It’s hard to believe that Mark Ruffalo has been playing Bruce Banner, aka Hulk, for over a decade. And yet, despite so many MCU appearances, he still hasn’t had his own solo movie. Naturally, Ruffalo is ardently trying to score a solo picture.
If you include cameos and voice roles, Mark Ruffalo has appeared as Bruce Banner in 10 separate MCU projects, last appearing on our screens in 2022. Ruffalo took over from Edward Norton, who played Hulk in the character’s one and only solo movie, The Incredible Hulk (2008). Of course, Hulk has been a core member of the franchise from the start. Given that similar key heroes, such as Iron Man and Captain America, have had entire trilogies, the Hulk has had no such luck.
It’s not for the want of trying. When it comes to rights, the Hulk gets very complicated, very quickly. Put simply, Universal owns the distribution rights for solo Hulk films, while Marvel/Disney owns the character. If a solo movie were to be made, it would fall to Universal for distribution.
In a recent interview with GQ, Ruffalo weighed in on the current likelihood of a solo Hulk movie. “It’s not really owned by Marvel. It’s a Universal property. I don’t know if it’ll ever really come to be, honestly,” he said, adding that the topic strikes up a lot of conversations. “We keep talking about it, what it would be.”
It still remains unclear whether Hulk will appear in upcoming ensemble movie Avengers: Doomsday, as Ruffalo was not named in the casting announcement earlier this year. Even so, Marvel continues to invest in different Hulk content in recent years, from the She-Hulk series, to Red Hulk (Thaddeus Ross) in Captain America: Brave New World.
Do you think Universal and Marvel will ever strike a deal to make a solo Hulk movie? Tell us all your thoughts in the comments down below!
