Is Hulktasha A Thing In The Comics?

The newest Marvel film, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, is throwing fans a serious curveball with the Hulk and Black Widow relationship. It's hard finding love, especially when you're a man who hulks out into a green rage monster, or a woman who made a living killing people all over the world. But these two have something brewing in the upcoming Marvel movie sequel. While it makes sense for the film, is this a storyline taken directly from the comics, or has director Joss Whedon cooked this one up just for movie audiences?

SPOILER WARNING: If you haven't seen Avengers: Age of Ultron, you might want to turn back now, because I'll be diving into aspects of the film.

There have been many inter-teammate relationships all throughout the Marvel comics, but Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff and Hulk/Bruce Banner never got together on the page. Much like in the film, it's been difficult for them to maintain relationships. However, in the comics, Romanoff had a romantic entanglement with Barton, which is why many fans thought they'd get together in the film.

However, as those of you who've seen Age of Ultron know, Barton is already married and has been hiding his wife and children from S.H.I.E.L.D. and the government all his life. Romanoff has seemingly always known about this, or at the very least for a long period of time, since Barton's kids and wife welcome her with open arms.

As for the Hulktasha relationship (amazing 'shipper name, right?), there've been clues since the two first met one another in The Avengers. She was the one, after all, to induct Banner into the fold, and there seemed to be a reason why it was Romanoff that witnessed Banner Hulk out. Of course, there were those small moments in the second Captain America where it seemed like Romanoff would be shacking up with Steve Rogers — but as both Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson said of their characters, these two have more in common than we may realize.

"As far as all the superheroes go, they’re kind of in a weird way the most similar," Ruffalo told MTV News, saying that "Widow seems to be the only one who can interface with the Hulk." Johansson then told Marvel that "they have this past that follows them around and informs a lot of who they are. And they are, I think in one another see this similarity." Watch them discuss this further in an official Age of Ultron featurette.

Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters May 1.