GREY HULK in Avengers Infinity War?

Ever since the Hulk smashed his way onto our movie screens, people have longed to see his grey counterpart, tear his own path of destruction through the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Rumours and theories of Grey Hulk appearing in the MCU are not a new thing, but as we come closer to the release of Avengers Infinity War (or rather, the release comes closer to us!), I’m getting a feeling that Bruce Banner’s grey alter-ego might finally show up.

Just a quick warning of potential spoilers for Avengers Infinity War coming right up. That’s hoping my theories are true!

Some speculation is abound that Banner will be unable to convert into the Hulk throughout most of Infinity War. They theorise that Thanos will use the Infinity Gauntlet to render Banner unable to transform into the Hulk when he boards the Asgardian refugee ship which we see happen at the end of Thor Ragnarok. This is why many are theorising that Banner’s the one piloting the Hulkbuster armour in Wakanda in the trailers. This is largely based on Infinity War toy sets people have seen advertised.

If the green Hulk has been repressed, perhaps it’s the perfect opportunity for Grey Hulk to make a grand entrance?!

However, we do see the Hulk in his green form in the line-up charging towards the forces of Thanos later on. See below.

Captain America leads the Marvel heroes into battle in Avengers Infinity War.

What if this was a trick pulled by the marketing team to hide the Grey Hulk from audiences? In the publicity for Thor Ragnarok, it was well hidden from us that the God of Thunder lost an eye. Why wouldn’t they use visual effects trickery a second time to convince us we’re getting a visit from the not-so-jolly green giant, rather than the grey one?

I admit that I don’t have much to go off on this theory other than speculation, but it has been revealed that Grey Hulk was originally intended to appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron. According to ILM:

Initially, Hulk was actually planned to turn grey when he is angry Hulk in the Hulkbuster sequence, but hey, everybody wanted the green guy. So in the end, ILM just changed his eyes to make them look more sullen when he is under the control of Scarlet Witch.

This also ties into the intended multiple movie arc which is set to play out for Mark Ruffalo’s Banner/Hulk over this recent outings in the MCU. Thor Ragnarok, Infinity War and Avengers 4 are all supposed contain a three-movie arc for Hulk and Banner. What’s better than to include Grey Hulk in that? Ruffalo says:

Hulk speaking is the start to separating of these two individuals, these identities in this split-identity person, and where that’s going to end up going.

All this talk of split-personalities is making me think they’ve got something planned for Grey Hulk along the line.

 

Is the MCU Tony Stark a SKRULL?

With Avengers: Infinity War fast approaching, many speculative eyes are looking towards the future of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe with eager anticipation. One thing we do know about life after Thanos is that Captain Marvel (2019) will introduce us to the evil, shapeshifting Skrulls. However, is it possible that the Skrulls have been in red and gold armour this whole time?

A little bit of backstory. In the Marvel Comics universe, from which Kevin Fiege’s tapestry of movies draw their inspiration, the Skrulls are a race of alien changelings who abduct Earth’s mightiest heroes and take on their form and personalities to infiltrate the planet to orchestrate its take over. One of the best features of the Skrulls is that they can show up at any time, and anybody could potentially be a Skrull. In 2007 during the legendary Secret Invasion storyline, it was revealed to us that Daredevil’s beloved Elektra had secretly been a Skrull informant. Many believe that the Secret Invasion story will be the bedrock for Avengers 4. Well, I have the wacky theory that in the MCU, the Skrull is Iron Man himself, Tony Stark.

I’ll probably be eating my hat down the line, but at the moment I’ve put together a substantial amount of evidence in my tinfoil covered mind that points to Robert Downey Jr.’s Stark is secretly a shapeshifting alien.

The first thing I’d like to point out is that the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron are almost entirely Tony Stark’s fault. He built a killer robot and then when things didn’t turn out so well he wanted to build another! What if Tony was working against The Avengers the whole time? Perhaps he wanted to weaken the planet so that the Skrulls could come in take over the place with as little opposition as possible.

I point to the sudden shift in Tony Stark’s ideology between his solo Iron Man films and his role in Captain America: Civil War. Now, one could point to Tony as having a little thing called character development as a reason for this change, but I’m of the mind that maybe, just maybe, it’s the Skrull inside of him influencing this. Let’s take a look.

In Iron Man 2, Mr. Stark stands before congress and refuses to hand over control of the Iron Man suit to the US government, proudly declared “I’ve privatised world peace”.

To the contrary, in Captain America: Civil War, Tony is advocating that not just he, but a whole team of Avengers submit themselves to the United Nations, effectively putting command of the Avengers into the hands of politicians. Well, politicians would be the first people the Skrulls would become, wouldn’t they? This comes not long after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, where it’s unveiled that the highest echelons of power on the planet had been infiltrated by Hydra!

This is quite the turnaround, but what happens next? Tony does not act responsibly, and attempts to apprehend his own allies violently. Perhaps Tony was instructed to take out the opposition. Remember that Ant-Man, Falcon, Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye end up imprisoned once Iron Man apprehends them. A ready-made super prison, might I add.

Tony becomes so fixated on getting Steve Rogers to sign these Sokovia Accords that he attempts to enforce them to by callously roping a teenage boy into his team to fight against trained assassins, super soldiers and a reality warping enchantress. (In addition, said teenage boy hadn’t signed the Accords that Stark was so hell-bent on enforcing). Bare in mind that Tony’s alleged guilt over Sokovia was triggered by the death of a young man not much older than Peter Parker. Is this the behaviour of a superhero? One could say he’s like a man possessed!

