Thor: Ragnarok Review - 9 Ups & 4 Downs

5. The Hulk/Banner Conflict

There's a pretty good chance that the way Hulk is depicted in Thor: Ragnarok might well be slightly divisive. There's lots of humour there and he's basically a distilled version of some ideas introduced previously in the MCU, but it flirts with pushing the joke a little far at times.

Luckily, it's all balanced with a smart Jekyll/Hyde dynamic between Bruce Banner and Hulk as the fears Banner has already expressed of losing himself to the Hulk are realised and we get Hulk angrily stomping around shouting "no Banner, only Hulk". As Banner says at one point, their relationship has changed from each having one hand on the wheel at the same time and the fruits of that change are great to watch. Hopefully, we'll get to see more of it in both the upcoming Avengers movies.

Mark Ruffalo is brilliant as both Banner - who is a slightly fuzzy-round the edges dorkier version of what we've seen before (on account of being out of action for so long) - and as Hulk (who is pretty much a giant, angry toddler) and he has enough depth to sell his fundamental identity fears while firing off jokier lines almost constantly.