One of the best things about the Hulk is that there is a different version for everyone, but when it came to the Hulk in Avengers: Endgame, most fans seemed to get mad at the evolution of the character. Fused with Banner's mind and nicknamed "Professor Hulk," the gentler and nerdy giant seemed to be a demotion to many who wanted a more powerful version of the character.
But those who have character issues in Endgame may have things backwards because Professor Hulk was just as powerful as his previous incarnations in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, it may have been even more powerful.
Much of the backlash against the iteration of the Professor Hulk character seems straightforward. Appearing after the five-year time jump, the character's direction seemed to come out of left field for many fans who wanted to see the character develop rather than hear it secondhand. In the first scene he appears, he dabbles for some teenagers, and throughout the film, he never lets go of his physical strength. Being the last round of the original Avengers, it was only fair that fans wanted to see Banner's alter-ego on a rampage one last time, but what they may be overlooking is that the Savage Hulk never made much of an impact on the MCU in first place.
Most of the Savage Hulk's accomplishments come from lending his strength to the fights the Avengers were already winning. He hit a Leviathan that Iron Man blew up with a missile, he fought Chitauri, the Avengers didn't really fight much and he defeated Loki before being responsible for freeing him. In Age of Ultron, he was never really a critical piece to storming the Hydra base or fighting Ultron, and the hindrance of his rampage in his Hulkbuster fight likely outweighs his contributions there. In Ragnarok, he fought the wolf Fenris, but has already lost a fight to Thor before, proving that his help was not really needed. With Infinity War, all you really do is give Thanos some exercise and from there his contributions are nil.
Savage Hulk's strength ends up being redundant because both Iron Man and Thor are stronger than him, while his childish intellect proves an active obstacle. But in just one movie, Professor Hulk accomplished much more than that. He helped pioneer time travel to make the Time Heist possible, provided a crucial piece of the plan by convincing the Elder to give up the Time Stone, and then literally saved half the universe by restoring the lives that Thanos dusted off in Infinity War. The narrative even increases the power of the last act and makes it clear that the Hulk was the only one capable of bearing the burden.
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