If Tony was really signing up to the Sokovia Accords to undo the damage he did with Ultron, why then was he perfectly fine with completely trashing an airport? I think there’s more to this than meets the eye.

In the opening scenes of Civil War, Tony is making a presentation on behalf of his Stark Foundation. When his girlfriend Pepper Potts’ absence is brought up, Tony looks not upset about his girlfriend breaking up with him, but overcome with some profound secretive confusion. Take another look at the scene with that in mind.

(If you really want to get conspiratorial, what if Tony’s memory simulator is some kind of Skrull technology to help its agents recreate their stolen personalities…?)

Then alarmingly, in Spider-Man: Homecoming – the next movie in the continuity – we are reunited with Pepper Potts, and guess what? She too is behaving differently from how she usually acts and she also is perfectly okay with roping a boy too young to buy a beer into the most dangerous team in the world. Not only is Pepper acting strangely affectionate for somebody who recently had broken up with her boyfriend because he unleashed a killer robot on the planet (as Tony claims in Civil War), we’re led to assume that she accepts his marriage proposal!

I’m probably wrong about all of this, but it’s something that’s come to my mind recently. I think it’ll be a lot of fun once the Skrull speculation really kicks in after Infinity War, but for now, we’ll just have to wait and see!

Black Panther Theories

The hotly anticipated Black Panther has dominated social media for days now. Like all Marvel films, which are integrated into a shared storyline, Black Panther is rife with clues and Easter eggs which connect it to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are plenty of rundowns online detailing these – my personal favourite being Mr. Sunday Movies‘ – so I’ll skip all that and just go ahead and submit my theories.

1. The Soul Gem

Many people anticipated that the missing Infinity Stone would appear in Black Panther. The Soul Gem allows its user to contact or control the dead. Many speculated that it may be in the Wakandan Necropolis, which is where King T’Challa communes with the Black Panthers of the past in the comics. However, this did not appear to be the case in the movie, instead having him travel to the ancestral realm during a rebirthing ritual. The Black Panther consumes a Heart-Shaped Herb, and is buried where he receives visions of his ancestors.

I am still of the opinion that the vibranium in Wakanda is somehow connected to the Soul Gem. The narrator in the film’s prologue said that the vibranium meteor changed the flora around the impact site. What kind of material would cause herbs that can transport you to the netherworld to grow? An infinity stone. Specifically, the soul gem.

The infinity stones have taken all different shapes and sizes in the MCU. The space gem was a cube, the mind gem was inside a staff, the aether was seemingly gaseous or liquefied when it suited it, the power stone hid inside of an orb, and the time gem was inside of an ancient magical relic. Why not have the soul stone inside a meteor?

I also think there may be more to this than meets the eye. In the final act of the film, W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya) says that there are vibranium deposits in New York, London and Hong Kong – the locations of the Sanctums from Doctor Strange. The Sanctums generate a magical field that defends the Earth against threats from other dimensions. Perhaps the vibranium plays into this.

The inclusion of the herb as a connection to the Infinity Stones also completes the ‘T.H.A.N.O.S theory”. The first letters of all the identities of the infinity stones so far spell out Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) name. Whilst many believe the “H” stands for “Heimdall” (Idris Elba, Thor), I believe it is for the Heart-Shaped Herb.

2. Girl power

Black Panther introduces us to some powerful Wakandan females. The sister of T’Challa, Shuri (played by Letitia Wright) is the heir to the throne of Wakanda and the title of Black Panther. In the comics, Shuri has become the Black Panther for a time (see below). Shuri has shined as a fan favourite and has demonstrated that she’s more than capable of looking after herself. Perhaps Shuri will take up the Black Panther title herself once Chadwick Boseman tires of the role.

Black Panther Shuri in Marvel Comics

In addition, we are also introduced to Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) as T’Challa’s love interest. She too demonstrates an ability to fight in the movie, fighting off an ersatz Boko Haram as one of Wakanda’s ‘wardogs’. In the source material, Nakia becomes crazily obsessed with T’Challa and attempts to kill his ex-girlfriends. Nakia is also part of the Dora Milaje, the Wakandan king’s bodyguards in the comics too, which is alluded to when she dons one of their costumes in the final fight. Perhaps Marvel are lining up Nakia to be a future tragic villain for the Black Panther.

3. The White Wolf

In the post-credits scenes, we are reunited with Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) for the first time since he was put in a Wakandan cryogenic chamber in Captain America: Civil War. In the scene, some Wakandan children call him “the White Wolf”.

In the comics, the White Wolf is a white American named Hunter who survived a plane crash when he was younger and was raised in Wakanda as T’Challa’s adopted brother. He became head of the Wakandan secret police, the Hatut Zeraze, and was equipped with a vibranium suit just like T’Challa’s (only white). The character became a fervent Wakandan loyalist to prove he was just as Wakandan as people born there.

Hunter as the White Wolf in Marvel Comics

Since Hunter was exiled from his adopted homeland in the comics, that could be a reason why Hunter was missing from the story. It could also be a reason why Bucky is now the White Wolf, as Hunter has been stripped of the title. Or perhaps Hunter simply does not exist in the MCU, and they’ve merely given the title to Bucky instead.

Maybe upon hearing of T’Challa’s policy of openness, the exiled secret policeman returns to Wakanda to get revenge on his adopted brother.

White Wolf Hunter and Black Panther T’Challa in Marvel Comics

These are all just theories. Who knows what is in the mind of director Ryan Coogler and MCU overlord Kevin Feige. But one thing’s for sure … Black Panther won’t be pouncing off our movie screens any time soon.