Eric Bana Addresses If He Would Return as Hulk for Multiverse Story

Would actor Eric Bana ever consider making a return to his role as the Hulk? 

Bana was the star of Oscar-winning director Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk movie, which pre-dated the character’s debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hulk (2003) was a somewhat controversial film for how it re-imagined the Hulk lore and tried to make it more arthouse cinematic, with Hulk being compared to nature and its forces, while Lee made the film itself a living comic book, with scene transitions framed as moving comic panels. While the pumped-up drama didn’t really fit with traditional Marvel lore and dragged down a lot of the film, looking back Hulk was ahead of its time in terms of artistic ambition – but woefully before the time when a CGI Hulk looked convincing onscreen. 

How Eric Bana Could Return As Hulk In the MCU

Things at Marvel Studios may be in a state of flux right now, but there’s still the expectation that the current Multiverse Saga story arc will end with an event that brings together characters from different eras of Marvel movies. As such, every actor who has ever played a Marvel role onscreen has been looked at as a potential candidate for an MCU cameo – including Eric Bana’s Hulk. 

Eric Bana was doing an interview with Fifi, Fev & Nick for Breakfast, when he was asked if Hulk could get his own Spider-Man: No Way Home event in the MCU. That would mean Bana’s Hulk, Ed Norton’s Incredible Hulk, and Mark Ruffalo’s Smart Hulk all coming together. Unfortunately, Bana doesn’t seem to be interested at all in doing it, telling the hosts of the Australian morning show: “I can’t see it. I can’t see it.”

The hosts of the show then pointed out that Bana has the physique necessary to play Hulk – to which the actor responded that it’s not really an important factor when portraying Hulk:  

“Well… CGI man. [Laughter] You don’t really need [it]. Lot of steroids there. [More Laughter]” 

But in case there was any lingering doubt, Bana made sure to reiterate that he has no desire to return as Bruce Banner in the MCU, saying for a third time “Nah, I can’t see it.”

Hulk is a unique character in the sense that Marvel Studios could arguably take a page out of DC’s now-infamous playbook for The Flash and have CGI models that look like Bana and/or Norton’s versions of Hulk show up in a Secret Wars story arc. Actual actors playing Bruce Banner don’t need to show up.

Hulk (2003) is now available