Marvel’s Eternals suggests the Hulk’s snap in Avengers: Endgame was harder than Thanos’ in Avengers: Infinity War. When Thanos combined the powers of the Infinity Stones, he was accomplishing something — according to Ebony Maw — that had never been done before. “No other being has ever had the might, nay the nobility, to wield not one, but two Infinity Stones,” Ebony Maw declared. And Thanos used the Infinity Stones to a terrible purpose, erasing half the lives in the universe with a snap of his fingers.

Five years later, the Avengers went to incredible lengths to bring the Infinity Stones together once again, implanting them within a new nano-gauntlet created by Tony Stark. This time it was the Hulk who performed the snap, believing his body would be able to contain the Gamma radiation associated with the Infinity Stones. The experience was excruciating, with Hulk struggling to perform the snap, and he was left with one arm ravaged, permanently weakened.

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Marvel’s second Eternals trailer suggests the Hulk’s snap was actually more difficult than Thanos’, expending more energy. According to the Eternals, the Hulk’s snap released so much energy it was able to cause a mysterious cosmic event called an “Emergence,” while Thanos’ did not. It seems the Hulk’s strength should not be underestimated, because his feat was much more impressive than Thanos’.

There’s actually a logical scientific reason for this: according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, entropy will always increase in any closed system, which is why even the universe will not last forever. When Thanos snapped his fingers, he was siding with entropy, accelerating the rate of destruction for half the living creatures in the universe. In contrast, when the Hulk reversed this he was fighting against entropy — against the natural order of creation itself.

Hulk’s arc in Avengers: Endgame has been much-criticized because Professor Hulk didn’t seem as powerful as previous iterations of the Jade Giant. In part that is because the balance between the Hulk and Banner personalities meant he was no longer as angry; the Hulk’s strength is famously linked to his rage, so the new equilibrium between the two personas would naturally result in a physically weaker Hulk. But the Eternals trailer suggests viewers have been too critical because the Hulk still performed an act of such cosmic magnitude it released an energy surge beyond the one associated with Thanos five years earlier. Unfortunately, it also resulted in the mysterious Emergence – and the Eternals must deal with the consequences.

Key Release Dates
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  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)Release date: Sep 03, 2021
  • Eternals (2021)Release date: Nov 05, 2021
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
  • The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (2023)Release date: Feb 17, 2023
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)Release date: Jul 28, 2023
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)Release date: May 05, 2023
Everything Everywhere All At Once Perfected DC’s Best Multiverse Story

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Thomas Bacon
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Tom Bacon is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers, as well as a Peer Mentor for new writers and a member of the Care Team, offering support and a listening ear to members of the Comics group. A lifelong fan of major franchises including Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Marvel, Tom is delighted his childhood is back – and this time it’s cool. You can find him on Twitter @TomABacon.

A graduate of Edge Hill University, Tom remains strongly connected with his alma mater as a volunteer chaplain. He’s heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will swiftly learn he’s into British politics too.

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