Black Widow’s relationship with the Hulk (or more accurately, with Bruce Banner) was one of the more controversial aspects of Avengers: Age of Ultron, but perhaps it’s not surprising that their romance will be revisited in the next Avengers. But, going by some comments that Scarlett Johansson recently made, don’t expect a happy ending for the couple in Infinity War.
During an appearance on Bravo’s Inside the Actors Studio, Johansson explained that she had recently filmed a scene with Mark Ruffalo, who plays the Hulk, and it left her “devastated.”
I just finished Avengers: Infinity War. The first one. My character has this ongoing relationship with Mark Ruffalo’s character. I had such devastation that day. I don’t know why. I was so devastated. It was something about this character that Mark plays, and this is something that should feel so solid and suddenly doesn’t or there’s – and it reminded me of so much of the things going on in my own life at the time.
When we last saw Black Widow and the Hulk together at the end of Age of Ultron, Natasha and Bruce seemed to have made peace with their relationship, but the Hulk flew off in an untraceable quinjet, presumably to avoid hurting Black Widow in the future. Somehow, the Hulk ended up on the gladiator planet Sakaar, where he’ll encounter Thor in this fall’s Ragnarok.
Clearly, the two meet back up in Infinity War, but it seems like things aren’t going great for Bruce/the Hulk. Maybe their relationship won’t survive — or perhaps one of their characters won’t survive. After all, we’re pretty sure at least one Avenger will die in Infinity War.
Infinity War will hit theaters on May 4, 2018.
