Line #54 Headscratchers/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSmash


1	* This Hulk doesn't seem to have any anger or control issues. Does anyone else think that kinda takes away a big part of Hulk's whole CursedWithAwesome shtick? Why is he even seen as a monster in this version if he's really no different from the Thing here?
2	** Its more how people see him besides the people in his home town everybody else still thinks he's a monster.
3	*** Again, if that's the case then there's no reason the Thing shouldn't be on the run from the military as well. And, more importantly, it also takes away a big part of his character.
4	*** Well for one thing the Hulk is driven on anger while the Thing isn't. It was mentioned in episode 1 he had mindless days, so it's implied he's had a destructive past, with his new controlled intelligence being a new thing. If it's connected to ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' then until recently he couldn't talk and didn't have as much control over himself.
5	** Red Hulk points out it comes with the powers, he uses himself as an example when he says when was a General he was feared ''and'' respected, now he's just ''feared''.
6	** It's stated very early in the episode that he has an easier time controlling it at his base. There are plenty of places in America and around the world where he could be just as or more isolated from people which makes me think there is something special about the locale. Perhaps his fan club helps though that child certainly wasn't at all frightened of him.
7	** There's also a theory that the show, ostensibly being exactly the same as Rick's vlog, edits out the Hulks' secret identities, similar to when Spider-Man's face was pixellated in the show.
8	** Hulk used to be a rage powered agent of destruction, just look at ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]].'' He also had anger issues in ''AvengersAssemble.'' The question is, what happened to turn him from being the Hulk we all know and love into the most level-headed member of a team made up entirely of Gamma powered Hulks?
9	*** Look at Hulk during the "Hulked-out Heroes" episode on AvengersAssemble. He's simply a hell of a lot more ''experienced'' with dealing with the problems of being a hulk than anyone else. Jenn, Red, and Rick are all fairly new in comparison and Skaar used to be a sort of opressor/enforcer of sorts in sakaar so he'd have no reason to deal with his rage issues.
10	** He still has the control and anger issues, they're just played differently. When he's angry enough he'll begin reverting back to Savage Hulk mannerisms, complete with a lapse back into traditional HulkSpeak. And Hulk is shown to not like that part of himself, he's not that raging monster anymore. His worst fear is being overcome with rage and when he had his rage removed from him and made into a new being he taunted him about how he was the part of him that he represses. Hulk even says he was happier without the rage, but at the same time he knows it's a part of him.
11	* Is Skarr hulk's son? In comics he was born after the Planet Hulk storyline when Hulk was married on an alien planet Skaar mentions that [[spoiler:The Leader]] knows his past does that mean that mean he's not Hulk's son or is there some sort of arc in the works?
12	** My guess, Skarr is [[FishOutOfTemporalWater from the future]]
13	** He doesn't know, but [[spoiler: The Leader]] does.
14	** It seems Skaar isn't related to the Hulk in this series. During "Planet Leader," he spoke of having a family, and losing them due to the Leader's machinations. It's highly unlikely time travel was involved, since the Hulks returned from Sakarr in the same time zone.
15	* When did Ross/Red Hulk suddenly [[TookALevelInKindness decide not to be ]][[GeneralRipper such an ass]]?
16	** Rest assured, he's still an ass. In any case, Hulkification tends to bring out the repressed parts of yourself. In the show's case, it seems that the whole Red Hulk thing first happened some time ago, and they've smashed out (most of) their differences since then.
17	*** Well, yeah, I can tell he's still a bit of a jerk (the show will probably turn that into a character arc) but I find it hard to believe that he could go from ArchEnemy to VitriolicBestBuds with Hulk. He actually seemed to think of himself as Hulk's buddy in the first episode. The guy who once tried to crush a whole boat of civilians and would stop at nothing to capture Hulk.
18	*** This is where the whole "Mindless Days" line from the first episode mentioned above came from. For whatever reason, they skipped to [i]after[/i] all that. Presumably, Red Hulk went though a HeelFaceTurn during that time.
19	*** Which brings me back to my original question: when and why?
20	*** Maybe they'll explain in the show?
21	*** Maybe it is an attempted different take on the 'bring out repressed parts of yourself' thing? Being a Ripper-ish hater of the Hulk wasn't repressed in the least, but maybe Ross in this continuity hid a sneaking respect for the Hulk underneath, which the Hulkification and its consequences ended up bringing to the surface (after all, Ross now looks pretty close to a colour-swap of the Hulk)?
