6 Years On, I Hate That Avengers: Endgame’s Final Mystery Will Never Be Solved

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Six years after Avengers: Endgame presented a major unanswered question in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s disappointing that we may never find out the solution. As the next-to-last film in the Infinity Saga and the result of eleven years of storytelling in the MCU, Avengers: Endgame significantly changed the franchise. The movie jumped forward five years after Thanos eliminated half of all life using the Infinity Stones, showing the remaining Avengers attempting a dangerous mission through time – the Time Heist – to undo the damage and restore everyone.

The Avengers managed to gather the Infinity Stones from different points in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Bruce Banner, as Smart Hulk, used a new Infinity Gauntlet. This created a puzzling question for fans. When Thanos used the Stones, he went to a place called Soulworld and had a conversation with a younger version of Gamora. A deleted scene showed that Tony Stark would have encountered his young daughter, Morgan, if he’d used the Stones similarly. However, what Smart Hulk experienced in Soulworld remains unknown, and after six years, it seems we may never find out.

What Could Smart Hulk Have Seen in Soulworld?

The Soulworld featured in Avengers: Infinity War and a deleted scene from Endgame appears to be based on the Soul World from Marvel Comics. In the comics, this is a small dimension within the Soul Gem, acting as a place between life and death for souls collected by Adam Warlock, who guards the stone. While the exact nature of the Soulworld in the Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t been detailed, it shares this general concept. After using the Infinity Stones, Thanos ended up in Soulworld, where he encountered a recreation of the archway where he first met Gamora, and his adopted daughter challenged him about the consequences of his choices.

Like Tony Stark before him, Smart Hulk likely ended up in the Soulworld after using the Infinity Stones to revive everyone Thanos had killed in Avengers: Endgame. However, we didn’t see this happen, and Thanos attacked immediately, leaving Hulk no time to understand what he’d experienced. It’s possible Bruce Banner encountered someone familiar there, and Natasha Romanoff is a strong candidate. They had a past relationship, and she gave her life on Vormir so Clint Barton could get the Soul Stone.

We actually wrote a scene with Hulk and Banner talking, but it never got filmed. Mark Ruffalo was on set, but we couldn’t get the Hulk character to appear – figuratively, of course! -CM #AvengersAssemble #QuarantineWatchParty

— egmr.ru (@ComicBook) April 28, 2020

The events in Soulworld deeply affected the original Avengers, especially Bruce Banner. I always felt a strong connection between Banner and Natasha Romanoff, so seeing her sacrifice without a proper resolution with his Hulk persona was truly sad. It would have been powerful to see Banner reunited with Romanoff in that realm, giving them both peace. Some fans believe he may have seen Betty Ross, a past love who recently reappeared in Captain America: Brave New World. Interestingly, a discarded script draft included a meaningful conversation between Banner and the Hulk, which would have provided a lot of emotional release. Ultimately, we may never know exactly who Smart Hulk encountered in Soulworld.

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2025-12-25 23:40