Avengers: Endgame Director Joe Russo Reveals Why the Hulk Wasn't Strong Enough for the Infinity Gauntlet

Between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, three separate characters wielded all six Infinity Stones. Each time, a disastrous event resulted from severe disfigurement to death — like what happened to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). When the Hulk donned Stark's homemade gauntlet, the powers that be ultimately decided the character needed to suffer an injury as a result of the process — something that came across to continue showing the raw power Thanos possessed at the time. In Avengers: Endgame - The Art of the Movie, Endgame co-director Joe Russo explained it was paramount Thanos remained the most powerful being in both of the movies.

"We know how powerful Thanos is by his quick defeat of the Hulk in Infinity War, so this is an incredibly painful experience, to put on the gauntlet that controls the universe," Russo explained. "It permanently damages the most powerful beings and some of the most powerful creatures in these movies, and very few people can actually put that on and survive."

That's when Marvel Studios visual development head Ryan Meinerding joined in and explained the process of them crafting the Hulk's injury, from a charred arm to shrinking it in size. "When Hulk brings everybody back with a snap using the Stark gauntlet, they wanted Hulk to have paid a severe price for doing it," the artist says.

He adds, "The idea of his arm being shriveled and messed up was where they were going with it initially, and I don't think anybody was that comfortable with the visual of him fighting with a shriveled arm, so we were trying to come up with alternatives. I pitched that basically when his arm gets shriveled, he just rips his sleeve off and turns it into a sling to allow him to fight later on in the film and not have that asymmetry be something that was too odd. In the end, they worked it out fine in the movie without that concept."

The Hulk can be seen in Avengers: Endgame, now available to stream on Disney+.

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios has yet to set release dates for its theatrical releases in Ant-Man 3 and Blade or the Disney+ shows consisting of Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.

Do you think we'll see the Hulk pop up again? If so, when and where? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or by tweeting me at @AdamBarnhardt to chat all things MCU!