Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo recently admitted the two films 'nerfed' Mark Ruffalo's Hulk in their Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
In a new interview for WIRED, the brothers spoke about the controversial decisions they made to reduce the Hulk's strength and abilities in the colossal battle between Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Thanos. "We just didn’t know what to do with him. We were like, 'What, this big powerful character. What we do with this big powerful character?'" Despite the mixed reception from fans, the brothers have no regrets about their decisions with Hulk. "To say to people who think we nerfed the Hulk? He deserved it," said Joe Russo. "Lots of controversial… Marvel fans responding."
Infinity War saw Bruce Banner unable to transform into the Hulk and resorting to using Tony Stark's Hulkbuster to battle Thanos's minions in Wakanda. Ultimately making peace between his smarts and the big green guy's rage, Banner changes into the more sophisticated Professor Hulk in Endgame.
Since the beginning of the MCU, the Hulk has been the most challenging to bring to the big screen. After the mixed reception of Ang Lee's Hulk in 2003, the newly formed Marvel Studios formed a production arrangement with Universal to reboot the character with Edward Norton playing the title role in 2008's The Incredible Hulk. While the movie grossed $265 worldwide and was generally well-received by critics, the production was plagued with issues including Norton clashing with Marvel over the script and the overall production. Rather than keep Norton as Bruce Banner/Hulk for 2012's The Avengers, Marvel decided to recast the role with Ruffalo. The character has since played a significant supporting role in the Avengers films as well as 2017's Thor: Ragnarok.
Ruffalo appeared briefly in the post-credits scene of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in his human form. He is set to reprise the Hulk in the upcoming She-Hulk: Attorney at Law series on Disney+. The series will see Ruffalo pass the torch to its star Tatiana Maslany playing the role of Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk.
Discussing the series, Ruffalo said, "I'm passing the banner onto her... There's some really good, funny, cool, long, long scenes between Professor and her. We've never really seen the Hulk interact with people the way he does in that show. It'll be really interesting."
Catch the Hulk's latest adventure when She-Hulk: Attorney at Law premieres on Disney+ on Aug. 17.
Source: YouTube