10 Wild Ideas For The Hulk In Phase 5

10. I For One Welcome Our New Green Overlord

When Avengers: Endgame came out and it became apparent the direction in which they were taking the Hulk, an awful lot of comic book fans wrote helpful, handy explainer articles about ‘Professor Hulk’ from Peter David’s brilliant ten year run on the Incredible Hulk twenty-odd years ago.

It’s important that you realise that these articles were hogwash. David’s storyline was the resolution of two years of storytelling, as Banner’s ‘personality clash’ worsened to the point that the Hulk was actively trying to kill him. With the aid of hypnotist the Ringmaster, psychiatrist Leonard Samson was (supposedly) able to integrate Bruce’s dissociative personalities into a single persona.

What Endgame gave us was a scientist fixing a psychological issue with science, only superficially resembling the ‘Professor Hulk’ storyline. However, that superficial resemblance does allow for the possibility of using another part of David’s storyline - the Hulk as team leader.

In the comics it was the Pantheon, a family of superhumans devoted to making the world a better place. Banner used their resources to assist in rescue and relief operations across the world. In the same way, the MCU’s ‘Smart Hulk’ could guest star in one of the upcoming Disney+ shows - The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, for example - leading a team of superpowered individuals to engage in non-violent global humanitarian efforts.

The Hulk could even lead a team of second string Avengers, or perhaps a S.H.I.E.L.D. unit devoted to relief operations at natural disasters, fires etc: saving lives without throwing a single punch.