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Spoilers follow for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s time to swing by your local cinema, Marvel fans, because Spider-Man: Brand New Day<\/u> is now in theaters. The fourth entry in the Tom Holland solo Spider-Man franchise is set to be a massive hit<\/u> for Sony and Marvel, meaning we\u2019re sure to see more movies with this iteration of the character after Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars tie up the Multiverse Saga. But while the movie is sure to please fans with its focus on small-scale drama and exciting action set pieces, one of Peter\u2019s guest stars reminds us of a recurring problem that the MCU has had with character continuity. That would be Bruce Banner, aka the Hulk, who is once again played by Mark Ruffalo.<\/p>\n
Although he only has a small supporting role, the use of Hulk, while certainly entertaining, doesn\u2019t quite line up with his previous depictions in the MCU. That\u2019s happened to Banner more than once, to the point that it feels like each project he appears in features a different version of the character. How did this happen? Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n\n\nThwip!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<\/section>\nHulk Smash… Why?<\/h2>\n Bruce Banner is introduced in Brand New Day as a physics professor at Empire State University. Peter sits in on one of Bruce\u2019s classes so he can talk to him afterwards about the gamma inhibitor, a device Bruce wears on his wrist that prevents him from Hulking out at inopportune moments. This device first appeared in the post-credits scene of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, but Bruce didn\u2019t explain what it was. It was seen again in She-Hulk, where one of the subplots was about Bruce\u2019s cousin Jennifer Walters getting an inhibitor of her own. Bruce\u2019s inhibitor was damaged in the incident that gave Jennifer her gamma powers, resulting in Bruce transforming back into the Professor Hulk form we saw in Endgame.<\/p>\n
Now, the reason we bring all this up is because the inhibitor\u2019s previous appearances don\u2019t line up with how the Hulk returns in Brand New Day. When the inhibitor is damaged this time, Bruce transforms into his Savage Hulk persona, which we haven\u2019t seen since Thanos gave Hulk a serious beatdown at the start of Infinity War. While seeing a more traditional Hulk in the MCU is cool and the subsequent action scene is a lot of fun, the reason why Banner transforms into Savage Hulk isn\u2019t clear. Didn\u2019t Banner cleanse himself of the Savage Hulk between movies, as he explained to his fellow Avengers in Endgame? One could argue that the damage to the inhibitor put him off balance, but that didn\u2019t happen when the inhibitor was damaged in She-Hulk. So what makes this time special?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nYou can glimpse the gamma inhibitor on Bruce’s arm in the Shang-Chi post-credits scene.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
It would be one thing if Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), who is influencing Bruce to do her bidding, used her psychic powers to force Banner\u2019s transformation into Savage Hulk. But that doesn\u2019t appear to be the case either, since when Spidey first arrives on the scene, Banner is still in Professor Hulk mode, speaking like normal and wearing a snazzy blue sweater. So what made Bruce go full \u201cHulk Smash?\u201d The movie never explains it, likely because the filmmakers assume that Hulk isn\u2019t the main focus of a Spider-Man movie and doing an action scene with Savage Hulk is worth ignoring the contrivances needed to get there. Again, it\u2019s not that the scene isn\u2019t cool or doesn\u2019t look great (this is the best Hulk has looked since the first Avengers movie), but ignoring character continuity has sadly been a long-running tradition for the MCU\u2019s Hulk.<\/p>\n
A History of the MCU Hulk<\/h2>\n When charting the development of MCU Hulk, we have to acknowledge a couple of caveats up front. First, that Bruce Banner was originally played by Edward Norton in 2008\u2019s The Incredible Hulk before being recast with Ruffalo in The Avengers, and second, that Universal Pictures owns the distribution rights to Hulk solo films, which is why there haven\u2019t been any more after the Norton film. For reasons that have never been made entirely clear to the public, Universal has refused to partner with Marvel Studios on any more standalone Hulk features, something Ruffalo has discussed in interviews<\/u>.<\/p>\n
