The Avengers is one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most important movies, and I have just realized that the franchise paid off a subtle scene from the film ten years later. I watched all the MCU movies in the lead-up to The Avengers, but it was the Marvel team-up that made me an MCU fan. The event was the closest I felt was possible to a living, breathing comic book at the time. Since then, the MCU’s Avengers movies have continued to break the mold and get bigger and better.

Still, there is something special in The Avengers that I don’t think can be found in the rest of the team’s films. The movie cemented the MCU’s original Avengers, and those six heroes would be the lynchpins of the franchise throughout the Infinity Saga, leading some of the best MCU movies. The 2012 entry set up a number of storylines and arcs that would play out over a decade, and I have realized that a tragic moment in The Avengers connects to an Avenger’s story ten years later, and it will even continue in upcoming MCU projects.

The Avengers Subtly Hinted At Hulk’s Hidden Trauma

An Intimate Scene With Black Widow

Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner in his dingy hideout in The Avengers (2012)

Edward Norton led The Incredible Hulk. The Avengers was the first movie after the MCU recast the actor with Mark Ruffalo as the new Bruce Banner, and the star’s first scene was impactful. When Black Widow went to recruit Bruce for Nick Fury’s Avengers, she had a poignant conversation with Banner. During their talk, Banner touches an empty crib as he says, “We don’t always get what we want.” That moment connected to Norton’s time as the Hulk.

In The Incredible Hulk, it was revealed that Banner could not be intimate with Betty Ross due to fears he would transform into the Hulk. The movie explained it by showing that Banner’s accelerated heart rate led to his transformations, and as the character was still far from controlling his Hulk side, that threw his life and dreams out the window. Recently, I remembered this subtle but tragic moment from The Avengers and was happy to realize that the MCU finally gave Banner the family he dreamed of ten years later.

Skaar’s Arrival In The MCU Finally Gave Banner What He Always Wanted

The Hulk Is A Father

Mark Ruffalo's Smart Hulk and Wil Deusner's Skaar at a garden party in She-Hulk Attorney at Law's finale

2022’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law made Bruce Banner a father. After receiving a call from space, Banner discovered that he had a son, Skaar. He brought him back to Earth to meet Jennifer Walters and the rest of his family — with Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock present. Ten years later, Banner finally got his dreams of having a family. Since the role doesn’t require much physically from Ruffalo, I think we’ll still have quite a few years of his Hulk in the MCU, getting to see his bond with Skaar develop, which is the best resolution to The Avengers‘ tragic moment.