Mark Ruffalo Says ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Begins Separation of Hulk and Banner

The God of Thunder won’t be going it alone in his third solo movie, as the Hulk plays a huge part in Thor: Ragnarok. But this is only the beginning of the character’s journey, as both star Mark Ruffalo and producer Kevin Feige have previously stated.

Promising the start of a three movie storyline for the character, Ruffalo spoke to Collider about his part in the new movie and how it will play out in the next two Avengers movies.

“This is where it starts, and it starts- it’s basically a mini version of ‘Planet Hulk,’” said Ruffalo. “So the fans get that, and then we start to build out the separation between the Hulk and [Bruce] Banner. Now the Hulk can be his own character, and Banner can now start to be the person that he would be without having to be afraid of being excited all the time.”

The beginning of that dynamic is established in Thor: Ragnarok, when Chris Hemsworth’s character finds his teammate living in his Hulk form for about two years on the planet Sakaar.

“So we start to get to know these two characters in a way that we didn’t get to do before,” Ruffalo said. “A part of that is having a speaking Hulk as, like a 6-year-old boy.”

The actor also spoke about how this was the plan for the character since before they started making Thor: Ragnarok.

“I was called into meet with Kevin and Lou [D’Esposito, co-president] and Brad [Winderbaum, VP of production & development] months before this, and they said ‘Listen, if you were going to make a standalone Hulk movie, what would it be? What are your ideas?’” recalled Ruffalo. “I said, I think it should be this, this, this, this, this and it should end here.

“And he said, ‘Great, we love that. What if we took that and we did that between Thor 3, Avengers 3, and Avengers 4? And we did that whole character arc for you, as if it was a standalone movie, and we put it those three movies?’ And I said, that would be great.”

Fans will get to see the beginning of that arc when Thor: Ragnarok premieres in theaters on November 3.