Warning! SPOILERS for Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney At LawThanks to Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, a clearer picture has been painted about what happened to Bruce Banner’s Hulk during the Blip. Played by Mark Ruffalo, the Incredible Hulk went through a major transformation during the five years that took place between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Now, She-Hulk is shedding some new light on everything the strongest Avenger got up to following Thanos’ victory with the Infinity Gauntlet.
In She-Hulk’s premiere, Jennifer Walters reveals how she became a Hulk just like her cousin Bruce. Thanks to the sudden arrival of a mysterious Sakaaran spaceship at the beginning of She-Hulk episode 1, Jen and Bruce crashed their car trying to avoid the large spacecraft. While minimally injured, some of Bruce’s gamma-irradiated blood got into Jen’s system, triggering her own transformation as the She-Hulk.
Wanting to help Jen adjust to her new lifestyle, Bruce takes Jen to his lab in Mexico, revealed to be the same place where he figured out how to integrate his personality with the Hulk’s. As such, more details are gradually revealed about what Banner did while the world was trying to pick up the pieces after half of all life in the universe was erased. Here’s everything that happened to Bruce Banner’s Hulk during the five-year Blip.
Bruce Banner Helps Avengers Post-Infinity War
Following Thanos’ erasure of half of all life in the universe in Avengers: Infinity War, Bruce Banner and the surviving heroes regrouped at the Avengers Compound. Following their introduction to Captain Marvel, who helped rescue Iron Man and Nebula, the beginning of Avengers: Endgame saw Earth’s Mightiest Heroes attacking the content Mad Titan in the hope of retrieving the Infinity Stones to reverse what he did. With the Hulk still refusing to come out and face Thanos, Banner continued to use Tony Stark’s Hulkbuster armor. Discovering that Thanos had destroyed the Stones, the Avengers returned to Earth truly defeated for five years. However, this period dubbed the Decimation would become known as the Blip once the Avengers used time travel to collect the Stones and bring everyone back.
Tony Stark Gives Bruce Banner Mexico Lab
As revealed by Bruce Banner to his cousin in She-Hulk episode 1, Iron Man built a remote beach house/lab in Mexico for Banner to conduct all kinds of research and experiments. A fellow genius and Bruce’s best friend, Stark and Banner spent quite a bit of time together during the Blip, often having drinks at the tiki bar Bruce and Tony built together. Bruce also revealed that Tony would frequently complain about Steve Rogers’ Captain America considering their falling out in Captain America: Civil War, the events of which would cause the Avengers to be split during Thanos’ subsequent invasion in Infinity War.
Bruce Banner Integrates Hulk Personality
Bruce also confirms to that the Mexico lab is where he discovered the means to integrate both halves of himself, the Banner side and the more monstrous Hulk half (unlike She-Hulk who has no alter-ego). Spending 18 months experimenting, Bruce started looking at his greener alter ego as less of a disease and more of a cure. Coming out the other side, Bruce figured out how to “put the brains and the brawn together” by having the stronger, green-skinned body of the Hulk while still retaining his intelligence.
Bruce Becomes Active Hero (Birth of Smart Hulk)
Having integrated both halves of himself into one being, Banner became known as Smart Hulk once he stared going out into the world as an active hero. As an example, a cut scene from Avengers: Endgame added during the film’s theatrical re-release saw the new version of Hulk saving civilians from a fire (while also giving the firefighters advice on how to best put out the flames). The diner scene where Captain America, Black Widow, and Ant-Man ask for his help also sees a group of kids asking Banner for his autograph, confirming Smart Hulk’s new celebrity status.
She-Hulk also confirmed that the “Smart Hulk” name wasn’t one Banner chose, but one the public started calling him once he started venturing out into the world. At any rate, Bruce would rejoin the Avengers to gather the Infinity Stones in the past as seen in the rest of Avengers: Endgame. Hulk himself was the one to snap his fingers and bring back everyone who had been lost before the final battle, thus ending the five-year Blip in the MCU.