Though The Avengers 2 won’t reach theatres until May 2015, Marvel enthusiasts are already talking about what the film might mean for Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk character. UK paper The Guardian reports that the second comic book-based ensemble film may not end well for The Hulk. Their guess is that at the close of Avengers 2, “he’ll be sent off into outer space to ensure he cannot do any more damage to the poor old battered Earth.” Mean!
It’s not all bad news for the big green guy though: Hulk’s banishment could lead to the character getting his own spinoff (or two). As early as last year, Marvel president Kevin Feige spoke about the possibility of adapting the story lines from Marvel comics Planet Hulk and World War Hulk into films. “I don’t think there’s a lot that we couldn’t do someday, as the cinematic universe continues to grow and expand and get as big as the comic book universe,” said Feige in an interview with MTV. “Planet Hulk is a cool story. World War Hulk is a cool story.”
The plot of Planet Hulk sees some of the Avengers tiring of their muscle-bound ally’s appetite for destruction—so they bundle him off to outer space in a SHIELD ship destined for an uninhabited planet where he can pulverize the landscape to his heart’s content. Except—whoops!—there’s a wormhole mishap and Hulk lands in the realm of the Red King, a place where gladiator-style combat seems to be the populace’s favourite form of entertainment. Obviously, The Hulk is conscripted into the ring and forced to fight his way back to earth to, uh, avenge his Avengers-imposed exile.
The Guardian‘s guess is that this could provide the set up for a third Avengers film in which The Hulk gets cast as the villain. Or a sequel to Anger Management where The Hulk goes up against Jack Nicholson. Either way, stuff gets smashed.
