Opinion on the Hulk's use in the MCU

[Peyton Westlake]

I apologize if you read this in another thread.
I thought I would add to it because it seems to be an interesting topic I was curious how others feel about it.

The Hulk, is a very interesting character in Marvel comics.
He has that classic Jekyll & Hyde duality to him.
To me, (I admit I am biased) I always like the TV series idea with Bill Bixby.
He was a raging monster who has to roam around, to stay undetected, constantly on the move not to draw attention to himself, make his way while trying to find a cure.
A loner. Cursed himself in a way, like Dr, Jekyll did.
That's the foundation I would use & go from there but....

I'm not sure if Universal's rights has anything to do with how Hulk is portrayed on film.
It may just be & would explain a lot to me why he is how he is in the MCU.
It also ,in my opinion, matter how the writer & director view the charcter & then how the actor takes it & handles it.
A lot to think about.
I don't think the Hulk evolution in the MCU was bad......just not the route I would have chosen.
The Professor Hulk who is a great intellect, (rivals Tony Stark's genius?) just makes him a more dull character to me.
What's the sense of having a hulking savage brute, who goes off on uncontrollable rages & works well as a misunderstood figure if he is now a cultured professor?
Seems his evolution was too quick maybe?

 

[Docker2.0]

I kind of wish they would have stayed the course with the Hulk but I know Universal owning the rights to him played a part in him not having more solo films. I wish he would have had a trilogy to explore that loner side of him and even Joe Fixit. But I really do believe that we will get the Maestro in the MCU one day.

 

[Eddie Dean]

It’s a disgrace what they ended up doing with him after he was handled so well in Avengers

 

[Peyton Westlake]

I think the 1st Avengers movie,very briefly , was what they should have kept going with & explored more.

 

[LuiAlbZondo]

I loved what they did with him in TIH, Avengers, Age of Ultron and Thor: Ragnarok but got done so dirty in Infinity War and Endgame. Now I fear he's going to be in She-Hulk just to pass the torch and get written off somehow

 

[Docker2.0]

Man I hope you are wrong. You can't kill off the Hulk. He should be recast if Ruffalo doesn't want to play him any more but it doesn't sound like he is tired of playing him at all.

 

[LuiAlbZondo]

I hope I'm wrong too but just have this bad feeling that they will continue to side line Bruce/Hulk and focus on Jennifer/She-Hulk because I assume she'll be in the next Avengers movie when they do a New/Young Avengers team while Bruce may cameo as a consultant or mentor

 

[Peyton Westlake]

I pray that the new idea is NOT to move away from Hulk/Bruce & phase him out.
That would be an injustice to him & his history.
Nothing against She-hulk at all but wonders why Marvel is so keen on writing off their big names (Iron Man, Capt America, possibly the Hulk)

 

[Kirmit]

Honestly I feel Ruffalo was the wrong man for the job and had too much input into Hulk’s MCU direction basically wanting him to become big green Banner, he’s said as much in interviews. Hulk started off so well until infinity War and then got shafted, he shouldn’t have been Prof Hulk the whole of Endgame and should of got his rematch with Thanos.

 

[ernesth100]

Yeah, I can't lie and say I wasn't disappointed. sometimes it's cool to subvert expectations. But that entire

Savage to Professor plotline should take year's for Banner to achieve. Few months in a gamma lab? Without a hulk out? BS.

Hopefully, they'll fix it. The She-Hulk series will be set back when Hulk was Savage from what I hear. However I'm just wondering exactly what that means.

I'm not opposed to Mark's direction. I just think he wants than Hulk to be more than just smash smash. Which is good. That's what Banner would actually want yes. But then fans bro. The fans know it's weird when Banner can suddenly control the nuke inside him despite recently being best by Thanos and losing the love of his life.

 

[Spidey_62]

Hulk is wasted in the MCU. He's an entertaining character onscreen but there's really not much there beyond that, and when it's the Hulk we're talking about that's an issue. Things started off well with TiH and Avengers but everything after that was a downhill descent. There's just so much that the MCU version hasn't been able to touch on, none of his upbringing and different personalities, we only saw him ever fight one of his enemies. Nothing ever happened with the Leader tease in TiH cause it never got a sequel. Pretty much the Hulk in the MCU has gone through the entire duration of the timeline outlasting even Cap and Iron Man but has only had one dedicated story to himself and one actual baddie.

Ang Lee's Hulk is still the best one lol. At least that movie did a true Jekyll and Hyde monster approach, complete with exploring his childhood trauma and having that inform everything else.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

Well I know everyone who is here has their 'favorite' comics character from whatever publisher.
And theirs will always be the one that has the most interesting ,rich , & deep history for the screen.
Now I admit my favorite is NOT the Hulk.
So I think more so than a Hulk fan, who wants exact storylines, what I would like to see from him is how the rage consumes him.
Eats him up.
Was it all from gamma or not, childhood mixed in?
How & why he kind of runs away, being the lone wolf. Always on the go. Never settling down too long in 1 place.
I know I may be in the minority on this BUT....think about all that (always on the move) while dealing with the Abomination &/or Leader while trying to have a normal life he wants desperately.

