The Incredible Hulk is easily one of Marvel's most recognizable characters—he's the big
green guy with anger issues.
Now, Marvel Studios is beefing up Bruce Banner's role in their cinematic universe with an arc
that's set to play out over the course of three movies, starting in Thor: Ragnarok and
continuing through the next two Avengers films.
As for what shape that arc might take, that remains to be seen—but based on what we
know, we can certainly make a few guesses.
Some spoilers ahead.
The story so far
If you're wondering why the Hulk's arc is taking place in team-up pictures and other
heroes' movies instead of a standalone film, it boils down to rights issues.
"As far as Hulk movies, standalone Hulk movies, um…
Marvel doesn't really have the rights to that yet.
That's still Universal's property."
But at the same time, it also raises the question of whether they'd actually want to.
Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk movie was—to put it nicely—a bit of a mess, and despite pulling
off some interesting visuals that played with comic book-style panel layouts, it's also
a movie that ends with a giant CGI monster having a fistfight with a cloud.
2008's Incredible Hulk, starring Ed Norton was equally messy, a half-reboot, half-sequel
that, despite being the second film in Marvel's shared universe, is also the one that nobody
really remembers or talks about.
Enter the Avengers
When the Hulk showed up in 2012's The Avengers, however, he was definitely memorable.
Maybe that's why he was the focus of so much of the sequel.
Despite being loaded up with new characters, Age of Ultron was as much a Hulk story as
it was an Avengers story.
He's the one who gets the romance angle with Black Widow, and who has the sad ending of
flying off to Parts Unknown in the Quinjet—kind of an amped-up, superheroic take on the TV
show's traditional ending.
"(sad music)"
With all that in mind, it's easy to assume that the Hulk might just work better in the
context of stories that feature other heroes—which brings us back around to Ragnarok.
Ragnarok and Planet Hulk
According to Ruffalo, Thor: Ragnarok kicked off his three-movie arc, and it's easy to
see where director Taika Waititi and Marvel Studios got their starting point: Planet Hulk.
Published from 2006 to 2007, Planet Hulk tells the story of Hulk being stranded on an alien
world that, for a little while at least, saps him of his strength.
He's forced to become a gladiator, and eventually leads a revolution to overthrow the evil Red
King before returning to Earth and the next phase of his adventures.
The entire middle section of Ragnarok pulls heavily from this story.
Characters like Korg and Miek, the planet Sakaar and its brutal contests, and even Hulk's
Roman-inspired gladiatorial gear are lifted directly from the comics.
The only big difference is that in the comics, the Marvel superhero who shows up for a guest
appearance as an opponent in the arena isn't Thor—it's the Silver Surfer.
So if that's what we're working with now, the question is, what's next?
Infinity War
It's been clear for a while now that the next Avengers movie, Infinity War, will draw on
the events of Infinity Gauntlet, which still stands as one of Marvel's greatest crossover
events.
But while they've been seeding the Infinity Gems throughout the MCU, the comic story they're
building on isn't actually all that Hulk-heavy.
That doesn't mean that the filmmakers couldn't change things around and have the Hulk play
a bigger part.
In the same way Ragnarok advanced the Hulk's story by combining Planet Hulk with pieces
of Walt Simonson's epic mid-'80s run on Thor, we might be seeing a movie that mashes up
Infinity Gauntlet with another Hulk story to create something new.
We just need to figure out which one it might be.
World War Hulk
There's one pretty obvious follow-up to the events of Planet Hulk.
In the comics, the events of that story led directly to the next saga, World War Hulk,
in which the Hulk returned from Sakaar and beat the dickens out of… well, everyone,
who he blames for sending him out to Sakaar in the first place.
So will Hulk turn on the other heroes?
Thanks to Ragnarok and the fight against the Hulkbuster in Age of Ultron, we've already
seen how fun it can be to have the Hulk throw down against the other Avengers.
But there's one problem with that story becoming the inspiration for Hulks arc.
In the movies, Hulk isn't tricked—he boards the Quinjet himself.
As we've seen in Ragnarok, the heroes of the movies actually want Banner around, if only
so they can aim him at their strongest enemies and let him go.
So as things stand, he doesn't have a reason to be mad at the Avengers just yet.
Unless…
Days of Rage
One comic that might be a far more likely bit of source material is "Days of Rage,"
a senses-shattering throwdown that took place in Incredible Hulk #300.
As the title implies, the basic idea of that issue is that the Hulk goes into an unstoppable
rampage that finds him taking on the entire roster of Avengers, plus Spider-Man and Doctor
Strange.
Even Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist make cameo appearances, although they're pretty
unlikely to show up in a movie.
The centerpiece of the issue is a brutal fight against Thor, and it ends with Strange whisking
the Hulk off into a cosmic adventure—exactly the kind of thing that might get him involved
a space-faring battle centered on the Infinity Gems.
Banner vs. Hulk
Toward the end of Ragnarok, Bruce Banner turns back into the Hulk, presumably dooming himself
to a permanent life as a monster who can't keep a pair of pants intact.
But what if that's meant to set up an attempt to "cure" Banner by separating him from the
Hulk once and for all?
It's something that's been done in the comics more than a few times.
While he serves as a two-fisted brick on the team, Hulk's entire deal as a solo character
revolves around a person dealing with himself.
Separating them would help to underline that, and a purely raging Hulk would certainly provide
a unique cinematic challenge.
The Maestro
Of course, if they really wanted to focus on Bruce Banner's dark side, they could always
introduce the Maestro, an alternate future version of the Hulk created by Peter David
and George Perez in Future Imperfect.
In that story, the core timeline's Banner—with his mind in control of the Hulk's big green
body—heads off to an alternate future where Maestro has ruthlessly conquered the world
and brutally dispatched every other superhero in the Marvel universe.
Admittedly, while the X-Men franchise has done, it, the MCU movies haven't really messed
around with alternate timelines yet.
That said, it's not actually out of the realm of possibility.
Evil opposites and dystopian futures are standard tropes of the superhero genre, and since we're
gearing up for a movie that's focused on a set of rocks with the power to control time
and space, it could totally happen.
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