Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has taken part in a recent Facebook Q&A, during which he revealed that prior to taking on directing duties on the cosmic superhero team-up, he was interested in developing two other Marvel properties.
“I wanted to do Hit-Monkey,” said Gunn when asked about his dream comic book movie project pre-Guardians. “Like REALLY wanted to do it. I was also interested in doing a Hulk/Red Hulk film.”
Gunn had previously mentioned his interest in Hit-Monkey, which revolves around a Japanese macaque who trains himself to become the world’s greatest assassin and seeks revenge after his tribe is slaughtered.
This is however the first time that Gunn has made reference to a Hulk/Red Hulk film, although it would seem unlikely that Marvel would be willing (or able) to move ahead with such a project, given that rights issues with Universal stemming from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk has resulted in Marvel reserving the character for supporting roles in other movies.
That being said, back in 2014, Gunn revealed that he’d expressed his desire to helm a Thunderbolts movie to Marvel’s Kevin Feige, and that could offer one way to get around any rights issues. In the comic books, Red Hulk led the Thunderbolts following Marvel’s NOW! relaunch, and given General Thunderbolt Ross/Red Hulk’s hatred for Bruce Banner, it would certainly make sense for him to use the team to track down his nemesis.
Of course, with Gunn currently prepping Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, it’s unlikely that we’ll see him taking on any of these projects in the near future, if ever. Still, let us know in the comments if you’d be excited about a Hit-Monkey / Hulk vs. Red Hulk / Thunderbolts movie from the Guardians director…
Originally published July 4, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
