Avengers 4 Concept Art May Tease Hulk: Agent of SHIELD

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War, in theaters now.

At the beginning of the month, a piece of promo artwork from the untitled Avengers 4 surfaced online. While no one could prove its legitimacy at the time, there seemed to be enough plausibility to what was depicted on the image to have it gain traction. The drawing featured all six original Avengers in a group shot, along with a few new recruits added to their ranks in the form of War Machine, Rocket Raccoon, Nebula and Brie Larson's Captain Marvel. Many characters appeared to be in new versions of their costumes, like Hawkeye, War Machine and Captain America. And perhaps even more curious was the fact that Bruce Banner's Hulk was now wearing a battle suit/superhero costume.

Since all the characters on the artwork were those left standing at the end of Infinity War, this seemed like our first big hint of the direction of next big Avengers film. Finally, a few days ago, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige appeared at CineEurope 2018 in Barcelona, giving a few lucky fans an early look at the first footage of Avengers 4. While the footage wasn't made public, word spread out of the event, and it's since been confirmed that the Hulk will, indeed, be sporting an armor when we next see him.

The Hulk is no stranger to battle armor, seeing as how we already saw him don gladiatorial garb in Thor: Ragnarok. However, the armor that will feature in Avengers 4 is different, considering that it will be the first the Green Goliath wears as part of the Avengers team. This makes us believe that an entirely new direction could be in store for the Hulk in the film, one that could be inspired by a time in the comic books when Bruce Banner was an agent of an organization known as the Pantheon.

Who Are the Pantheon?

The Pantheon was a group led by an Asgardian demi-god named Agamemnon. The organization made its first appearance in 1990's The Incredible Hulk #368 by Peter David and Sam Kieth before becoming a central part of the book's cast for nearly four years. During that time, Bruce Banner became a member of the Pantheon, which counted many other super-powered characters in its ranks like Achilles, Ajax, Perseus, Prometheus and many other characters based on mythological figures. Together, these heroes operated on the worldwide stage, performing heroic feats wherever trouble brewed. They saved countless people, in no small part thanks to the presence of Bruce Banner's Hulk.

But during that time, the Hulk was no narrow-minded beast fueled by rage. In fact, both Banner and the Hulk personas had merged peacefully, which meant that the Hulk now had the mind and control of Bruce Banner. This made for the perfect superhero, who had the brains and compassion of Banner, and the gamma-powered brawn of the Jade Giant. What is also equally important to mention is that, during his time with the Pantheon, the Hulk was wearing a superhero costume, a dark body suit complete with a belt.

There are definite similarities between the Hulk's Pantheon outfit and the one seen on the Avengers 4 promo art. Therefore, perhaps the film will really take a bit of inspiration from that storyline. However, bringing in the Pantheon might prove too elaborate, complicated and obscure for the film.

Perhaps, then, could a simpler route be taken?

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How Avengers 4 Could Adapt Such a Story

There is very little we know about Avengers 4, but few bits and pieces of information were divulged in interviews with the cast and crew, and set pictures helped in offering us some clues as to what awaits Earth's Mightiest Heroes in their next, and quite possibly final, adventure. One thing that appears to be all but confirmed is that there will be some sort of time jump in-between the films, which would result in a new beginning for some of the characters -- and key among those characters could be Bruce Banner.

In Avengers: Infinity War, Bruce Banner and the Hulk demonstrated that they were more at odds with each other than ever before. The Hulk refused to come out in the Avengers' time of need, no longer wishing to be simply used as a weapon or as a blunt instrument to be pointed at. Therefore, perhaps Avengers 4 could see Banner and the Hulk finally find some common ground and merging their selves, much like Hulk's days with the Pantheon. How could Banner achieve such an agreement? Maybe by giving the Hulk exactly what he wants: to matter, and to be considered a hero and a person. On Sakaar, the Hulk was a celebrated champion, and perhaps this is all he wants -- to matter once again, to be treated as an equal to the Avengers.

The perfect way to illustrate that would obviously be to give him a costume for him to wear in battle with his fellow superheroes. But that's not all. In fact, if we find the Hulk and Banner merged at the start of Avengers 4, it may also be because they are now fully established as a hero under the employ of an important organization. Since it wouldn't make much sense for the film to introduce the Pantheon, perhaps the Hulk could instead be an agent of a resurgent S.H.I.E.L.D. The spy organization may have been defunct in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but Thanos' attack and a time-jump could have resulted in Steve Rogers and a few friends putting a skeleton crew of S.H.I.E.L.D. back into action in order to help the citizens of the world. After all, a set picture of Avengers 4 did reveal Tony Stark wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D.-issue body suit, which hints at a return of the spy organization in the film.

In 2013, writer Mark Waid and artist Leinil Francis Yu relaunched the Hulk under the Marvel NOW! banner with Indestructible Hulk #1. The series saw Banner and his Hulk persona start working for S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to do some good. Of particular note, the series saw Banner modify a S.H.I.E.L.D. biosuit that the Hulk could wear as protective armor. Sound familiar?

Since the Hulk now wearing a superhero armor is a certainty, then it's quite possible that Avengers 4 might feature a merged Hulk/Banner who is doing some good in the world as part of a heroic organization. If that is the case, then perhaps the film will blend aspects of both the '90s Pantheon storyline with the modern Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. direction of the character. The Hulk's cinematic armor will certainly not be added for naught, and it can only mean that massive, Hulk-sized changes are in store for the character.

In theaters now, Avengers: Infinity War is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Bettany, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Tom Hiddleston and Josh Brolin. Avengers 4 hits theaters May 3, 2019.