'Avengers: Infinity War' Lego Set Teases a New Pilot for Hulkbuster Armor
That might not be Tony Stark in there.
As Infinity War looms in the not-so-distant future, the dozens of characters in the MCU will have to use every resource and tactic available to fight Thanos, and if a new leaked Lego set is to be believed, then it looks like Tony Stark’s Hulkbuster armor will get a surprising new pilot.
Potential, unconfirmed spoilers follow for Avengers: Infinity War.
An updated version of the Hulkbuster armor appeared in the Infinity War trailer, and most of us assumed it was Tony Stark suiting up for the big battle in Wakanda. But a newly leaked image of an Infinity War Lego set implies it’s actually Bruce Banner in human form.
You can see this particular Lego set — and other leaked sets from ‘Infinity War’ — here.
The set includes an Outrider — one of the numerous soldiers in Thanos’ army — and Proxima Midnight, a member of the Black Order and a henchman to Thanos. There’s also some kind of large gun turret, the Hulkbuster armor, Falcon, and Bruce Banner.
In this set, who’s supposed to go in that armor?
In the 'Infinity War' trailer, it was Banner working on the Hulkbuster armor.
The going theory here is that in the big Wakanda battle, it’s Banner inside the suit. After all, he’s seen tinkering with the armor in the trailer (see above). The only wrinkle here is that we also saw Hulk in the epic team-up shot at the end of the trailer.
We’ve theorized a bit about all this before; if you remember, Banner’s ability to transform into the Hulk and back again has been on the fritz since the events of Age of Ultron.
He spent the better part of two years stuck as the Hulk on Sakaar until Thor was able to coax Banner back out during Thor: Ragnarok. Banner then vocalized concerns that he’d never be able to transform back into a human if he became the Hulk again. Of course, he did just that to battle Hela at the end of that movie in a gut-wrenching scene that made the process seem more painful than ever.
He’s still green when Ragnarok ends, but earlier in the Infinity War trailer, he’s human in the wreckage of the Sanctum Sanctorum as if he’s crash-landed there.
Banner's transformation powers are on the fritz.
What’s going on with you these days, Banner?
Chances are high that he’s still afraid to transform back into the Hulk. It probably takes Thanos blasting him across the galaxy and back to Earth just to pull Banner back out again, so it almost makes sense that he’d seek an alternative means of fighting. Maybe he’s lost the ability to willfully transform back and forth and isn’t sure if he even can transform into the Hulk anymore.
No matter what Bruce Banner’s reasons are for piloting the Hulkbuster Iron Man armor, it looks like the big green guy’s still showing up in Wakanda at some point.
But what could possibly be powerful enough to rip him out of that suit and make him angry enough to transform? Now that’s a scary thought.
You know you want to, so you might as well just rewatch that Infinity War trailer already:
