Ruffalo Set to Reprise Hulk Role in ‘Captain America: Brave New World,’ Hulk Standalone Film Off the Table

Among the upcoming slate of MCU projects, ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ stands out as the most concerning with its challenging development journey. Initially, the fourth installment faced hurdles in production, attributed to unfavorable test screenings and criticisms regarding the action sequences compared to its predecessors.

However, a glimmer of hope emerged when Matthew Orton was brought on board as a writer, accompanied by plans for extensive reshoots slated for mid-2024. Speculation swirled regarding the removal of the Serpent Society storyline from the film. Originally slated for a 2024 release, the movie encountered delays due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, necessitating significant reshoots and rewrites, ultimately pushing its premiere by a full year.

Recently, a positive turn of events surfaced with hints from merchandise suggesting the involvement of Hulk in the film, a detail confirmed by Mark Ruffalo himself during an interview at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

It’s not particularly shocking, but having confirmation is reassuring. Introducing Red Hulk without the presence of Hulk would be quite illogical. However, for those pondering the development of a standalone Hulk movie, Ruffalo dashed any hopes, stating, “that’s not happening.”

Kevin’s like what would you like to do? And he said what would you do If you had a standalone Hulk movie and I sad well I’d like to take him from this raging maniac to kind of this integrated character and he’s like okay we’ll do that over the course of four movies. We’ll never give you a standalone Hulk.

Rumors suggest that Hulk may make appearances in ‘Avengers 5’ and ‘Avengers: Secret Wars.’ Despite his immense popularity as a Marvel character, Hulk remains the sole mainstream superhero in the MCU without his own standalone project.

This complexity stems from intricate intellectual property and distribution rights involving both Marvel Studios and Universal. In 2003, Marvel allowed Universal Pictures to produce a Hulk movie, but subsequent sequel rights reverted to Marvel. Then, in 2008, Marvel and Universal collaborated on ‘The Incredible Hulk,’ with Universal retaining distribution rights for 15 years. Consequently, no additional Hulk standalone films emerged during this period. Under the agreement, Universal could distribute any Marvel movie featuring Hulk as the central character, leading Marvel to limit Hulk’s prominence in MCU films to avoid relinquishing distribution rights to Universal rather than Disney.

The current status of these rights remains murky, but it’s clear that Banner’s narrative will continue to unfold in upcoming MCU endeavors.

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