For a super hero who speaks few words and throws many punches, Hulk was a delightful addition to the Marvel world. For my part at least, I rarely read comic books in order to know about the day-to-day minutiae of my favorite character's secret identity. I always cared more about the action and the adventure, which typically occurred more often when my heroes were transformed into heroes. Or in the Hulk's case, when my hero was transformed into a monster.
Unlike other heroes who dazzled comic book panels, Hulk was never in control of his abilities, and the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have continued that tradition. Hulk is a rage monster, who Hulks out when he's angry and smashes things to smithereens. He's as straightforward a character as you can get. Bruce Banner is a bit of a different story, but combined with the Hulk, we get the tale of a giant force of fury that punches obstacles out of his way then regrets it later. That's the Hulk for you.
However, as the years have gone on, and I've gotten to understand the Hulk's character in all its forms much better, I've realized that there are quite a few flaws with his hero-ing. Granted, these are comic books, and a certain amount of ridiculousness is required, but honestly, some things about the Hulk make absolutely no sense, even by those standards. Read on if you want to review some of the Hulk's aspects that make him one of the most nonsensical heroes in the MCU.
25 Sticky Pants
One thing that simultaneously makes no sense while making perfect sense is how Hulk always manages to retain the upper half of his pants. Bruce Banner starts out wearing nondescript purple slacks, but as soon as he Hulks out, his loose pants turn into tight shorts on the Hulk.
I'm telling you, it's not possible. Banner's pants should not be able to magically stay on his body. But I guess we all know that Marvel can't have a giant, green, unclothed man running around smashing buildings in their comics or movies.
24 How Strong Are You Really?
It turns out that Hulk is not always the strongest one there is. Hulk is only as strong as the story needs him to be.
His strength levels vary widely from movie to movie, comic to comic.
In one instance, Hulk was able to knock a humongous Chitauri space worm down with one punch in the first Avengers movie. But then if you look at him in Age of Ultron, he's only taking on puny robots one at a time. For a guy who is supposed to get stronger the more enraged he gets, Hulk's strength can be pretty inconsistent.
23 The Controls Must Be Simple
It took Tony Stark an entire movie to figure out how to work an Iron Man suit, and he is a genius. Granted, Bruce Banner is intelligent too, but it's still highly improbable that he could have learned to use Tony's Hulkbuster suit so rapidly.
In Infinity War, when the Hulk refuses to show his face, Banner is left to fight in the final battle using the Hulkbuster. (Ironic, huh?) And even though the movie showed Banner struggling to control the suit a bit at first, he still gained mastery of the suit far sooner than he should have.
22 A Mutual Separation
If I was Bruce Banner, I would not appreciate turning into a rampaging behemoth every time I got annoyed. Still, I wouldn't separate myself from that part of my identity because, like it or lump it, it is a part of me. This is not the case for comic book Banner and Hulk.
They go to Doctor Doom, of all people, to get their minds separated. Using the dubious power of surgery at the hands of Doom, Hulk and Banner are finally split into two, separate physical forms, one of which is the Hulk and the other Banner in a cloned body. No freaking way.
21 Cap Versus Hulk
One of my problems with Infinity War is that they yet again underplayed Hulk's strength, which especially sucks, because his strength is what he's known for.
At the very beginning of the movie, Thanos takes out the Hulk like it's nothing.
That does a good job of showing how powerful Thanos is with only a single Infinity Stone, but later on, when Thanos has all but one Stone, Captain America is able to match his strength. Seriously?! Isn't Hulk the strongest one there is?
20 Hulk Pilot
Bruce Banner is intelligent. The Hulk? Not so much. And yet, despite having no previous piloting experience, the Hulk is able to pilot the Quinjet all by himself.
At the end of the fight with Ultron, the Hulk decides to leave the group and head off by himself. After rescuing Black Widow from a sticky situation, he climbs onto a Quinjet and begins to fly it away. He even disabled the autopilot that was already set. How would the Hulk know how to operate anything on the jet? Not even Bruce Banner could fly a plane.
19 How Does He Get So High?
As far as I'm aware, Hulk's list of super powers does not include flight. That doesn't stop him from continually defying gravity in movies and comic books. It is understandable that super strength might make your jumps a little larger than normal, but Hulk's jumps are insanely huge.
He takes tremendous leaps into the air that carry him several stories into the sky. He's like a giant, practically weightless ballerina at times. It is as if gravity affects the Hulk differently than everyone else.
18 Underwater Battling
Hulk does not strike me as the kind of hero who functions well underwater. I honestly do not think he should be able to swim, let alone participate in a skirmish under the sea. Looks like he can handle being beneath the waves for a long amount of time though.
His massive lungs let him stay underwater for more time than a normal person. Hulk is definitely larger than your average Joe, but he's not whale-sized. Those lungs of his should not give him any extra breathing room.
17 The Dimension Traveler
Hulk is notorious for punching his way out of problems. When enemies oppose the Hulk, they better look out for his fists because Hulk does not pull his punches. But did you know that Hulk can use his fists for more than a fight?
Apparently, Hulk is strong enough to punch his way to different dimensions.