 

[B]

For me, the character has been completely wasted within the MCU.

Everything interesting with the character takes place, off screen, like his transformation from Age of Ultron to Thor: Ragnarok/Endgame & then from that to 'Professor' Hulk in Endgame.

Outside of that all the character has been is the big brute that shows up to smash things or as a tool to demonstrate how formidable/powerful another character or situation is ie Thor or Thanos.

I don't like the direction they took with him either off screen by turning him into Professor Hulk, it served it's purpose in regards to the story having him use the Infinity Gauntlet however outside of that I would rather have seen the character pushed in the opposite direction into one of the more out of control or powerful iterations of the character to properly showcase just how powerful the character is/can be.

Overall, as it stands the character is wasted, the MCU has handled I would say 90% of it's hero & villain characters fantastically, but Hulk is 1 of a few that I feel has been short-changed.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

Overall, as it stands the character is wasted, the MCU has handled I would say 90% of it's hero & villain characters fantastically, but Hulk is 1 of a few that I feel has been short-changed.

I agree with you 100% on this point.
Marvel ultimately does a great job with every character.
But no one can be perfect,including them.
I think they missed the mark with the Hulk.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Hulk has pretty much been wasted in the MCU since The Avengers. Thor Ragnorak brought him back but then the Russo’s basically took a dump on the character and he is now just a showcase to make other characters look stronger.

 

[Peyton Westlake]

I think how the MCU depicted the Hulk wasn't a total car crash.
But I do think the Hulk was severely mishandled & they could have had a homerun with him if they took a different or slower path.
I know many have said the "Hulk Smash" route was boring or not too deep. It gave him no depth as a character, like he was a super strong child.
I disagree.
I think that only makes him more endearing & sympathetic.
I think the MCU should have had the Banner/Hulk duo play out more.
We know Banner is 1 of the top minds in the MCU, being extremly brilliant.
Not sure if he would be ranked #1 but .I would think top 10, top 5?
I think him being that intelligent , and solving diificult problems scientifically in the MCU while also becoming this beast of rage makes him different.
We have Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Stephen Strange (and soon Reed Richards) .
Another brilliant scientist makes him just like the rest.
Wouldn't it be more interesting to have a man, who is brilliant, but on the run, trying to stay under the radar from the US Army, the public & MCU villains be more entertaining?

 

[ernesth100]

The thing is the still have the rights and can do more with the character. She Hulk is a chance to give us some attention to the depth of Banner's history as a person. The movies tended to stick to his story as The Hulk. It made him a bit less endearing and interesting than other characters.

When I YouTube scenes. I find myself watching Hawkeye's clips before any of Hulk. And if I do it's usually the clips where it's examples of what Marvel could've done with Hulk.

Ragnarok was a great example. I agree with what was said above me. The Hulk was mishandled but not misused. His inclusion in Ragnarok was a perfect slide into glimpse of what the character has to offer in his own film. Hulk can be a character and Banner can as well.

One scene I appreciate is his transformation back to Banner on the ship. You saw a brief moment that Banner and Hulk did not like each other and comminucated it. With Hulk saying "No Banner!" and Banner practically forcing himself back for the hope of returning to Natasha and Co.

We needed more of that and the movies rushed out a half baked movie arc. Which I thought was cool when I first heard about it after Age of Ultron. But now...sheesh. I didn't know they were gonna rush to Banner is cured and everything is fine now.

TL;Dr: Banner in the MCU is a 6/10 at best. Could've easily gotten way more points if they took their time more with the development to Professor Hulk.

 

[Fosterson]

Hulk has pretty much been wasted in the MCU since The Avengers. Thor Ragnorak brought him back but then the Russo’s basically took a dump on the character and he is now just a showcase to make other characters look stronger.

They literally did that once when he lost to Thanos, and you could just as easily say the same about all the other characters who lost 1v1 fights to Thanos (Thor, IM, Worthy Cap, etc).

Thor has lost tons of fights in the MCU (Kurse, Hela, Thanos), and yet I don't see anyone using that as evidence that Taika Waittiti or the Russo Brothers took a dump on Thor. Heroes don't always win their fights.

Hulk getting beaten down was the perfect way to introduce Thanos given that in the previous Avengers movies Hulk had humiliated both Loki and Ultron. It was a way to show the audience that Thanos was on another level (as indeed, was the fact that he had already beaten up Thor before the movie even began).

 

[ironwez20]

I for one think 08 hulk would have gave thanos a run for his money. I know it’s technically the same hulk but in my mind it’s not. That hulk was way more brutal, used weapons and was more rage driven.

everything after that was just a big green ape man who got weaker and weaker. Idk just seems like 08 hulk is a different beast and when it came to fighting was smarter and used whatever that was at his disposal. I’m sure thanos couldn’t put someone like him down easily. He was pretty much the embodiment of rage. That hulk v abomination fight shows how resourceful and cunning he is. Just don’t feel like the same hulk.

 

[Fosterson]

everything after that was just a big green ape man who got weaker and weaker.

