In the world of alter ego of Professor Hulk recently making the jump to the big screen in Avengers: Endgame in the form of a smart talking, sweater wearing, selfie taking version of the Green Goliath.
But even with Marvel Cinematic Universe fanatics alike.
Stan Lee's first version of the Hulk was colored grey - due to the limits of printing technology at the time - as opposed to the eventual green-hued incarnation fans have come to know and love. Years later, Joe Fixit, a new grey Hulk, was re-envisioned as a character that nobody saw coming. Usually donning a pinstriped zoot suit, complete with a stylish hat, Mr. Fixit’s real claim to fame is that he’s a hard-nosed, manipulative, brutally efficient version of the Hulk that just so happens to also be a mob enforcer.
That’s right. Bruce Banner really outdid himself with Joe Fixit. Not only is Joe most definitely the weirdest identity Banner has ever created, but there’s just so much behind the story of this gangster version of the Hulk that the MCU would have to give him his own movie just to explain it all. Banner’s love of gangster films as a kid, in part, led to the creation of Joe. And while he is considered by many to be the weakest, smallest and least angry version of the Hulk, his scheming and street smarts, as well as his proclivity for “fixing” people who aren’t exactly on the up and up with their mob dues, makes him so strange that the character wouldn’t really add much to the larger MCU. Mr. Fixit such a weird take on the character that he might be better fit staying put in the pages of a comic rather than popping up on film.
So while the MCU is rife with storytelling potential stemming from any number of iconic and classic Marvel arcs over the years, bringing the Joe Fixit version of the Hulk to general audiences might be a bit too strange for them to handle. And while other versions of Hulk might get the silver screen treatment in the future, such as the evil Maestro or the Red Hulk, this incarnation might be better suited as an Easter Egg nestled somewhere in the background of the latest MCU film as a subtle wink to Bruce Banner’s weird and unusual journey as the Jade Giant.
