In Marvel Comics, the Hulk has had a ton of variants ranging from the fiercest one who can destroy universes to the smart one who thinks rationally and decides to merge with Bruce Banner on an agreeable settlement, as was seen in Avengers: Endgame. However, bringing them out to live-action isn’t the easiest of tasks, and even Smart Hulk garnered some negative publicity.
This negative publicity started from the fact that the way Banner was directly shown as the result of his getting merged with his angry alter-ego to become the Smart giant in green instead of showing just how this tremendous transformation took place. That said, had the Russo Brothers not ignored one crucial scene with Mark Ruffalo, this new transition would have arguably been a lot less messy.
One Mark Ruffalo Scene Could Have Made Smart Hulk Fit Better
Among all the plot twists shown in Avengers: Endgame, one of the most unexpected ones was seeing Mark Ruffalo‘s Bruce Banner merged with his angrier big green giant alter-ego to result in the Smart Hulk. And the way he was displayed wasn’t disappointing either.
But what actually left this change to be a messy one was the lack of an explanation behind this transformation.
As fans already know, in the movie, Banner explains how he just started looking at his alter-ego as a cure instead of as a disease and then spent 18 months in the Gamma lab trying to “put the brains and the brawns together,” eventually resulting in this smart merged version of the two.
However, what went wrong here is the fact that they didn’t show this transition but only had Banner explaining it in mere words. Which was, needless to say, not good.
That said, this wasn’t the only option or way through which the Russo Brothers could bring about this new variant of his. Why? Because there was a deleted concept for Endgame that could have explained it all without making it messy.
As shared by @TheGeekyCast on X, this concept was when Ruffalo’s character snaps his fingers to bring everyone back and enters the Soul World where Banner and his alter-ego come face to face.
Hulk snapping his fingers and entering the Soul World was a deleted concept but a much needed one. Hulk and Banner coming face to face showing more humanity between the two. This would have also been the start of Professor Hulk as a concept #Endgame #Avengers pic.twitter.com/gKtUuc1RuI
— Chad Ryan aka GeekyCast (@TheGeekyCast) May 23, 2024
Had they included this, it could have shown Bruce Banner and the Hulk finally seeing each other in a capturing moment showing humanity between the two, before settling down on reasonable terms to presumably turn into the smart version of the green giant seen in Endgame.
Though it wouldn’t have properly displayed what Banner explained through his words, it still would have shown that vulnerable moment the two connected, which would have been more than enough.
However, as was already seen in the movie, this concept never came to light and was pushed down only in the developmental stage. That being said, fans still express disappointment over this very key feature the 2019 masterpiece failed to adapt.
Fans are Still Disappointed with How Smart Hulk was Brought About
Although it has been years since the Smart Hulk was originally introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans still can’t express disappointment enough about how his introduction in the saga should have been, with a proper depiction of the transformation or at least including this concept.
Here are some of their frustrated reactions on the same on X:
It's not about being turned into a joke. He's finally at peace with Hulk, something that he's been trying to do since forever. The problem is that this was done off screen
— Donovan Kemp (@DonnieKemp00) May 12, 2024
It's not that every character has to be serious, it's actually that they just use every character as they like, the same with Iron Man and Nick Fury, they use off-screen explanations and that's it.
— Javier Acevedo (@Sincai_javier) May 12, 2024
“Stranded” really is the right word, and what I think all the MCU Hulk criticism over the years has missed.
It’s not that Smart Hulk is a badly conceived, written, or performed character, it’s that they skipped such a massive character beat and now can’t *build* off it cleanly. https://t.co/Kq8dYSFwN6
— Nicholas Moore or something (@NicholasMoore16) December 17, 2023
Agreed Hulk in Avengers was epic then got worse except gladiator Hulk biggest criticism we never got to see banner become smart hulk he accepted the big guy that could of been an epic movie plus hulk didnt burst out of the hulk buster biggest robbery in cbm history imo pic.twitter.com/jWFkGJQRVo
— Superhero Movies Talk (@talk_superhero) July 10, 2023
And now he's Smart Hulk, with no proper transition or transformation. And he's also much smaller and not even a threat to Abomination 😂
— Realist (@NoDreamWorld4me) August 21, 2022
That's what they've been doing. They tried to give Hulk an arc in Ragnarok, IW, and Endgame. The first 2 parts weren't bad, and they originally had some deleted scenes that showed Banner/Hulk's transformation into Smart Hulk, but they scraped it due to time constraints.
— Justin Miller (@JSMiller7492) May 14, 2024
It's too late anyways. The movie should've happened after Infinity War, and there they should've shown the transformation into smart Hulk.
— Ethan Bryte (@Etanibrut) February 13, 2024
Banner should actually had his arc and his transformation into 'smart hulk' be shown, not just told in a few lines and made as a joke
— Divie 🐇 (@Diville_Art) August 7, 2023
All of this being said, not showing the transformation stage or the way that Bruce Banner and his brutal alter-ego merged is really one of the biggest mistakes the Russo Brothers made while adapting the Hulk’s arc in Avengers: Endgame.
Now what’s remaining to be seen is how Marvel decides to cope with this mistake.
You can stream Avengers: Endgame on Disney+.
