Turning to another corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and one character in particular who has been receiving a lot of attention over the past few days is The Hulk. For a quick refresher – Mark Ruffalo, who plays Dr. Bruce Banner and the angered green giant he transforms into, confirmed that the chances of a Hulk standalone movie are slim. Why? Because Universal still owns the rights to the characters’ solo films, and seeing as he’s not as big a draw as say Spider-Man, Marvel probably won’t cough up to acquire those rights for Hulk exclusivity. However, if there IS a Hulk standalone movie to come in the future, Ruffalo went on to say it would most likely be based on Planet Hulk.
That assertion was backed up by the folks at Badass Digest (via CBM). When discussing The Hulk’s position at the end of Ultron, the site makes mention of an early draft that found Hulk catapulted into space – a perfect lead-in for a Planet Hulk movie. As that eventuality was written out of subsequent drafts, we know the Hulk’s immediate future won’t involve intergalatic travel. Or will it?
In an accompanying piece of commentary, the site reveals a rumor concerning where we might see the green giant next:
“I had heard that Marvel was considering sending Hulk into Guardians of the Galaxy 2, especially if the first film didn’t hit – having a Hulk in the mix could goose the box office on the sequel.”
Ruffalo himself stated that he has another four movies left on his Marvel contract. Two of those are likely to be part of his Avengers: Infinity War quota and one could be Captain America: Civil War, which would leave one ‘slot’ left for Guardians 2. As mentioned previously, Universal holds the rights for a standalone, but obviously not for appearances alongside superhero teams like the Avengers and the Guardians. If this concept holds a shred of truth, then we might see Hulk zoom off into the outer reaches of the galaxy before returning to Earth with the Guardians to wipe the floor with Thanos in Infinity War.
Guardians Of The Galaxy 2 is slated to arrive in theaters on May 5, 2017. Before then, however, you can see The Hulk in all of his glory in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, which arrives in the UK on April 23 and the US on May 1.