If you’re looking for the best way to get Hulk to transform back into puny Bruce Banner, Black Widow has the answer. Take a look at how she accomplishes this pretty monumental task in a new clip for Avengers: Age of Ultron below:
This scene looks like it takes place the aftermath of the film’s opening battle between Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and HYDRA. Hulk is tossing around some wreckage and is clearly still pissed off. Black Widow tells him in a soothing voice that the sun will be setting soon, and knowing not to get too close, she kneels down and holds out her hand. Seeing she is not a threat, Hulk moves closer to her, holding out his own giant mitt. This prompts Black Widow to run her hand gently from the middle his arm to his fingers. This does the trick, as Hulk stumbles back and slowly shrinks back to Bruce Banner, scientist extraordinaire.
A relationship developing between Natasha Romanoff and Bruce Banner in the movie has been hinted several times, and from this clip we can see that she definitely has a special bond with the green giant. At the very least, things have improved since The Avengers when Hulk nearly killed her aboard the Helicarrier. Black Widow is the second person in the MCU seen being able to calm down Hulk following Betty Ross - Bruce Banner’s love interest in The Incredible Hulk, both women taking an animal kingdom-like approach for dealing with him.
Banner mentioned in The Avengers that his control over Hulk has improved over the years, as evidenced by his instantaneous transformation when the Leviathan approached during the Battle of New York in Avengers. However, it’s been implied that his Hulk-out during the HYDRA assault is different from the others. One thing worth noting is that HYDRA at this point has Loki’s scepter, the same thing that caused Banner to lose control on the Helicarrier. Perhaps Banner comes into contact with the scepter at the base and unwillingly transforms again, causing Black Widow to soothe him once the battle is finished.
Unfortunately, Black Widow’s calming technique probably won’t work later in the film when its been hinted that Scarlet Witch manipulates Hulk to become more aggressive than usual. To deal with that, Tony Stark will don the Hulkbuster armor to match brawn with brawn. Maybe with that he’ll be able to smack some sense back into Banner. It’s one thing to be gentle when he’s his normal Hulk self and not near a populated area, but when his eyes are bloodshot and hurting civilians, then the kid gloves need to come off.
You can see Black Widow and Hulk alongside the rest of the titular team when Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters on May 1st.
