Welcome back! A quick warning: This post is ALL about spoilers for Avengers Infinity War, so if you haven’t seen it yet be cautioned!

There is this theory going around that in Avengers Infinity War Loki was masquerading as Bruce Banner/the Hulk for at least most of the film. As we all know it appeared Loki died at the mighty hand of Thanos (literally). Theories like this are mostly an effort to enforce the hope that he is still alive, but sadly, today I’m going to be debunking them. I’m going to give you the two theories I’ve heard, and then show you how they could not possibly be possible.

Theory 1: Loki as the Hulk

One Idea is that basically the real Bruce Banner/the Hulk didn’t appear in the movie at all. The first Loki we see must be a projection he made of himself, while, get this: the Hulk is actually Loki. Loki can make himself appear as other beings so why not? Anyway, the real Hulk/Bruce must have escaped with Valkyrie.

The Theory goes on to state that because Thanos beat up the “Hulk” so easily it MUST have been Loki who isn’t obviously as physically strong as the Hulk. The real Hulk has stood up to a giant wolf, lava monster, and other ginormous and hugely powerful things without wavering. How could Thanos, a guy who is basically the same in build and size, beat him up? The power stone wasn’t even glowing in Thanos’ gauntlet, meaning he was not even using it. The reason “Bruce” wouldn’t Hulk out for the rest of the film was because Loki did not want to show again how he couldn’t measure up to the Hulk’s standards of strength thus exposing himself to the others.

Theory 1: What’s wrong?

We all must know that Loki can appear to be someone he’s not, but could he be such a massive creature? Being Bruce seems much more likely. I’m not even sure Loki could stand up to Thanos as much as “Hulk” did at that moment, but that’s just speculation.

One argument I saw against this theory was that Thanos is a much more tactical fighter than the Hulk, so basically knew how to beat him up. XD I think a likely explanation is that the Russo brothers (Directors of the film) wanted to show how Thanos was the most intimidating villain yet to where he could even defeat the Hulk. I’m pretty sure this was the real Hulk.

There is much more to falsify this theory, but it applies to both of the theories I’m sharing, so you’ll hear that soon.

Theory 2: Loki as just Bruce Banner

So, in this Theory, the Hulk is actually beaten by Thanos, but when it comes to Bruce, that is ALL Loki. Again the Loki that died by the hands of Thanos isn’t the real Loki, but neither is the Hulk. The real Loki is hidden someplace. Whenever we see Bruce for the first time, it is the real Loki. The reason “Bruce” wouldn’t Hulk out in the movie was simply that being Loki in reality, he could not. Loki can’t turn into the hulk.

Theory 2: What’s wrong?

How did Loki switch places with the Hulk? In the movie, Hulk is still the Hulk when Heimdall uses magic to send him to earth, but then suddenly on earth, the Hulk has transformed back into Bruce and he is Loki? It is very confusing.

THEORIES DEBUNKED:

Now here we get to the interesting part. What do both theories have in common? Loki was Bruce Banner. Here we go to disprove that:

To start off, Bruce talks to himself/the Hulk while in the Hulk Buster suit telling the Hulk to come out. Even for a moment, the Hulk’s face appears telling him “NO!” Why would Loki talk to himself when no one was around telling the Hulk to come out? Also, whether he couldn’t or wouldn’t pretend to be the Hulk, how or why would he momentarily “become” the Hulk? In a different instance, I believe Bruce even whispers to himself something like, “We gotta work this out, buddy.” Loki would NOT need to be talking to the “Hulk” when no one was there.

The Russo Brothers have also said this about the Hulk and Bruce, “There’s a host body that is being fought over by two distinct personalities who hate each other. We thought an interesting direction to take him is, well, what if Banner who typically uses the Hulk to solve crisis situations, what if the Hulk were no longer interested in solving those problems for Banner? So the relationship is becoming increasingly dysfunctional…”

So the Hulk and Bruce are having some issues with each other. This clearly doesn’t imply that Loki has anything to do with any of this. It is a very personal thing For Bruce/the Hulk thus why he was speaking to himself.

If that were not enough let’s look at a few minor details that stood out enough to me.

First of all, Loki knows nothing about the relationship between Natasha and Bruce, yet Bruce acted very appropriately to his character and the situation after seeing her for the first time in years. He acted fairly nervously, as you would expect he would. In fact, all Bruce’s mannerisms are very true to character throughout the movie, and Loki doesn’t know that much about him.

Finally, let’s be honest, Loki has faked his death many times. Would it not be a little overkill (XD very literally) to have him do the same thing yet again? I think a lot of these theories were made because some really do not want him to be dead. Believe me, I did not want him dead either, he was such a fun character, but it seems he might be. Even if he did not die, he was NOT masquerading as the Hulk.

Tom Hiddleston WILL be reprising his role as Loki in Avenger 4, but there is some leaked photos and rumors that hint this movie will have some time travel like plot and/or aspects. We could see Loki, but he wouldn’t be from the “current” time period. After that, though his contract with Marvel is over, so we sadly better start saying our goodbyes to the character. 😦

Do you have any theories of what might have happened to Loki? Tell me in the comments! If you enjoyed this post be sure to drop a like! Bye for now, everyone!

-Jewel💎