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Hulk no smash! Russo Brothers admit they nerfed Bruce Banner in the MCU 'Avengers' films
Does the directing duo hate the Hulk?
Joe and Anthony Russo have finally confessed! The directing duo did, in fact, nerf the Hulk.
During a recent interview with Wired in support of their new movie, The Gray Man, the brothers answered the Internet’s most searched questions about them. Many of those questions unsurprisingly focused on their MCU films, especially their two Avengers movies, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
As we all know, Endgame saw the death of some beloved characters, but Infinity War saw Bruce Banner unable to turn into the Hulk, which made him physically powerless without help from one of Tony’s suits. This caused many fans to think that the Russos hated the Hulk, which thus made it one of the most searched questions related to the Russos.
“We nerfed the Hulk!” Joe admitted, using the gaming term where a character is reconfigured to be less powerful. “We nerfed him,” he continued. “We just didn’t know what to do with him. We were like, ‘What's this big powerful character? What do we do with this big powerful character?’”
We saw their answer to that question in Endgame, where Bruce is emotionally unable to become the Big Guy. The Russos also doubled down on their stance on nerfing the Hulk; in a later question, they made it clear that the Hulk was most definitely not the strongest Avenger (they said, in their minds, that Wanda, Thor, and Captain Marvel held that title at different points in time).
Joe Russo also answered questions on why the Russo Brothers killed Loki. “He deserved to die,” he said, one eyebrow raised as he looked directly at the camera. His response to the next question — why did the Russo Brothers kill Iron Man? — was the same. “He deserved to die,” Joe jokingly said once again, nodding his head knowingly.
You can check out the nerfed Hulk by watching Avengers: Infinity War on Disney+. He'll also be back in green alongside Tatiana Maslany in the streamer's upcoming She-Hulk: Attorney at Law series debuting Aug. 17.
Looking for some more sci-fi? Check out shows like Resident Alien, Brave New World, Project Blue Book, Eureka, Heroes, Intergalactic, and more streaming now on Peacock.
