AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON's Hulk vs Hulkbuster Fight Has Destroyed My Anticipation For Hulk vs Thanos
The Hulk vs Hulkbuster fight effectively decertifies Hulk as the baddest and strongest being on the planet and makes him no match for Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.
Ask any Marvel Comics fans 'Who is the pound-for-pound strongest being in the Marvel Universe' and most fans will name the Hulk. Of course, that's probably the casual Marvel fan. Hardcore fans with more extensive knowledge will point to a number of cosmic characters that could rival the Green Goliath in terms of brute strength but there's one key aspect of the Hulk that separates him from the rest. He's fueled by rage. The madder he gets the stronger he gets. The longer the fight lasts, the stronger he becomes whereas his opponents gradually weaken. This is typically the route many a battle has taken between Hulk and those supposedly stronger than him. And that's exactly how most fights unfold in the comics between Hulk and Iron Man's Hulkbuster. Initially, the battle starts out very evenly but as the fight rages on, Hulk's strength increases and he completely wipes the floor with Iron Man and his special armor. Granted, the MCU is not the comics but the battle between Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and Mark Ruffalo's Hulk should have played out closer to the source material.
During Age of Ultron's climactic midway battle, Iron Man is the only Avenger besides Hawkeye not incapacitated by Scarlet Witch's mind attack and it's entirely up to him to subdue Banner. He deploys his Hulk containment unit that he co-developed with Banner and a massive smack down ensues that levels much of Johannesburg. [You can thank Man of Steel for Stark's halfhearted attempt to move the battle out of the city]. The battle is pretty even through much of the fight but then Iron Man manages to pile drive the Hulk through the steel skeleton of a skyscraper under construction. That seemed to knock the Hulk to his senses but local law enforcement foolishly takes this opportunity to try to take Hulk down but only manage to enrage the Hulk anew. Luckily for them, runtime dictates that it's time to move on to another scene and the Hulkbuster knocks out Hulk with one punch....One punch.
The reason why people fear the Hulk is because fighting him is virtually futile. You're only going to make him stronger. However, Age of Ultron made an unstoppable force mundane. What would have been more appealing and more feasible would've been if Iron Man is losing the fight and the rest of The Avengers recover and showup to provide back up. Showcasing that it takes the entire team to take down Hulk preserves his status as certified badass. Another option would've been for the Hulk to regain his senses after crashing through the skyscraper, take a look around and realize the senseless destruction he's wrought and leap away in horror. This is actually how many of Hulk's fight end, he leaps away and returns to save the day exactly at the moment he's needed (kind of like how he resurfaces in The Avengers). There needed to be a more satisfying conclusion to the fight between Hulk and Hulkbuster that leaves Hulk's status as unrivaled destructive force intact.
Going back to the comics, Iron Man's Hulkbuster armor never, never, NEVER triumphs over the Hulk. Ever. Debuting in 1994, Iron Man first created the armor to give him enough time during a fight with Hulk to explain the misunderstanding of Stark Industries manufacturing gamma bombs. Stark knew he couldn't best Hulk, he merely wanted to buy time to explain the situation. Since then, numerous writers and artists have used the armor in various storylines involving confrontations between Iron Man and Hulk but Iron Man has never won any of those battles. At best, the Hulkbuster battles Hulk to a draw. However, considering some of the incredible comic book feats of the Hulk, just battling him to a draw is pretty impressive. To that end, one of Earth's best lines of defense against the Mad Titan is the Hulk. Still, Hulk pretty much gets stomped just about every single time he fights Thanos. However, that just goes to show the level of strength Thanos possesses. In the MCU, Age of Ultron would have you believe that Iron Man and Veronica are the pinnacle of strength on the planet. This kind of undermines the role Hulk played in the first Avengers film in single-handedly turning around the fight against the Chitauri. And in terms of Banner's fear of Hulk and his potential for destruction, doesn't it make more sense for him to stay close to Stark rather than disappear off the grid? What happens if Banner Hulks-out and Iron Man is not close by?
When the strongest in the cosmos shows up, with plans for annihilation, shouldn't the planet's defenses deploy Earth's strongest? However, the Hulk vs Hulkbuster fight decertifies Hulk as the baddest and strongest being on the planet. According to Joss Whedon's sequel, the Hulkbuster, not Hulk is stronger. According to Joss Whedon's sequel, Hulkbuster would be the one that represents the greatest threat to Thanos, not Hulk.. However, if Captain America: Civil War rumors are to be believed and Red Hulk is being introduced, perhaps the Russo's are building Hulk back up to his rightful place as a catastrophic threat in anticipation of his Avengers: Infinity War battle with Thanos?
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