Marvel Comics has just made an MCU Avengers catchphrase canon–in the most unlikely way possible way. Avengers: Age of Ultron isn’t exactly the best-received of Marvel’s main Avengers movies, with the romance between Black Widow and Bruce Banner one of the most criticized, on writer/director Joss Whedon’s part. But even if the Hulk/Widow romance was abandoned, the catchphrase it spawned is now immortal in comics, too.
As fans will recall, the two Avengers were intended to connect because, in their heart of hearts, each considered themselves to be a monster unworthy of happiness. Meanwhile, Banner’s Hulk persona seemed as fond of Natasha Romanoff as Bruce himself, to the point that only Black Widow held the secret to calming him down in the form of a lullaby. “The sun’s getting real low” was the cue needed to calm Hulk and turn him back to his human form. Marvel seemed to realize it was an odd solution, with Thor: Ragnarok using it for comedy.
Now Marvel Comics has joined in on the fun, importing the catchphrase into the comics themselves. In Fantastic Four #14, the Thing finds himself in a particularly foul mood. He loses his temper when he learns that Mr. Fantastic has built the Marvel-2, a reproduction of the rocket that the team were flying in when they first became the Fantastic Four after being exposed to cosmic rays. In the background, the Thing’s wife Alicia Masters-Grimm attempts to calm him… in a particularly familiar way:
Of course in the comics, the Thing and the Hulk are old rivals. In fact, writer Dan Slott has literally just delivered the biggest Thing vs. Hulk fight ever–one that the Thing actually won! Given the longstanding feud between the Jade Giant and the Fantastic Four’s resident bruiser, it’s particularly entertaining to see a Hulk-related catchphrase used in an attempt to calm The Thing down. As the issue continues, Alicia deals with an ill-tempered Ben Grimm in her own inimitable way, essentially ignoring him as he rants and fumes at her.
In the end, the Thing resolves that there’s no way he can’t be part of the flight of the Marvel-2, whether he likes it or not. He just can’t let his family head off to space without him there. It’s only when the Thing realizes this that Alicia hands him the coffee and sandwiches she’s been making while he’s been wrestling with his conscience. Much to Ben’s delight, she wishes him the best and asks him to bring her a chunk of moon-rock or something. Sadly, in the MCU, Hulk and Black Widow never had the chance to settle into that kind of comfortable romance.
Fantastic Four #14 is available now at your local comic book shop, and direct from Marvel Comics.
More: Why MCU’s Fantastic Four Villain May Not Be Doctor Doom
