As one of the few of the original six still kicking after Avengers: Endgame, Mark Ruffalo is expected to continue his MCU career as Bruce Banner/Hulk/Smart Hulk for the foreseeable future. He’s bound to feature in a prominent role in Disney Plus’ She-Hulk TV series, for one, as that’ll introduce Banner’s cousin Jennifer Walters. As for a movie appearance, though, nothing necessarily jumps out as a perfect home for the Jade Giant from Phase 4’s line-up. Or at least, nothing did until now.
We Got This Covered has heard from our sources – the same ones who told us about the She-Hulk show way back in April and that Taskmaster would be the main villain in Black Widow, both of which we now know to be true – that Ruffalo may turn up as Hulk in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Only with a bit of a twist.
It’s already been reported that the Sorcerer Supreme will encounter alternate versions of his fellow heroes as he travels through the multiverse. This will include stopping by on an Earth where all the Avengers are evil and the three characters we’ve heard would feature in this sequence are Captain America (so we might be in for more Chris Evans), Black Widow and Hulk.
We’ve been told that this is how things stand in the current draft of the script, at least, which has been handed in by screenwriter Jade Halley Bartlett. It should be stressed though that plans could always change before the movie reaches the screen, especially since original director Scott Derrickson has left the project, with the legendary Sam Raimi currently in talks to replace him. Not to mention that Marvel has also brought on Loki showrunner Michael Waldron to touch up Bartlett’s screenplay.
From what we’re hearing, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be an enormous cameo-fest, potentially even bringing in stars from other franchises, too (even Tobey Maguire’s Spidey). You might say it sounds like an MCU version of “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” In any case, let’s hope this evil Hulk concept is retained – and it definitely could be – but even if it isn’t, it’s likely that something else that’ll excite fans will take its place instead.
