A deleted scene from Avengers: Infinity War, featuring Smart Hulk, Black Widow and The Falcon, has found its way online. The scene serves as Natasha’s introduction to Smart Hulk, a character that was ultimately introduced in Infinity War’s follow-up, Avengers: Endgame.
“I love Infinity War, but we deserved to see Smart Hulk’s transformation in the final film,” one fan wrote on Twitter, sharing the scene, which lacks completed effects and for a significant portion, shows actor Mark Ruffalo in his motion capture suit, and not as the Angry Green Giant. “Agreed, this would have been awesome to see finished. Have smart Hulk vs Thanos at the end too,” one fan wrote in response. “If this scene was in infinity war i would be sooooooo much more down with professor hulk that scene in Endgame makes me cringe so hard I serious cannot believe that’s what they chose over this,” wrote another.
The scene was designed as an echo of a similar scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron, in which Natasha tries to calm Hulk down after a battle, but here, she realises that he no longer needs calming down. The Bruce Banner and Hulk sides of his personality have coalesced.
With this reveal delayed, Banner spent the entirety of Infinity War trying to coax Hulk out, and was forced to don the Hulkbuster armour in the film’s climactic battle. Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely had spoken to The New York Times about the decision to delete the scene.
“There was a time when Banner became Smart Hulk in the first movie. It was a lot of fun, but it came at the wrong moment. It was an up, right when everyone else was down,” Markus said. “It happened in Wakanda. His arc was designed like, I’m not getting along with the Hulk, the Hulk won’t come out. And then they compromise and become Smart Hulk,” McFeely added.