But even with that in mind, Bruce Banner\u2019s development in the MCU has always been haphazard, with major events taking place off-screen and the character\u2019s direction changing with almost every major appearance.<\/p>\n
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A Visual History of Hulk<\/h3>\n<\/span><\/output><\/p>\n
The new baseline that The Avengers established for Banner is upended in Age of Ultron with a weird romantic subplot involving Black Widow that felt like it came out of nowhere. Did Banner just forget that Liv Tyler\u2019s Betty Ross exists? Hulk then somehow teleports from a Quinjet in Sokovia to the far reaches of space by the time of Thor: Ragnarok, where he\u2019s a goofy child enjoying the spoils of being a gladiator. Then the Hulk suppresses himself in Infinity War after getting trounced by Thanos, but we never learn why he refuses to help Banner beyond us assuming he\u2019s too scared to fight again\u2026 only for Banner to have turned into Professor Hulk between movies in Endgame, resolving the conflict between Banner and Hulk completely off-screen.<\/p>\n
It only gets more confusing in the Multiverse Saga, because if he was so comfortable as Professor Hulk, why did he need the inhibitor to go back to being Banner? He says it\u2019s so his arm can heal after the damage caused by using the Infinity Gauntlet, but he\u2019s still using the inhibitor after it\u2019s healed, so what gives?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nRemember *that* guy?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
And how old is Skaar, Hulk\u2019s son who technically exists in the MCU because of She-Hulk\u2019s post-credits scene? Is Skaar still on Earth by the time of Brand New Day? Banner doesn\u2019t mention him. Does he have uncomfortable conversations with the rest of ESU\u2019s physics department on Take Your Kid to Work Day? I\u2019m not asking these questions to be glib, but because all of the projects where Hulk has appeared have introduced so many weird and contradictory aspects of the character that it\u2019s difficult to reconcile them all. Unfortunately, many of these problems come down to a simple truth\u2026<\/p>\n
We Should\u2019ve Gotten Incredible Hulk 2<\/h2>\n A lot of what we\u2019ve discussed likely could have been avoided if Universal had played ball and let Marvel make another Hulk solo film. Bruce\u2019s arc is such a mess in part because he keeps needing to fit into the margins of other people\u2019s films or the Avengers team-ups. And while Marvel could have done a better job of keeping Banner consistent from film-to-film either way, he\u2019s never allowed to be the focus of a given project because of the rights situation.<\/p>\n
Hulk is a lead character who\u2019s always in a supporting role, which has shortchanged not just Bruce Banner, but many of the other characters associated with his franchise. Betty Ross fell off the face of the Earth. Rick Jones<\/u> is nowhere to be seen. And Tim Blake Nelson\u2019s Leader<\/u>, who is the Hulk\u2019s archenemy in the comics and was set up at the end of The Incredible Hulk, was put on a shelf for over a decade until making a deflating appearance in a Captain America movie of all things.<\/p>\nHulk is a lead character who’s always in a supporting role.
\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\nUniversal being unwilling to work with Marvel is especially bizarre because Sony has had tremendous success<\/u> with their shared custody deal for Spider-Man. When The Amazing Spider-Man 2 struggled to find an audience, Sony swallowed their pride and allowed Marvel Studios to incorporate Spidey into the MCU, and it revived the Spider-Man franchise theatrically.<\/p>\n
Why is Universal so averse to a similar scenario? It\u2019s not like they have other superhero properties to work with. If they had made an arrangement with Marvel years ago, we could\u2019ve seen Hulk go head-to-head with Leader, made a stronger throughline for Bruce\u2019s development, and dodged some of the more awkward moves Marvel has made with the character. And after devoting himself to the role for so long, Ruffalo really does deserve the chance to lead a solo Hulk feature. But the ball is apparently still in Universal\u2019s court, so for now, we\u2019ll have to make do with having Savage Hulk back. Maybe next time he\u2019ll be Joe Fixit!<\/p>\n
What do you think of Hulk\u2019s role in Brand New Day? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\nCarlos Morales writes novels, articles, and Mass Effect essays. You can follow his fixations on <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/u><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n