22	* Why does Hulk who at best had two friends he'd take into battle (Red Hulk and She Hulk) and She Hulk mentions that Bruce never asks for help,have a jet that can be broken into five separate jets? That just doesn't seem like the kind of thing a guy who works alone and travels by leaping miles at a time would have lying around.
23	** I had assumed it was mothballed Hulkbuster tech that Hulk had re-purposed for convenience.
24	*** Yeah, actually this bugged me too. It seems really too conventient that this jet ''precisely'' split into five when their team didn't exist a few minutes ago, and Hulk couldn't possibly have any clue that Ricky would turn into A-Bomb or Skaar would join them. At least, in the various Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles series for example, they took time to explain how the Turtles got their vehicles and built them.
25	** Considering the jet was first seen being used by Red, it's most likely a military-issue vehicle (which would also explain the separation function).
26	* Two headscratchers come to mind. The first is hasn't She Hulk always been in complete control of herself? To the point that in most versions she's a lawyer not a stuntwoman and how much time is supposed to have passed between the Pilot and Hulk Busted? I can understand having one for Hulk, one for Red Hulk and possibly one for She Hulk (if you're paranoid) but why and how would he have one for Skaar and A-Bomb? I know he's a fast working genius but it's hard to buy.
27	** She can ''usually'' change back at will, but sometimes she can't.
28	*** Which raises more questions than it eliminates. If she doesn't have control issues and can change at will (though that's obviously not confirmed and she probably can't do that here) it raises the question of why make a Hulkbuster for Jen?
29	** She did have control issues when she first started in the comics, but we don't really know what the circumstances are for this show. Also, it strikes me as pretty in character for Stark to just keep making a new Hulkbuster every time a Hulk character shows up and not really thinking through the consequences until after Jen shows up complaining about it.
30	** The Hulkbuster for her may not be so much for when she loses control as if she goes rogue. If it ever comes to a point that She-Hulk needs to be stopped for whatever reason, there's a Hulkbuster for it.
31	*** Still doesn't answer the original question. She-Hulks main power is super strength and she's weaker than Hulk. The Hulkbuster should work just fine on her. A custom version for her still doesn't make a lot of sense and as the OP mentioned doesn't explain at all why A-Bomb and Skarr versions exist at all. Perhaps there was time between the pilot but that isn't shown.
32	*** It may be that she has a speed advantage over Hulk, so her Hulkbuster may sacrifice some durability for speed and maneuverability.
33	** Also, there are six Hulkbusters for only five Hulks. You might assume Stark just keeps a bunch of them ready, because they're used in situations where they're likely to get wrecked. He might have just made mods on a few too match them to the actual Hulks.
34	* The Collector said he didn't take Spider-Man and Hulk because they were menaces, and as such didn't qualify as heroes. By that logic, why did he take ''Red Hulk'', who is both a former villain and explicitly stated in the ''pilote'' to be feared by everybody ?!
35	** The Collector stated he relied on James Jonah Jameson's rants as his source of who's a hero and who's not. Since J.J. always exaggerates how much Spider-Man is a menace, only praises those that are not Spider-Man even if some might be villains, exaggerated how much the Hulk was just as bad as Spider-Man in the episode proper, and nothing else, it's likely that J.J. either praised how good Red was or most likely didn't give Red any focus at all. Based on that, it's likely the Collector captured Red on false assumptions made by the biggest offender of yellow journalism in the Marvel franchise.
36	*** Gosh, talk about {{Flanderization}}... makes sense, though.
37	*** Well, J.J. has been depicted this way in a lot of adaptations. The oldest adaptation I remember the most was the [[WesternAnimation/SpiderMan1981 1981 Spider-Man]] series wherein J.J. always raged against Spider-Man but praised Doctor Doom every time the tyrant was around due to propaganda which J.J. kinda unintentionally helped spread. J.J. does talk about other things like what happened in the pilot episodes of WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble but his rants against Spider-Man are so common that it's hard to think of him doing anything else.
38	** RH is also a former U.S. army general. It's possible that his past as a villain isn't public knowledge in this version, so JJ might've supported him.
39	*** This version of J.J. '''has''' suffered {{Flanderization}} because in other versions the web-head is technically a vigilante, and Spidey pulls pranks of J.J. that don't help his case. Here he's under the supervision of S.H.I.E.L.D. and has never met the man face to face, making the rivalry entirely one-sided.
