Ryan Meinerding, Marvel Studios Head of Visual Development, has revealed concept art for a scrapped scene from Avengers: Endgame that features a more "friendly neighborhood" Smart Hulk.
"This is a key frame for a scene that was cut from Avengers: Endgame where we got to see Smart Hulk being terrific at being a hero," Meinerding said on social media. "Will post more Hulk design work soon! Some VisDev team members made an appearance in this shot, [Rodney Fuentebella], [Ian Joyner] and Melissa Encinas!" Despite this scene not appearing within the final cut, those who saw Endgame's theatrical re-release will recognize this as one of the included deleted scenes. Fortunately, those who weren't able to see the deleted scene upon release are now able to do so within the film's bonus features.
As one of the few founding Avengers that survived the film, it remains to be seen whether Marvel Studios has plans for the Hulk to return. But with Mark Ruffalo recently mentioning a potential cameo for the upcoming She-Hulk Disney+ series, it appears likely that the Hulk's time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not over.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, with Gwyneth Paltrow Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Josh Brolin as Thanos. The film is now available on Digital HD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD.