Infinity Gauntlet picked up a lot of threads Starlin had left hanging in his earlier work and was originally intended as the last Thanos story … but in a classic comics twist, the series sold so well that it earned sequel comics (including Infinity War, from which the new movie drew its title but not its plot) and adaptations and many, many more story lines for the Mad Titan.
So here, Thanos’ ultimate goal in killing so many people wasn’t to balance the universe but rather to please Mistress Death, the anthropomorphic personification of oblivion and thus one of the few beings Thanos has ever “loved.” Jim Starlin had originally created Thanos in the ‘70s as a foil for space heroes like Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock (based in part on Jack Kirby’s New Gods characters Darkseid and Metron), but the character had lain dormant for years when Starlin returned to Marvel in the early ’90s. MCU viewers should be aware, however, that the comic version of Thanos is a bit more of a psychopathic nihilist than the film version. It was here, in one of Marvel’s first massive summer crossover events, that the Mad Titan Thanos assembled all six Infinity Gems for the purpose of wiping out half the universe’s population with a snap of his fingers. Even Thanos could appreciate that.įor more of Avengers: Infinity War coverage, click on the links below.This is the big one, the source of Infinity War’s basic story. If Thor: Ragnarok is mostly Hulk and Avengers: Infinity War is mostly Banner, then it stands to reason that the last movie of this pseudo-trilogy for the character would allow for a balance between the two.
Ultimately, I think where we’re headed with Banner is him coming to peace with Hulk, which would bring the character full circle back to Avengers, except this time he’s not on the run. Infinity War has laid some interesting groundwork for what can be done with Hulk, and it’s possible that an arc in Avengers 4 could be Banner not just trying to coax out the Hulk, but experimenting with Hulk variations like we’ve seen in the comics.
We’re probably never going to get another solo Hulk movie as long as Universal owns the rights to the character, so we have to take what we can get in these crossover movies. And yet the one time Banner decides he needs to big guy, Hulk is nowhere to be found. If Hulk has decided he never wants to come out again, then Banner can just be Banner. He’s always wanted to find a way to get rid of Hulk and to stop being on the run. In some ways, this should be Banner’s dream come true.
Now we see the Hulk arguably afraid to come out after taking a beating at the hands of Thanos. If anything, Hulk took more control in Thor: Ragnarok, putting Banner “in the trunk” for two years. He wants to do good, but the Hulk can’t be controlled. He doesn’t get to choose to put on a suit of armor or take a special serum. Banner is a fascinating hero because unlike other superheroes, he doesn’t want to be super. That’s an interesting place to take the character, and I’m hoping Avengers 4 takes a bit more time to explore it. For the first time, it seems like the Hulk is scared. Infinity War changed things up a bit by only having Hulk at the very beginning of the movie, and then he can’t be coaxed out again despite Banner’s protestations. Previous movies have offered a solid mix of Bruce Banner and “the other guy” ( Mark Ruffalo in both roles), and while they may lean in one direction or the other ( Avengers is more Banner, Thor: Ragnarok is more Hulk), they both share the screen. Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Infinity WarĪvengers: Infinity War had a surprising little twist by pulling back on the Hulk.