During
Avengers: Endgame's final act, The Hulk uses the Infinity Gauntlet to bring back the trillions of lives Thanos wiped out when he unleashed the power of the Infinity Stones in
Avengers: Infinity War. That takes its toll on the Green Goliath, though, and his arm is left blackened and damaged.
Now, co-director Joe Russo has confirmed that the next time we see The Hulk, he won't have undergone some sort of miraculous recovery (even though his comic book counterpart has a healing factor).
"He's lost an arm…that's not coming back," Russo confirmed. "He's damaged himself. It's permanent damage, the same way there was permanent damage with Thanos. It's irreversible. As you may notice, his arm is skinnier, it's blackened. So he loses a lot of strength there."
That's obviously going to change the character's dynamic in a big way, and The Hulk was clearly still badly injured right at the end of the movie as he could be seen wearing a sling at Tony Stark's funeral. "Who knows? There's a lot of really smart people left," Russo said. "Maybe somebody helps him repair that. Maybe somebody gives him a new arm. I have no idea where that character goes from here."
That's a good point, as we don't know what comes next for Bruce Banner in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Without another Avengers movie on the horizon, it's hard to say where he could next appear but that gives Marvel Studios plenty of time to figure out how to handle his drastic new look.
What would you like to see next from Smart Hulk following the events of Avengers: Endgame?
Hit the "View List" button to find out how the movie references all 22 previous MCU releases!
Iron Man (2008)
The most direct reference to
Iron Man comes right at the end of the movie when Thanos tells Tony Stark that, "I am inevitable." In response to that, the hero dons the Infinity Gauntlet and responds with, "And...I...Am...Iron Man." He then snaps his fingers, sealing his fate and destroying the villain's army.
Another direct reference to what's come before arrives at the very end of the credits when the sound of Tony building his first armour can be heard as a way of paying homage to where it all began. However, even more touching than that is the moment when Morgan Stark requests a cheeseburger from Happy Hogan just as her father did when he returned from his imprisonment back in 2008.
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
The Incredible Hulk is the black sheep of the Marvel Studios family, so it's no great surprise that there aren't really any obvious references to the Jade Giant's past in
Avengers: Endgame.
However, Bruce Banner saying he was "made" to wield the Infinity Stones because they mostly give off Gamma radiation feels like a reference to the fact that he was researching Gamma immunity when he ended up being transformed into the Green Goliath all those years ago.
Iron Man 2 (2010)
In
Iron Man 2, Tony tells Pepper that, "It's you...it's always been you." In
Avengers: Endgame, he says something similar while recording that farewell message aboard the Benatar, but perhaps the biggest nod to the divisive sequel is how the Russos draw parallels between Tony's message and the one he received from his own father (John Slattery also reprises the role here).
Thor (2011)
In Thor, Odin told his son that, "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." That's a line which will be all too familiar to comic book fans, but what relevance does it have here?
Well, when Steve Rogers is shown to be worthy of lifting Mjolnir, he does indeed possess the power of Thor as he's able to summon lightning against Thanos and, as we learned in
Thor: Ragnarok, the hammer is a conduit for that rather than the source of those abilities. This raises some interesting questions for the God of Thunder's future and whether someone else will now inherit the mantle.
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The most obvious nod to this movie comes when Steve Rogers gets to finally share that dance with Peggy Carter, but there are others which you may have overlooked in
Avengers: Endgame.
Captain America saying to Bucky, "Don't do anything stupid until I get back" and receiving the response, "How could I? You're taking all the stupid with you," is the exact same conversation they had when Bucky was deployed overseas, albeit the other way around. It's a lovely way of highlighting their friendship.
The Avengers (2012)
The Avengers is obviously referenced when Earth's Mightiest Heroes travel back to 2012, and the best part about that is seeing moments which Joss Whedon didn't cover, including what happened next after Loki was captured by the team. Beyond that, this one doesn't need much explaining!
Iron Man 3 (2013)
A lot of fans have been wondering who that random kid at Tony Stark's funeral was, and no one can blame you for not realising. After all, Ty Simpkins has grown up a lot since the threequel was shot but he was clearly present because Iron Man had such a significant impact on how his life unfolded.
Whether that means he'll return somewhere down the line is hard to say, but this was a clever way of showing the impact Tony's actions had on the normal people he crossed paths with over the years.
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
We get to spend quite a bit of time in 2013 and the nods to
Thor: The Dark World are easy to see, whether it's Loki hanging out in his prison cell, that brief glimpse of Jane Foster, or the God of Thunder having to resist telling his mother what will happen to her in just a matter of hours thanks to Malekith.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
The Falcon saying "On your left" when he returns alongside the other dusted heroes at the end of
Avengers: Endgame is a very cool throwback to his first meeting with Steve Rogers, we can probably all agree that the better effort comes during that elevator scene in Stark Tower in 2012.
