For weeks now, there’s been speculation that Mark Ruffalo had left the MCU. Ruffalo may be set to reprise the role of Bruce Banner in this year’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but it hasn’t stopped odd rumors swirling that he’d been fired from the MCU; the Spider-Man films are a partnership with Sony, so they weren’t counted by some viewers. According to this argument, Ruffalo hasn’t been seen on-screen since 2022’s She-Hulk: Attorney of Law, and had been fired by Disney because of his political comments.
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Ruffalo has finally shot down rumors he’d been fired, seeming visibly bemused at the speculation. “People keep going, ‘Did you get fired?’ I’m like, ‘Not that I know of,’” he said, and his Marvel colleague Chris Hemsworth insisted he’d protest if anyone tried that. “Yeah, I’ll be there as long as they have me,” Ruffalo continued, before teasing, “You know, who knows, there might be things I’m already doing that are … I’m around. Let me just say that.” It’s clearly a hint that more Hulk stories are in the works – and there’s only one everyone wants to see.
The Hulk’s Biggest Stories Have Been Skipped By Marvel
The Hulk hasn’t exactly had a consistent run in the MCU, albeit partly for reasons outside Marvel’s control. Distribution rights for solo Hulk films and TV shows had been sold to Universal long before Marvel ever formed a film studio of its own, and that caused problems when Marvel was acquired by Disney in 2010; Disney was understandably reluctant to make movies that would be distributed by a competitor. It all meant the Hulk was relegated to a team-up role, which unfortunately sidelined many of the character’s most popular stories.
The perfect example was the epic “Planet Hulk” storyline, a tale in which the Hulk was stranded on a distant, warlike planet and rose to a position of rule. Created by Greg Pak, this is generally seen as one of the most important Hulk stories of all time, but it was absorbed into Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok as little more than a subplot. Worse still, Waititi himself had no interest in the comics or even the characters; speaking to The Empire Film Podcast, he described the Hulk as “this bipolar, angry green beast,” and hoped to make him somehow more relatable.
Th Hulk’s story has felt increasingly disjointed, with many of the major developments actually happening off-screen; there’s a loose trilogy between Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, but it’s notable that the conflict between the Bruce Banner and Hulk personas literally happens in the five-year time jump between the two Avengers films. The Hulk’s rights are believed to have finally reverted to Marvel in 2023, though, and this Spider-Man cameo suggests he’ll be a major player in the MCU’s future.
It’s Time For “World War Hulk”
Realistically, there’s only one way for Marvel to correct the Hulk problem; by finally giving viewers the story everyone’s wanted to see since the very birth of the MCU. The Incredible Hulk‘s post-credits scene clearly set up a confrontation between the Avengers and the Hulk, but Joss Whedon took things in a different direction. We got a sort of versus match in Avengers: Age of Ultron, a brief brawl with Iron Man triggered by Scarlet Witch’s psychic trickery, but it was just a taste. It’s time for “World War Hulk.”
A sequel to “Planet Hulk,” the comic book story saw a vengeful Hulk return to confront Earth’s superheroes because he blamed them for the destruction of his planet (and family life). It was the ultimate versus match, an opportunity for Marvel to pit the Hulk against all their most powerful heroes (although it must be noted Thor was dead at the time, so that particular fight didn’t happen). There’s never really been a Hulk story on this kind of scale before or science, where the Jade Giant was so filled with rage that a stamp almost caused the Eastern Seaboard to collapse into the sea.
Marvel will need to pivot a little to get there, of course. Recent stories have taken the Hulk in a very different direction, with the “Professor Hulk” persona dominant. Marvel would need to move away from that, restoring a more savage Hulk, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day could potentially achieve that. Alternatively, it’s even possible Marvel will eventually use Avengers: Secret Wars to simply reboot the Hulk story, beginning again… and this time, trying to handle him so much better.
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Image courtesy of Tor Books/Macmillan -
Official art by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme
