AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Director Offers An Alternate Explanation For Banner's Little Problem - SPOILERS
Bruce Banner attempts to summon [SPOILER] several times in Infinity War but to no avail. Now, The Russos respond to the fan assumption that "the other guy" was simply too afraid to put in an appearance.
A few minor nitpicks aside, the majority of fans seemed very happy with Avengers: Infinity War, although one element did come in for quite a bit of backlash: The Hulk seemingly being too scared to join the fight after suffering an almighty beat-down at the hands of Thanos.
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Though that did certainly appear to be the case after Bruce Banner's repeated attempts to summon the "big, green asshole" were met with a resounding "NOOOOO", co-director Joe Russo has offered an alternate take on why Hulk was so hesitant to put in an appearance.
Here's what the filmmaker had to say on the matter during his appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast:
"I think people have interpreted it as Hulk’s scared. I mean, certainly, that’s not a — I don’t know that the Hulk is ever… he’s had his ass kicked before, and he loves a good fight. But I think that it’s really reflective of the journey from Ragnarok. Is that these two characters are constantly in conflict with each other over control. And I think that if the Hulk were to say why, it’d be [that] Banner only wants Hulk for fighting. I think he’s had enough of saving Banner’s ass.”
This does make more sense than The Green Goliath being afraid of something - even when that something is the mega-powerful Mad Titan - but still, Russo would probably have to admit that the movie doesn't really make that distinction clear enough.
At any rate, we'll no doubt get to see Hulk Vs. Thanos round 2 when Avengers 4 hits theaters next year, and something tells me their next showdown won't be quite so one-sided.