so here’s the thing about hulk not coming out in infinity war. he’s not “giving bruce a hard time”, he’s actually trying to cope with his grief without violence. for a long time, he was told to destroy when he felt emotions that were too strong. anger and pain equals smash. and that was his life for a long time.
but he was on sakaar for a Hot Second. time works differently on sakaar, we know that, so two years on earth could’ve been ten, twenty years on sakaar for hulk. which meant he had all that time to Learn. that’s why in ragnarok, he’s better at communicating, expressing, regulating, and understanding his emotions and the emotions of others. that’s why he’s verbal now, and why he can recognize other people’s feelings ( “angry girl” and “thor sad”) and treat them accordingly. and he knows how to apologize, and express that he’s “always angry” but doesn’t know why. he’s experienced a TON of growth, and has learned to regulate his emotions and express them without violence.
so in infinity war, he’s grieving, and he’s in pain. he’s in deep pain, because he just lost a lot of people who meant a lot to him–the first people who weren’t afraid of him, and who accepted him as he was. but he doesn’t want to use violence to cope anymore. he wants to process his pain a different way.