40	*** Not really 100% sure of this, but didn't J.J. still did that to Spidey in the comics even when Spidey was apart of a super hero team. I know Spidey is a member of the Avengers in the comics or something. Did J.J. stop bad mouthing about Spidey then? I'm not sure myself but I think he still did from what I can gather. Besides considering that J.J. was sued for libel by Spidey and She-Hulk in the comics, J.J.'s current depictions might not be totally flanderized and off the mark.
41	** The Collector referred to the other Agents as "variants," meaning they had enough uniqueness value to be part of his collection, despite their alliance with Hulk.
42	* Saw an episode preview where Hulk says "Calm down!". How is this possible? Isn't he supposed to be angry and not that calmed?
43	** It's assumed that this version of Hulk is kind of a combination of Professor/Merged and a little of Worldbreaker, who can get savage but for the most part is pretty coherent and intelligent.
44	** There are different levels of anger, the one he usually tends to be at, and various higher levels. It's best for him to simmer rather than go full out rage. Perhaps this is what he's referring to?
45	* The characters page said Ant-Man, Wasp, Ghost Rider, and a bunch of others were among those the Collector had captured. I saw the episode, and I couldn't even see who was in any of the pods (except Howard the Duck)
46	* Leader: "Hey, a vlog where I can keep an eye on my greatest enemy and learn his secrets. Wait, ''they already know Skarr works for me!?''"
47	** How did Hulk and Rick keep the other Agents from knowing secrets they posted on the vlog?
48	*** They most likely don't. The format of the show makes it very difficult to cleanly establish chronology but the interviews on the webcast are obviously staged after the fact. The room is most likely at their Vista Verde headquarters. The episode ''The Incredible Shrinking Hulks'' has She-Hulk still minaturized commenting on the circumstances. So either the Hulks can simply shatter the 4th Wall like Spiderman and excuse themselves from the episode to speak directly to the viewers OR once the adventure is over they agree to do their interviews up to and including shrinking Jen just for the sake of a webisode. As it relates to the original question my best guess would be that by the time they actually film the various interviews everybody on the team is privy to the information and they are just hamming it up for audience just like on a reality show.
49	* Dr. Doom is a man who thinks he's good guy, right? He does bad things, but it's for the greater good (in his mind). How come he doesn't get offended when other villains refer to him as evil? The leader wants him to join forces with him to become a villain team. Doom is not at all offended? In his warped mind, he is a good man who wants to "save the world".
50	** Doom has never really been one to care about what others think of him, since he considers everyone lesser beings.
51	* I find it weird Hulk is talking like a normal person here. Do the Avengers notice this, or do they still think Hulk is a dumb monster who speaks like a child? Is this like rugrats where the character is speaking normal to the audience, but sounds like a child to the adults?
52	** Hulk had his intelligence enhanced in the ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' episode "The Incredible Spider-Hulk". There was an entire arc of ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' about the Avengers not treating Hulk like a dumb monster who just smashes things, because it's very clear he isn't. He does, however, seem to be ''more'' intelligent/rational in ''Agents of SMASH'' even than in ''Avengers'', and it's assumed this is due to whatever happened between the two series (assuming ''[=AoS=]'' is set after ''AA'', which is probably the best way to make them fit). EDIT: The "Planet Monster" two parter contrasts Avengers-Hulk with Smashers-Hulk and concludes that his intelligence is the same but he's more uptight with the Avengers, and plays more into the "Hulk Smash!" shtick since it's expected of him.
53	* The whole "Days of Future Smash" arc. The present is altered as Hulk and Leader's actions in the past are played out, then altered again (back to normal) when those actions are completed. How does that work? It wasn't like Hulk was changing events the Leader had already altered, only stopping him from altering history in the first place. His actions ultimately kept history from changing, so why would the present be altered at all?
54	** ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'' rules. In the same way as Marty's 1985 stops existing as soon as his parents never meet, and ''stays'' not existing until they actually kiss, even though Marty's part in these events is technically done, the Leader's present starts existing as soon as his plan is put in motion, and then continues until the past is put back the way it was. (If it weren't for the Dracula episode, I'd suggest that the fact Leader and Hulk are time-travelling separately was significant; the bad present is the one that exists "between" his time-jump and Hulk's. But that obviously doesn't work for that episode.)
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56	* Why didn't Hulk, the Living Mummy, A-Bomb and Frankenstein’s Monster turn to mindless ones in ''Hulking Commandos''?
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Context Headscratchers / HulkAndTheAgentsOfSmash