One notable absentee from Marvel’s colossal and expansive filmic slate was love for Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk. Before the studio mapped out the remainder of Phase Two and the early stages of Phase Three, it was long rumored that the lumbering, green-tinged rage monster would get his own movie — particularly after Ruffalo’s turn in Avengers back in 2012 — but it appears as though a standalone film isn’t on the cards…for now.
During a recent set visit, IGN had the opportunity to talk to Joss Whedon about all things Hulk, including his role in Age of Ultron, that fabled solo outing as well as teasing that “something terrible” is coming.
Everybody loves Mark [Ruffalo]. He’s phenomenal. But the fact that there hasn’t been a Hulk since that Hulk, it doesn’t suck. I mean, my job is hard enough. Cap’s had a movie, Thor’s had a movie. Everyone’s gone through big changes. Iron Man had a movie. So I have to juggle everybody’s perception of that while still making a movie that you can see having not seen any [other Marvel movies] except the first Avengers – or not even that.
You know, the talking thing is something that I sort of — I pitch it and I take it away. It’s moment to moment. Done wrong, it could kill ya. So, I’m pretty leery about that. But Banner has a significant role, and the Hulk, you know, we really held back on him for a long while in the first one. That said, there’s something terrible coming that you’ll love. And you know, just what makes the Hulk so hard to write is that you’re pretending he’s a werewolf when he’s a superhero.
In essence, it appears that Whedon found that there were already enough spinning plates to deal with without throwing in a colossal green monster, too. Besides, history has shown that Hulk as a character is a tricky butterfly to pin, and part of the reason his appearance in Avengers went over so well is that he was used sparingly and effectively. It remains to be seen whether Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner can have the same impact in his own feature film.
Mark Ruffalo can be next seen as Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron when he will join Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in their plight against the titular A.I.. Whedon’s sequel is due to arrive on May 1, 2015.