The Avengers’ First Fight Perfectly Mirrors A 36-Year-Old Marvel Movie

It can be easy to forget that Marvel movies were around decades before the MCU, and one from 36 years ago was mirrored in the first fight between heroes in The Avengers. Marvel movies go back as far as 1944 when Captain America starred in a serial film. After that, Marvel heroes would not appear on the big screen for decades, with renewed output only resuming en masse in the 1970s. It was during this decade that mostly direct-to-TV Marvel films, including Doctor Strange and Spider-Man, would make their indelible mark on the genre.

Among the most successful of these, however, were the spin-off movies for the The Incredible Hulk TV series starring Lou Ferrigno as the eponymous Jade Giant. Ferrigno’s legacy as the Hulk has since been paid tribute through cameos, with him notably appearing in the MCU’s The Incredible Hulk in 2008, proving the impact of Ferrigno’s rendition of the character. Another tribute to his tenure, it seems, can be seen in The Avengers, when the titular heroes devolve into infighting for the first time and start tussling on the SHIELD Helicarrier.

The Avengers’ Hulk Vs Thor Fight Mirrors The Incredible Hulk Returns

The Incredible Hulk Returns is the first of three spin-off movies for The Incredible Hulk and features another early rendition of an MCU icon, Thor. This version of the God of Thunder, played by Eric Kramer, is a far cry from the one that has since made his record-breaking mark on the MCU. He does, however, share some similarities in the form of his arrogance and his apparent rivalry with Hulk, something which manifests early on in both The Incredible Hulk Returns and The Avengers.

Thor’s arrival in The Incredible Hulk Returns is swiftly followed by him goading David Banner (this franchise’s version of Bruce Banner) into getting angry. Hulk then appears, and the two immediately go toe-to-toe, with no clear winner before Hulk gets distracted by onlookers. This is mirrored by the two characters’ first meeting in The Avengers, when Thor attempts to subdue Hulk before he kills Black Widow, and the evenly-matched fight ends with Hulk leaping off to tear apart a fighter jet before falling to the ground below. This would evolve into a longstanding rivalry between the two characters.

Why Hulk & Thor Are So Often Shown Fighting On-Screen

The rivalry between Thor and Hulk is born from their confidence in their own strength. Thor: Ragnarok perfectly illustrates this rivalry as the two fight for the title of the “strongest Avenger,” after several years of back-and-forth in Avengers movies. The two incredibly powerful characters see one another as worthy opponents that constitute a true test of their respective strengths. The same thing occurs in The Incredible Hulk Returns, where Thor responds to the Hulk’s arrival with a measure of excitement before the two begin to throw each other around.

This rivalry has a long precedence set in Marvel Comics, where the two have been duking it out for six decades. These fights end in myriad ways and often hinge on who has the upper hand via external forces, though, like the live-action renditions, can often end in a stalemate. As for the MCU, the initial fight between Thor and Hulk in The Avengers came to a head in Thor: Ragnarok when the two fought on Sakaar, resulting in Hulk’s unsatisfying victory after the Grandmaster intervened.