I have no clue as to how this is possible, but this is where comic books begin to turn ridiculous. How do you even begin to smash your way to another dimension with just your fists?
16 Like A Chameleon
This next bit of nonsense is not actually the Hulk's fault. Originally, the Hulk was a gray-colored monster, looking like a larger version of Frankenstein. Eventually, because of inking issues, the Hulk's color had to be changed to a very bright green.
I'm pretty fond of Hulk's green color over his gray. The Gray Hulk was smarter than the Green Hulk though, retaining most of Banner's intelligence. Green Hulk got a color upgrade, but an IQ downgrade.
15 Controlling It On A Whim
Pity for Bruce Banner and the Hulk is typical because Banner cannot control when he loses his temper and turns into the Hulk. Banner forever has to fear becoming irritated and losing his grip on his milder identity. Strangely enough, The Avengers totally changed that up during the final fight, when Banner willingly turned into the Hulk with the now infamous line, "I'm always angry."
That moment was uber cool, but what does it mean for the Hulk? Can he now just control whenever he transforms?
14 The Search For The Cure
Do you guys remember The Incredible Hulk? Yeah, neither does the rest of the world. Since your memories of the movie might be a little vague, you may have forgotten that Bruce Banner spent a lot of that movie searching for a cure for his Hulk affliction. He actually came really close to figuring it out too.
However, we have not heard of this cure since this movie.
Did Bruce just stop searching? The Incredible Hulk is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It counts as canon. Do its events mean nothing though?
13 Catching Up On Beauty Sleep
In the hilarious Thor: Ragnarok, we finally get to see the Hulk again after his disappearance after the events of Age of Ultron. We also find out that the Hulk has been Hulk for two whole years, suppressing Bruce Banner's identity the entire time. How is that possible?
The Hulk only remains the Hulk as long as he runs on a current of anger.
Has the Hulk not gotten any sleep while on the planet Sakaar? There's a bed in his room, so I'm assuming he has. Sleep should have relaxed the Hulk, making him transform back into Banner again.
12 Forever Young?
Hulk is a beast beyond the ravages of time, so he could theoretically live forever. (That's a pleasant thought, isn't it? A monster filled with rage who lives forever.) Does this extend to Bruce Banner though?
How is the Marvel Cinematic Universe going to handle this? We can see signs of Banner aging over the course of several movies (sorry, Mark Ruffalo), so does this mean that the Hulk is getting up in years too? This is the kind of nonsense that comes with having a split personality that can live forever.
11 Dangerous Blood
Here we go with The Incredible Hulk again. This poor movie has been relegated to the backwaters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of the conflicts of the story was that the military was trying to weaponize Bruce Banner's blood. That's how the Abomination ended up being made.
Bruce had to keep a weather eye on where his blood was kept and who was using it. But since this movie is no longer really referenced, I guess that Bruce is no longer concerned about how his blood is used.
10 Where's Betty?
Betty Ross has long been the love of Bruce Banner's life. She is the Mary Jane Watson to Banner's Peter Parker. But if that is the case, why has she no longer been mentioned? In both of Hulk's standalone movies, she was the main love interest.
Nowadays, she is nowhere to be seen.
Her father, General Ross, has made several appearances in other MCU movies. He was in Captain America: Civil War and in Infinity War. So Betty Ross still exists. She's just... not around.
9 His Anger Makes Him Powerful
Bruce Banner became the Hulk when he was caught in a gamma radiation accident. He then gained the ability to transform into a gargantuan Hulk that was physically stronger than a normal human.
That is all well and good, but I want to know how the accident and the transformation became connected to Banner's emotional state. Seriously, why exactly is it that anger is the trigger that makes Hulk show up? Stressful situations alone could cause the hormonal and neurological responses that create the Hulk.
8 Two Sides Of The Same Coin
Just as confusing as the connection between Banner's transformation and rage is the strange fact that the gamma accident caused a split in Banner's personality. Did the gamma radiation create the Hulk's personality, or was the Hulk's personality always locked within Bruce Banner?
I know these questions are similar to the question posed by Ang Lee's Hulk movie, and for that, I apologize. But you have to admit, the whole thing is pretty confusing.
7 The Hulking Digestive Tract
I have always been impressed while watching movies when characters hide things by swallowing them and then regurgitating them. I don't think I could ever do that. In The Incredible Hulk, Bruce needs to hide a flash drive, so he swallows it.
But afterwards, he turns into the Hulk while the drive is still inside him.
I don't know much about the digestive system of a Hulk, but I'm pretty sure there is no way that flash drive survived the inside of the Hulk's intestines.
6 Stronger Than A Speeding Bullet
Part of being the strongest one there is apparently includes having bulletproof skin. When General Ross (or whoever is extremely mad at the Hulk and has access to a mighty military) tries to go after the Hulk, he always brings out guns.
Guns have no real effect on the Hulk though.
The bullets just ping off of his skin. Is the Hulk invulnerable? Is the Hulk's skin like Superman's? It is difficult to imagine what in the world (or the universe) could make the Hulk bleed.