Attention, all Avengers fans, I’m about to spoil Infinity War for you in what follows. If you haven’t seen the movie, then you’d be better off ignoring this theory for the time being, and return to it after you’ve watched the film.
There’s one thing that bothers me about the Infinity War, and it concerns the Hulk. But I can’t tell you anything about it until I warn you, again, that spoilers abound below.
Let’s start with the image above where we’ve got a bunch of Avengers joining Wakandians in their defense of Wakanda. Captain America is leading the charge, flanked by Black Panther and his loyal servant Okoye on the left, and Bucky and Black Widow on his right. Behind them, there’s Hulk, while Falcon and War Machine are flying above them. This screenshot comes from this Infinity War trailer that was released on November 29th last year, getting more than 180 million views since then:
However, this particular scene is nowhere to be seen in the actual movie, and you know that by now.
That’s because Hulk is not willing to come out and do any fighting, no matter how much Bruce Banner is trying to concentrate. Is Hulk afraid after fighting Thanos early in the movie? We have no idea, but Banner has to pilot the Hulkbuster suit in the actual fight. Interestingly, however, the Hulkbuster is present earlier in the trailer as well.
Why did the Russo brothers go through all this trouble to make us think that both Stark’s special anti-Hulk suit and the Hulk would be present in the same battle? Just so that we wouldn’t guess that the Avengers are actually split up? Did they put the Hulk in the scene above just for misinformation purposes?
What if Hulk’s presence is, in hindsight, an easter egg? What if his presence is actually a teaser for what’s to come in part 2 next year?
I told you earlier that I don’t think that most of the Avengers deaths that we’ve just witnessed matter, and many of these characters will be resurrected. Somehow, someone will mess with the timeline again, and prevent Thanos from obtaining the sixth stone and snapping his fingers.
Rolling back time just to revive the dead isn’t enough for the Avengers to win. They still have to destroy the invading force on Wakanda, like they sort of did the first time around. Because, no matter how far you roll back time, it won’t change Thanos’s plan. He’ll still come for the stones, his warriors will still attack Earth. All of that needs to be stopped, somehow.
Part 2 of Infinity War will surely explain why Banner wasn’t able to bring out the Hulk during the Wakanda battle. But it might also bring us a second Wakanda fight starring the exact same players, with at least one notable exception. Banner could transform into the Hulk, leaving the Iron Man costume for someone who can actually pilot it.
Of course, I realize this is pretty wild speculation at this point, and Marvel might not even go for a Groundhog Day-like evolution of the plot. At the same time, there’s no Marvel movie without epic battles and incredible special effects. Regardless of who lives and dies, you can bet your ass that we’ll have massive confrontations like the Wakanda fight in part 2, which will probably include other heroes such as Captain Marvel, Ant-Man, The Wasp, and Hawkeye.
