What Marvel Got Wrong With the Incredible Hulk - Part 5

What Marvel Got Wrong With the Incredible Hulk - Part 5

Well, how I wanted or even expected things to turn out was way off from what actually happened.
There is a lot to unpack from the hulks point of view in this film but I want to focus on two key areas. These both are possibly the biggest missed opportunities that Marvel has ever had.

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No.1 - The Fusion of Bruce and The Hulk

We get the crisis of characters in Ragnarok, both characters feel trapped in one body, they don't like, trust and want to be connected to the other.
When we get to Infinity War this begins to play out when the Hulk won't help Bruce. The separation of both characters is at its furthest with no obvious way to fix it. Bruce has to fight in Infinity War in the Hulk buster armour, that is how far things have deteriorated.

Even though the way in which this crisis between the two characters could have been handled much better we are still at this point. This is the setup for the grand finale, some serious event that will force the characters to unite and complete his character arc.

So what do we get??

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Nothing......the next time we see the hulk on screen this transformation has already taken place. Everything that has taken place was to build up to this very moment and Marvel decide to cut it out! The scene explains how Bruce decided to make peace with the "big guy" and now they are effectively one person. We are given the result without the most important thing the cause. What was the catalyst for this change?

What I was extremely confident of before watching Endgame was that Black Widow would be this catalyst but it turns out I was wrong, this leads onto the second and by far biggest mistake.

The Death of Black Widow

I can’t think of a bigger mistake / wasted opportunity that Marvel had at its disposal. As I mentioned in part 2, Black Widow has a unique relationship with not only Bruce but the Hulk. A great amount of time and effort has gone into showing and developing this relationship.

All the way from Avengers at the start to the last movie Endgame.

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If Black Widow was to die in Endgame it had to be… HAD TO BE in the Hulks presence. This is why -

The idea of both Bruce and The Hulk being not only in agreement on something but both equally angry at the same thing has got to be one of the most terrifying things in all of comics. No, actually, make that all of fiction.

What could be more powerful than the death of Black widow, it would be the Hulks “World Breaker” moment.

It turns out that Black Widow does die in this film but while saving hawkeye and acquiring the soul stone. Her death is used as a second chance for Hawkeye who has lost his way since the death of his family.

I have no idea why the writers decided to go down this path when the obvious one that has been set up from the very beginning was staring them in the face.

To top it off when the Hulk finds out that Natasha has died he throws a bench and wines for a little bit, that is it! What happened to the rage, the monster inside, the best that wants to always let loose?

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They give hulk a moment to shine when he uses the infinity gauntlet but after this, he is never seen again in any of the action. Everybody else is flying around doing their part to stop Thanos and hulk is missing in action. Ironically it should be the other way around, he has lost one of if not the only person he cared about and that anger, that rage should have been unleashed.

I left the cinema wondering where was the hulk in that film? Who I just watched was clearly someone else.

Take Hawkeye for an example of a good character arc in Endgame.

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We get the death of his family at the very beginning, his path to the dark side in the middle, his retribution with Black Widow that leads to her death near the end while saving him..... and finally the reunion with his family.

Looking back on the film Hawkeye get a better, more consistent and developed character arc than the Hulk did, if I had to put this fact into one word it would be.....incredible.

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