The MCU’s 2 Future Hulk Teases Make His MCU Storyline Even More Awkward

The MCU’s two future Hulk storyline teases make Bruce Banner’s overall MCU plot and its handling even more awkward. Due to a combination of Universal Pictures owning Hulk’s distribution rights and Banner’s movie arc proving challenging for MCU creatives to visualize, the Hulk remained largely a background character among the Avengers, despite his gargantuan size. While Banner being a key hero figure allied with the likes of Wong and Captain Marvel in a post-Endgame world suggests bigger things are yet to come for his story, many lament the fact that over the course of years, relatively little focal time has been dedicated to the hero.

Some of this issue revolves around Hulk’s early storylines, as narratives like Hulk and Black Widow’s botched romance subplot encouraged a shift away from focusing on the character. However, some of this also stems from a lack of time that saw viable Hulk storylines cut, and the Marvel hero sidelined for more immediately important figures. This second issue is even more apparent now, due to the recent Hulk storylines, and how they highlight this previous treatment.

She-Hulk & Skaar’s MCU Future Teases Make Hulk’s Sidelining Worse

Despite Hulk’s MCU story being one of the franchise’s most sidelined, it seems that his family will not have to face the same fate. This setup makes the years that the underrated Avenger spent in the wings all the more notable and awkward, given how quickly his kin are set in place as integral parts of the overall franchise.

She-Hulk season 1 sets up Bruce Banner’s cousin Jennifer Walters to have a viable future in several upcoming MCU installments, with her ties to Samuel Sterns making her appearance possible for Captain America: New World Order, the show’s Emil Blonsky storyline making her a possible candidate for the overall Thunderbolts cast, and her romance with Matt Murdock setting up a prospective future appearance in Daredevil: Born Again.

While Hulk’s son, Skaar, doesn’t have the backing of a full Disney+ show about him to propel him into future MCU projects, the increasing likelihood of an MCU Young Avengers movie or series makes the decision to specifically age Skaar up to his late teens via sci-fi shenanigans strongly support the chances of his character being capitalized on in the near future. Though audiences noted how brief Skaar’s first MCU appearance was, this only makes his introduction seem more like a setup for a future storyline, much in the way brief glimpses of characters like Valentina Allegra de Fontaine teased impending plots.

Notably, Skaar was also a member of the Dark Avengers for a period of time within the comics, and if the theories surrounding a potential MCU Dark Avengers set up come true, he could possibly appear in the cinematic universe’s team when and if it blossoms. Either way, the Young Avengers or Dark Avengers would likely feature a focal storyline regarding how they respectively affect Skaar’s seemingly complicated relationship with his father, ensuring him spotlight wherever his future belongs.

Why Hulk’s Family Are Set To Get Major MCU Storylines Way Sooner After Their Introduction

If there’s one thing that the recent MCU installments have aimed to do, it’s evolve based on criticisms commonly leveled at the Marvel movie landscape, especially those that come from its earliest releases. Much in the way that WandaVision can be seen to deal with complaints that the Scarlet Witch had little major storyline despite her immense powers, She-Hulk can be seen to in part deal with the concerns surrounding how little Hulk lore had thus far made it on-screen. As such, it makes sense for She-Hulk and Skaar to have their prospective MCU future setups come far quicker, as the franchise attempts to wrangle with previous issues going forward.