What’s Up With The Hulk?
In contrast to the Hulk-heavy Thor: Ragnarok, Infinity War only features the Green Goliath for its opening scene, where he gets well and truly beaten in a fight with Thanos. From thereon out, Bruce Banner can’t get “the other guy” to come out, even in the heat of battle.
So, what’s going on here? One explanation could be that the Hulk didn’t enjoy losing a fight for once and so is frightened of facing Thanos again. Alternatively, his moral compass arguably isn’t as heroic as Banner’s, so maybe he just doesn’t want to lose again for the sake of his pride, regardless of what happens to the universe?
There’s likely another reason for Hulk’s refusal to get smashing, though. After all, when has the Jade Giant ever turned down the opportunity to punch things? Maybe Thanos just hurt him so badly that he doesn’t have the strength to fully take control again at the moment?
Thematically, we imagine that this will led to Bruce encouraging Hulk to come out in Avengers 4, thereby seeing the character embrace his other half for the first time.