minds.
The Sakaar sequence in Thor: Ragnarok is as close as we’re going to get to a live action Planet Hulk (an animated adaptation was released in 2010), and with Universal owning the rights to a solo Hulk movie, he needs to remain an ensemble character for now. However, this theory is a sound variation on bringing out those same feelings of anger and betrayal as portrayed in the comics, meaning that World War Hulk could still begin after the chaos and madness of WandaVision has come to pass.
