Marvel’s Avengers Shows the Potential of a New Hulk Game

Marvel’s Avengers only shows us a fragment of the game’s story and its multiplayer modes, but from what we do get to see, the Hulk and Bruce Banner look to be some standout characters. Banner’s relationship with Kamala Khan serves as a catalyst for character development and more poignant moments during their missions, and the Hulk’s playstyle feels more grounded than others with tangible effects during fights. The Hulkhas a ton of potential in Marvel’s Avengers, so much so that it’s enough to make one wonder what a modern game based entirely around the green Avenger would look like.

Your first interaction with the Hulk and Banner in the Marvel’s Avengers demo comes from the Golden Gate Bridge segment of the campaign. It’s one we’ve seen several times before, but when you experience it for yourself, Hulk immediately stands out from the other characters. Thor and Iron Man feel flighty and agile while Hulk enters as an indomitable force able to tear through whatever is in front of him.

That itself is an innate part of the Hulk, and leaving it out would leave you with someone who wasn’t very Hulk-like at all. But it’s the way Hulk interacts with enemies and the environment that makes him different from the others. Without flight or grappling hooks, he’s left to claw his way across ledges and walls and over whoever is in your way to get where he needs to be. That ability isn’t exclusive to the Hulk, but with that mobility mechanic combined with his massive leaps and size and the ability to rip up the ground he stands on as an improvised weapon make him feel more connected to the world around him than any other hero.

Beyond the opening segment of the game, Hulk only gets better. His main resource, Rage, perfectly captures the aggression and risk/reward playstyle of the character. Hulk thrives in the middle of fights by balancing his offense with evasions and counters to keep his damage output high and damage taken low. From swinging smaller enemies around as weapons themselves to grappling with larger foes, it quickly becomes evident nothing is off limits to the Hulk. If you weren’t on board with the Hulk after his introduction, the Abomination boss fight should leave you convinced when you see two titans clash as Hulk’s brutality and Banner’s caring nature converge.

But the Hulk is a package deal who comes with Banner too, a character who’s by design a stark contrast from his unrestrained transformation. His frequent interactions with Kamala Khan show how Banner and Hulk can work in unison to interact with teammates while still feeling distinctly different than one another. Where the Banner-focused moments could easily be viewed as just breaks from being the Hulk, we’ve already seen from past games how a character’s alter-ego can be balanced with their superhero persona to still create meaningful and interactive moments. Marvel’s Spider-Man frequently sees players controlling Peter Parker and other supporting characters instead of just being Spider-Man throughout the whole game, so there’s no question that the same could be done with Hulk and Banner.

This version of Hulk we’ve seen is still just a fragment of the character from Marvel’s Avengers, but it’s an impressive fragment that could – and should – be an inspiration for a new Hulk-focused game. We’ve seen Iron Man and Spider-Man spotlighted in their own games, and early reactions to the Marvel’s Avengers beta have seen players reacting positively towards the Hulk, so perhaps we’ll one day see the Avenger earn his own standalone game.