You're of course welcome to your opinion, but this is unquestionably more impressive than anything '08 Hulk ever did:

Idk just seems like 08 hulk is a different beast and when it came to fighting was smarter and used whatever that was at his disposal. I’m sure thanos couldn’t put someone like him down easily. He was pretty much the embodiment of rage. That hulk v abomination fight shows how resourceful and cunning he is. Just don’t feel like the same hulk.

Norton Hulk struggled to lift a Humvee and was losing to Abom, who is basically an inferior version of himself. I fail to see how he would defeat Thanos.

 

[Fosterson]

I find it hilarious how people on here are outraged about Hulk losing a fight, even though Thor (his peer) loses fights all the time in the MCU without complaint.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Watching Hulk get wrecked by Thanos in the first 5 minutes of Infinity War was a stroke of genius.

The entire audience knows Hulk as a nearly unstoppable force and Thanos drops him in less than 3 minutes. You sacrifice Hulk to an extent to make Thanos a terrifying villain. It worked.

Then where do you go from there? A Professor Hulk who went through Jungian Individuation. Not a bad evolution for a character who became one note over the course of 5 or 6 films.

I will say while I love the running "the sun's going down" joke in Thor Ragnarok, I really disliked the Hulk toddler behavior in his room. It was a bit cringey.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

They literally did that once when he lost to Thanos, and you could just as easily say the same about all the other characters who lost 1v1 fights to Thanos (Thor, IM, Worthy Cap, etc).

Thor has lost tons of fights in the MCU (Kurse, Hela, Thanos), and yet I don't see anyone using that as evidence that Taika Waittiti or the Russo Brothers took a dump on Thor. Heroes don't always win their fights.

Hulk getting beaten down was the perfect way to introduce Thanos given that in the previous Avengers movies Hulk had humiliated both Loki and Ultron. It was a way to show the audience that Thanos was on another level (as indeed, was the fact that he had already beaten up Thor before the movie even began).

Thor got the better of him in Ragnorak also, though Hulk kept coming back in that fight and may have continued to do so, it was a fight to show how powerful Thor had now become, so that’s twice, and he also got quite the humiliation against The Ancient One in Endgame , so that’s thrice.

Thanos beating him didn’t bother me too much as he always does in the comics, but it’s bull**** most characters got another crack at him while Hulk didn’t. Captain Marvel vs Thanos also showed she is way above Hulk’s level.

 

[Fosterson]

Thor got the better of him in Ragnorak also, though Hulk kept coming back in that fight and may have continued to do so, it was a fight to show how powerful Thor had now become, so that’s twice,

Thor had the edge with his lightning, sure, but I still don't think the fight or the movie disrespected Hulk, since he was clearly winning up until Thor activated his Raiden powers and it definitively showed that Hulk is physically stronger than Thor.

and he also got quite the humiliation against The Ancient One in Endgame , so that’s thrice.

Well, the Ancient One's hax abilities are kind of a hard counter to someone like Hulk. Not to mention that Banner clearly underestimated her as he had no idea who he was dealing with.

I really don't think any other Avengers besides Strange and - possibly - Wanda would have done any better in his position since none of them can defend against magical attacks. We saw how easily Strange was able to mess around with Thor and Loki in Ragnarok.

Basically, the sorcerers are ridiculously OP.

Thanos beating him didn’t bother me too much as he always does in the comics, but it’s bull**** most characters got another crack at him while Hulk didn’t.

Except everyone who got another crack at him lost, (except Wanda) and Hulk would have too. EG Thanos was more ruthless and blood-lusted than his IW counterpart and on top of that he was wielding a Vibranium-busting sword. He demolished the Trinity with ease, including Thor with Stormbreaker and Worthy Cap. It would have been ridiculous for Hulk to lose so badly to an unarmed Thanos in IW and then suddenly be able to compete with him when he's armed with a deadly sword.

Captain Marvel vs Thanos also showed she is way above Hulk’s level.

It showed that she is way above everyone, which is exactly what Feige had been telling us for years. He had been saying from the beginning that Carol was gonna be the Superman of the MCU, so none of this should really come as a surprise.

 

[Zarex]

Watching Hulk get wrecked by Thanos in the first 5 minutes of Infinity War was a stroke of genius.

The entire audience knows Hulk as a nearly unstoppable force and Thanos drops him in less than 3 minutes. You sacrifice Hulk to an extent to make Thanos a terrifying villain. It worked.

Then where do you go from there? A Professor Hulk who went through Jungian Individuation. Not a bad evolution for a character who became one note over the course of 5 or 6 films.

I will say while I love the running "the sun's going down" joke in Thor Ragnarok, I really disliked the Hulk toddler behavior in his room. It was a bit cringey.

"Sun's getting real low" in Ragnarok and Deadpool 2 and the Cap PSA's & America's Ass both retroactively salvaged two of Whedon's worst creative decisions in Avengers.

I'm glad the Russos spared us one armed & much smaller Smart Hulk taking on Thanos and his copter blade. Howard the Duck may have stood a better chance.

I grew up with petulant toddler Hulk, and I would have preferred he stuck around for more than one film. I'm hoping Bruce has another transformation in him (Joe Fixit?). The She Hulk series could give Feige and company an excuse to change things up again.