Thomas Roach on why a standalone Hulk film won’t happen any time soon….
Mark Ruffalo is currently playing the Hulk after replacing actor Ed Norton from The Incredible Hulk back in 2008. Fans have praised Ruffalo’s performance as both Bruce Banner and the Hulk and many have suggested that his Hulk could get his own standalone movie. But, despite fans calling out for another movie, I just can’t see it happening.
The problem with a standalone Hulk movie is that it’s titled ‘Hulk’ and not ‘Bruce Banner’ so there needs to be plenty of the Hulk in it, with lots of destruction and action. People want to see Hulk more than Bruce Banner, but the character has no personality when in the brutish green form.
Frankly I am yet to be sold on Mark Ruffalo leading a Marvel film of his own – not because I think he is a bad actor, and not because I think he is bad as the Hulk, but the fact that Hulk is simply often portrayed as a brainless brute and people don’t want to see that. We’ve had two previous Hulk movies and neither of them were too well received. Essentially, Marvel needs to rebrand the character.
If you look at the popularity of Robert Downey Jr. and Tony Stark it is clear that people like him a lot more than they like the superhero Iron Man. Despite Mark Ruffalo’s popularity as the Hulk, I’m not sure Marvel and some fans are still entirely sold on him carrying a solo movie any time soon.
Ruffalo has stated that he has a bigger role in the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron so this may be the film where we get to see Bruce Banner take more of a leading role rather than a supporting one. But until we can establish that Bruce Banner is the character we want to see over the Hulk, then a standalone film is probably not going to happen. And even if Hulk has more to do in Age of Ultron, Marvel is not going to give him more scenes or screen time than Iron Man or Captain America, who are essentially the faces of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This isn’t to say that we will never get a standalone Hulk film with Mark Ruffalo, but from where the character is now, I have doubts we will get one in the near future. What are your thoughts? Do you think Marvel will give us a new Hulk movie in Phase Three? And would you like to see one? Let us know in the comments below…
Thomas Roach
Originally published August 11, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
