Back in January of last year, Mark Ruffalo revealed that in lieu of a solo Hulk movie, Marvel had crafted a three-film arc for the Green Goliath, which will get underway in Thor: Ragnarok, before running through Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4.
Speaking to CinemaBlend to promote the upcoming release of Ragnarok, Ruffalo has revealed that Kevin Feige initially approached him to discuss what he’d like to see from a Hulk solo film, and decided to then work this into the three movies.
“So basically, Kevin [Feige] pulled me aside before this, and said, ‘If you were gonna do a… if we were going to do a standalone Hulk movie, what would it be?’ And I said, ‘I think it should be this, this, this, and this and this, and ends up like this.’ And he’s like, ‘I love that. Why don’t we do that in the next three movies, starting with Thor 3 and then we go into Avengers 3 and 4.’ And I was like, ‘That sounds great!’ And so we are at the beginning of this arc.”
SEE ALSO: Thor and Korg featured in new clip from Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok
UPDATE: Kevin Feige has also weighed in on the three film arc, telling Screen Rant: “It is something when we were talking to Mark about this movie and trying to get him excited and getting him to agree to be in this movie, I did pitch to him a potential, sort of three movie arc for the character starting with this and that is what we ended up doing. Now, I won’t say where it goes, but it’s the continuing evolution of the relationship between Banner and Hulk and you see a side of it here. There’s a great line. He [Banner] says, ‘it’s different this time, usually it feels like we both have a hand on the wheel, but this time he was driving and I was locked in the trunk.’ Are they ever going to be able to resolve that?”
It will certainly be interesting to see what Marvel has in store for the Hulk over these next three films. Given that Ragnarok has taken inspiration from Planet Hulk, does that also mean we might see elements of World War Hulk in the next two Avengers movies? Is it even possible to fit that in alongside the Infinity War storyline? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
In Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok,” Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok—the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization—at the hands of an all-powerful threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger—the Incredible Hulk.
Thor: Ragnarok is being directed by Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows) and features Marvel veterans Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Idris Elba as Heimdall and Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk alongside Cate Blanchett as Hela, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster, Karl Urban as Skurge, Taika Waititi as Korg, Clancy Brown as Surtur, Rachel House as Topaz, Tadanobu Asano as Hogun and Sam Neill in an as-yet-unrevealed role. It is set for release on October 24th in the UK and November 3rd in the States.