Playing out a little differently to what we saw in
The Winter Soldier in the sense that it's Steve who enters the elevator, things are clearly about to play out the way they did in 2014 before Cap uses his knowledge of the future to lean over to Jasper Sitwell and whisper, "Hail HYDRA."
Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)
Beyond the obvious references to Ronin and Nebula's formerly villainous nature, the highlight here has to be seeing Star-Lord dancing around Morag and singing to himself from the perspective of War Machine (who promptly labels him an idiot).
Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)
Heading into
Avengers: Endgame, most of us were hoping that Ultron would somehow make his return to plague Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but that doesn't happen. However, upon his return to Earth, Tony Stark tells Steve Rogers that the reason he wanted to put a suit of armour around the world was to stop anything like this from happening.
Cap is quick to point out that those attempts weren't exactly a success, but it's hard not to wonder how differently things might have played out had there been an entire Iron Legion there to try and stop the Mad Titan in his tracks when he arrived in Wakanda.
Ant-Man (2015)
Ant-Man plays a key role in the proceedings as he guides Earth's Mightiest Heroes through the Quantum Realm, but the biggest Easter Egg to his first solo adventure comes our way when we hear the noise his van's horn makes.
That was a running gag in the movie and comes in very handy here when the team is trying to figure out how to access the Quantum Tunnel and return the Stones to their time.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Beyond the many mentions of the differences between Captain America and Iron Man before they are eventually put to one side, we hear nothing at all about the Sokovia Accords in
Avengers: Endgame and it's a little hard to believe General Ross was at Tony's funeral with the intention of arresting half of the heroes in attendance.
However, in a blink and you'll miss it exchange between Captain America and Spider-Man, Steve refers to Peter Parker as "Queens" which is a fantastic way to pay homage to the conversation they had during the airport battle in Germany.
Oh, and Black Panther actually caring enough to mention Clint by name was another nice touch.
Doctor Strange (2016)
The Ancient One's cameo and the return of all those Sorcerers (who have clearly continued training in Kamar-Taj) is the biggest nod to Doctor Strange, as is all that talk of the Time Stone's importance.
The fact that it's now been atomised and Earth is left open to attack due to its absence is bound to have an impact on Stephen Strange's future adventures, and could even open the door to Nightmare's debut.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
There's a lot of talk about what becomes of Nebula in
Avengers: Endgame and that mostly refers to the events of
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Beyond that, we don't really get any references to the sequel, but the way Nebula tries to appeal to her past self definitely plays off the groundwork laid by James Gunn after he developed the relationship between her and Gamora back in 2017.
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Beyond that familiar handshake when Peter Parker is reunited with Ned Leeds, the coolest (or should that be most spectacular?) throwback swings our way when the wall-crawler activates "Instant Kill" mode to deal with Thanos' army as he attempts to get away with the Infinity Gauntlet.
While Spidey doesn't kill, the fate of the universe is on he line here and these aliens aren't at all humanoid, so it's easy to see why he wanted to take extreme measures in order to slow them down.
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Chris Hemsworth is obviously far more humorous in his approach to playing the God of Thunder thanks to Taika Waititi, but the biggest way
Avengers: Endgame pays respects to
Thor: Ragnarok is by bringing Korg, Miek, and Valkyrie back.
The two fan-favorite aliens have actually been living with Thor, while the latter ends up being named the ruler of New Asgard by the time the movie's credits roll.
Black Panther (2018)
T'Challa has a very minor role in
Avengers: Endgame, and perhaps the biggest nod to his solo movie arrives right at the very end of this epic adventure as Black Panther is shown in Wakanda alongside his mother and sister. M'Baku's role in the final battle also bodes well for his future in the MCU.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
This is another that doesn't really need explaining, because everything that happens in
Avengers: Endgame links up to the way things played out for the team in
Avengers: Infinity War.
By far the best reference, though, is when Thor chops off Thanos' head and points out that he did exactly what the villain suggested the last time they crossed paths: he went for the head!
Ant-Man And The Wasp (2018)
This might just be favourite throwback in the entire movie. In
Ant-Man and The Wasp, Hope Van Dyne makes fun of Scott Lang calling Captain America "Cap" and takes umbrage over the fact he never asked her to go to Germany with him to help his team.
Well, in her first interaction with the Star Spangled Avenger, she calls him "Cap" and is clearly in awe of Steve Rogers just as Scott was the first time he crossed paths with America's Ass.
Captain Marvel (2019)
Captain Marvel's role in
Avengers: Endgame is minimal, and the only real reference to her origin story (which hadn't been shot at the time this movie was being filmed) is how torn up she is about the fact Nick Fury is among the dead.
There is, however, a fun fan theory out there that Black Widow cuts her sandwiches diagonally because she wanted to stop him from stealing her lunch!