Will Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk be arriving in Asgard for Thor: Ragnarok? Though it first appeared as a rumour from the JoBlo team, the news has now hit the next stage of plausibility, with a report that Marvel really is making a deal for Ruffalo to appear in the film.
The giant green guy, who also sometimes goes by the name Bruce Banner (don’t mention puny Banner) was last seen soaring into the sky in a Quinjet at the end of Avengers: Age Of Ultron. That’s last seen, of course – the plane was later found crashed with no one aboard, so it’s entirely possible he did find himself in space and didn’t just leap out to go and visit Tahiti, which we're sure he’s heard is a magical place.
It seems the plan is for Hulk to be seen fighting alongside Asgard’s finest son (Chris Hemsworth) as Thor faces down what is essentially the Asgardian apocalypse and more trouble from Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, currently impersonating his step-father (and Thor’s dad) Odin. There is also word on another distant planet, not one we’ve seen before, that ties into this, which is already driving speculation that it could see Marvel using some elements of the much-demanded Planet Hulk storyline, which the company has denied in the past.
It should be a fun combo, as Hulk and Thor have always had an interesting team dynamic. Working up new solo Hulk films have seemingly been a bane in Marvel’s existence, so pairing him with Thor is a potential solution for that, and if Ragnarok is as important as has been said for setting up the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (there have been comparisons to Captain America: The Winter Soldier), why not have Big Green involved?
What We Do In The Shadows co-writer/director Taika Waititi is in negotiations to call the shots and the film is scheduled to arrive in UK cinemas on October 27, 2017.