Avengers Hulk Theory: Does Bruce Banner Die THREE Times In The MCU?!
The Hulk's more powerful than Death!
Up until the point that Thanos reared his big purple head in the MCU, there was no question of who the strongest being was. Thor might be a God, Captain America may be a perfect superman specimen and Tony Stark might have a full arsenal powered by his genius behind him, but the MVP was always Hulk.
He was enough of a big deal for SHIELD to call him in, even when he was obviously WAY too volatile to be a viable option (remember, they basically turned down Tony Stark because he couldn't be trusted) and enough of a threat for Ultron AND Loki to identify him as a weapon to use against his team-mates. Hell, "we have a Hulk" might as well have been the ultimate mic drop in MCU history and you don't get that with the big guy delivering on the words.
So it might come as something of a surprise to hear the suggestion that Bruce Banner might have died in the MCU. Even more so that he may have done it on three different occasions. After all, he was still alive to see Thanos click his fingers and wipe out half of existence. So what gives?
Well, the point here is that "puny" Banner and the Hulk have a symbiotic relationship that defies normal conventions. Not only are both sort of counted as hosts (hence the analogy of who is "driving" that comes up at times), but one is apparently mortal and the other isn't. At least not as far as anyone seems to be able to tell.
Sure, he might have been killed had Thanos' snap randomly picked him, but there's been nothing so far that's come close to killing him. He's jumped into the face of a planet-destroying demon, went nose-to-nose with a hell-hound and punched Thor like he was a ragdoll. Nothing leaves a mark: even when he had his big green backside handed to him by Thanos on Thor's ship, he looks in distress but he doesn't appear to really be injured. Thanos just makes him a punch-bag, like Rocky Balboa soaking up punches - the point of that exchange is just to show that Hulk cannot win, not that he'll die if it continues, necessarily.
That doesn't seem to make sense with the point about him dying though does it? How could he be both invincible and have died?
Well, let me explain...