While Avengers: Endgame was a relatively heavy movie for the superhero genre, that’s not to say it wasn’t full of trademark Marvel humor, as the reveal of Professor Hulk at the diner represented the MCU at the peak of its joke-telling powers.
But the reason that it worked so well is that it was a complete surprise to audiences — the last time we saw Bruce Banner, he was unable to change into his massive green alter-ego and was forced to fight the Infinity War battle in Tony Stark’s Hulkbuster armor. Then, all of a sudden, he’s hilariously merged the two personalities and is now having eloquent conversations and taking selfies with young fans.
It was an enjoyable moment, but ultimately, it spoke to how underserved the character has been over the last decade. And according to Mark Ruffalo, the actor who’s played Hulk since The Avengers in 2012, he has an idea of how the MCU can fix that.“There’s an idea that I think could be really interesting. We’ve never really followed him into his life. He’s always kind of off on the side. He’s like the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the Avengers. It’d be interesting to fill in all the blanks about what happened to him in between all these movies.” [via Variety]
It’s certainly a valid point by Ruffalo, as Hulk-solo films were mothballed over a decade ago following the underwhelming Edward Norton-starring The Incredible Hulk (which actually came out the same year as Iron Man). While the character features prominently in all of the Avengers, the closest that Bruce Banner has come to a solo film is when he starred alongside Chris Hemsworth’s Thor in Thor: Ragnarok.
With Disney+ now a viable option, the possibilities are truly endless for Marvel Studios and how they ultimately move forward with Hulk. Ruffalo is one of the best actors of his generation and if he’s down to keep going, I don’t see any reason why they’d stop featuring him so long as the fans still enjoy the character.
There’s also, of course, the upcoming She-Hulk series on Disney+, which will almost certainly — at the very least — feature a cameo from Ruffalo, if not a full-blown featured or recurring role.
Eric is a New York City-based writer who still isn’t quite sure how he’s allowed to have this much fun for a living and will tell anyone who listens that Gotham City is canonically in New Jersey. Follow him on Twitter @eric_ital for movie and soccer takes or contact him eric@brobible.com
