The year is 2012, and the summer is being kicked off by the most anticipated movie event in recent history: Marvel Studios’ “The Avengers.” This film was the largest crossover event in movie history, bringing together four separate superhero franchises into one film. After its release, it broke every box office record, earned one rave review after another and had one character who managed to steal the entire film, easily becoming the crowd-pleasing fan favorite. That character was none other than the green machine himself, the Hulk.

Originally created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as a play on the classic “Jekyll and Hyde” storyline with a bit of “Frankenstein” horror thrown in for good measure, the Hulk first debuted in May of 1962 in his first comic series titled “The Incredible Hulk.” Scientist Bruce Banner was a physically weak, socially withdrawn and emotionally reserved physicist who specialized in gamma radiation. One day, an experiment went wrong, causing Banner to be accidentally exposed to the gamma rays, resulting in the creation of a green-skinned, muscular humanoid with a bit of an anger issue. 

Throughout history, the Hulk has been one of Marvel’s most iconic characters. Before Iron Man, Captain America and Thor became household names, there was the Hulk. While Spider-Man and X-Men both launched successful superhero franchises in the early 2000s, Hulk was the only character for whom Marvel still had the production rights to land with fans, even if his feature film debut, Ang Lee’s “Hulk,” was a bit of a dud. Even before that, however, Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby brought the character to life in the late ’70s with “The Incredible Hulk” TV show. 

Fast forward to 2012, however, and fans were finally treated to the enormous green rage monster they deserved, with Mark Ruffalo’s incredible portrayal of the character having served as a replacement to Edward Norton, who portrayed the character in 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk.” Ruffalo embodied all that was Bruce Banner – shy, neurotic, reclusive genius – and all that was his green counterpart as well – angry, unhinged, destructive and an unstoppable force of pure rage. That is who the Hulk is: unstoppable rage. Every time Hulk is hit or shot, he only gets angrier, and like the famous saying goes, “You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.” The more angry he gets, the stronger he gets, the harder he punches and the more damage he causes. This is something that “The Avengers” captured perfectly but has also not gotten right since. 

Ruffalo’s second appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” was disappointing to say the least. To start with Banner, he was given a forced romantic subplot with Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, a character who does not need a love story in any way to make her interesting. Having these two already-established characters who resented love and intimacy and smashing them together may have sounded good on paper, but in execution, it was a waste of the Widow’s time and added nothing to Banner. As for Hulk, apart from the visual effects taking a huge step down this time around, he was only there to show just how cool Iron Man’s new Hulkbuster suit was. The film also covered the same thematic territory of the first film, with Hulk not being accepted by society. 

In “Thor: Ragnarok,” fans were “treated” to a Hulk that talks like a toddler, showing off his smooth green tushy, causing all the third-graders in the audience to roll over laughing and, once again, only being there to show how powerful Thor is without his hammer. The film introduced an interesting arc for Banner and Hulk, having both sides trying to cling to the host body and fighting amongst each other in a weird psychological battle, but it is too underdeveloped. Just as well, the visuals continue their downward trend as he looks even worse here.

In “Avengers: Infinity War,” the climatic coming-together of all Marvel’s heroes from over 10 years of films, the filmmakers took an interesting approach to the character by having him just not show up. For starters, Hulk is only there to show just how powerful Thanos is, cementing Hulk as the punching bag of the MCU, as, if a hero can beat up the Hulk, that means they are cool and powerful too. Furthermore, fans were left with Bruce Banner, who also decided not to show up, and actor Mark Ruffalo chose to just be himself for a whole film. The gags of him slapping himself and tripping in a Hulkbuster suit are funny, yes, but Bruce Banner is not a “funny” character. Marvel has plenty of those guys and does not need anymore.

What ever happened to Bruce Banner – awkward, intelligent, short-tempered and, in his own words, “always angry” – from 2012’s “The Avengers?” Whatever happened to Hulk, the gamma-infused monstrosity that only became more dangerous each time he got smacked down? Why is he just a stepping stone for another character’s strength Marvel is trying to promote? Why is Ruffalo frolicking around the fields of Wakanda in a big CGI suit, which is yet again another downgrade for the visual effects department, and not acting like the character? 

In the upcoming “Avengers: Endgame,” the rumor is that Banner, who apparently is acting so weird because of being the Hulk for two years (lame excuse), and Hulk are going to join together to create one big identity, known in the comics as Professor Hulk. If this is true, then that means the one and only time we ever got to see the Hulk as the Hulk and Banner as Banner was in 2012. And that is unfortunate because hearing him say “Hulk Smash!” while destroying anything and everything is who the Hulk is, not a punching bag.

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