Skip to main content

marvel - Is The Hulk A Coward?


So, as you know, in Avengers: Infinity War, the Hulk took a pop at Thanos early in the film, catching him off-guard for a moment. Thanos, a far more powerful being than him, then beat him up easily.


Afterwards, the Hulk refused to appear. What surprised me is how quickly the Hulk gave up, and how genuinely scared he was of appearing. That seems counter to the Hulk's nature (after all, he's been beaten up before).


Was it the intention of the film makers to portray Hulk as a coward, who was scared to come out to fight Thanos?



Answer




Banner and Hulk have a complex relationship. This has been explored and developed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe:




  • Avengers 1: Banner must learn to control The Hulk

  • Avengers 2: The Hulk realises he's being used and that he's seen as a monster, decides to hijack his being and runs off to Sakaar

  • Thor: Ragnarok: The Hulk gains his independence and learns what he likes

  • Avengers 3: Banner must learn to hold his own without The Hulk


In Avengers: Infinity War when The Hulk refuses to "come out", Banner remarks:



Me and you have some things to work out buddy.




This is the clue we have toward the actual reasoning behind The Hulk's refusal to fight. Admittedly, even I thought that it was because he was finally scared because of Thanos (there were a few remarks in the cinema too "ah, he's scared"). However, Joe Russo (co-director of Infinity War) has commented recently that it's because The Hulk doesn't want to be used for fighting anymore:



I think people have interpreted it as Hulk's scared. I mean, certainly, that's not... I don't know that the Hulk is ever (scared). He's had his ass kicked before, and he loves a good fight. But I think that it's really reflective of the journey from (Thor) Ragnarok... These two characters are constantly in conflict with each other over control. And I think that if the Hulk were to say why, it'd be (because) Banner only wants Hulk for fighting. I think he's had enough of saving Banner's ass.

-SyFy, WHAT’S UP WITH THAT HULK-BRUCE BANNER STANDOFF? INFINITY WAR’S JOE RUSSO SAYS HULK HAS ‘HAD ENOUGH OF SAVING BANNER’S ASS’, 2018-05-08, by Benjamin Bullard



Endgame Evidently, Hulk and Banner complete this arc in the most spectacular manner, they blend into one as Professor Hulk.


It seems that Banner comes to grips with Hulk, and Hulk accepts Banner. This seems to have made them into a cohesive whole, rather than two incoherent extremes.




To be honest, I can't find the original source of that Russo quote, but it's been corroborated in the following articles:




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more