Fans have been clamoring for a stand alone Hulk film since his reemergence in the MCU in the Avengers’ movies. With good reason. The first two Hulk films were mediocre at best and Mark Ruffalo’s take on Banner is definitely solid. The problem is that Universal still owns the rights and that is certainly the reason a Hulk film isn’t in the phase 3 lineup. That doesn’t mean you won’t ever see one, it just isn’t going to happen anytime soon. There is a silver lining to all of this. According to Ruffalo himself we will be getting what amounts to a stand alone story line throughout several of the upcoming films, including Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers Infinity Wars Part 1 and Part 2. Ruffalo recently sat down with Yahoo movies and had this to say:
I’d love to do a Hulk movie, but that’s beyond my control. It’s controlled by Universal [Pictures]. Marvel doesn’t even hold the rights to it. So, it’s not on the horizon. And I don’t know if it will be. But we have worked a really interesting arc into Thor 3, Avengers 3 and 4 for Banner that I think will – when it’s all added up – will feel like a Hulk movie, a standalone movie.
So if you are pumped for the phase three line up this ought to get your juices flowing even more. A good healthy dose of the Mean Green Machine! You can read Film Dumpster contributor Phil Bowman’s take on the Hulk’s role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe here.