5 Ways That Marvel Destroyed Bruce Banner's Character In Avengers: Endgame
2. The Infinity War Arc Has No Resolution Or Pay-Off
Infinity War saw a new side to Bruce Banner. When we first meet Ruffalo’s iteration of the character in The Avengers, he’s a softly voiced, timid doctor who doesn’t want to be characterised by the green monster he harbours. And you can see why: his untamed version of the Hulk is inhuman, lacks any type of intelligence, and is remembered for his brutal smashing of Loki into the marble floors of Stark tower.
In Age of Ultron we see Bruce learn to tame the Hulk with the help of Natasha, who offers him human compassion when otherwise all people would see is a powerful monster. He then exiles himself due to the damage he causes, which leads us to Ragnarok. There he embraces the Hulk a little too much and becomes him for multiple years before a recording of Natasha’s voice brings him back.
In Infinity War, the Hulk refuses to come out when Bruce needs him the most. Bruce is shoved into the Hulkbuster for the entire film, and we see flashes of the Hulk adamantly refusing to show himself. It’s never explained why the Hulk refuses to come out, and the issue is solved through a single line in Endgame that can be paraphrased as “oh I researched gamma a bit more and now Hulk’s entire personality is gone.”
While this new merged Hulk/Bruce character does hold better opportunities in terms of being able to fight intelligently, it makes all the wondering how the two would reconcile following the events of Infinity War obsolete as it’s solved off-screen.