Just yesterday Mark Ruffalo chimed in about the possibility of seeing a Planet Hulk live-action adaptation for the next solo Hulk film, saying that he didn’t feel it was the right direction to go and that you needed “more Bruce Banner” than the Hulk-in-a-gladiator-arena premise would provide.
Well, perhaps we won’t get a direct adaptation of the property, but some new spoiler-filled plot details for Avengers: Age of Ultron suggest that we could be seeing something similar. I’m going to dive right into them here, so proceed at your own risk if you don’t want the ending of the upcoming Avengers sequel spoiled!
According to HitFix’s Drew McWeeny, the Hulk may be teaming up with the Guardians of the Galaxy in Phase Three, and the film could involve some of the elements from Planet Hulk:
“Without giving away why and how, let’s look at the state of things for Bruce Banner at the end of “Age Of Ultron.” Banner continues to play a key role in things in this movie, and when the final war with Ultron spills onto the battlefield and out of the virtual realm, he has a major part to play. Unfortunately, that ends with him onboard a Quin jet on his way off the planet, with no way to immediately turn things around. He’s going to have to ride out the trip. It’s pre-programmed and he can’t stop it.
Here’s where I’d wager his spaceship is headed: wherever the Guardians of the Galaxy are located. If I was a betting man, I’d say there will be no Hulk solo film as part of Phase Three. Instead, Banner’s ship will take him to another planet, where he will end up meeting the Guardians and having an adventure with them. Hulk will definitely come out to play a few times. I suspect we’ll see some sequences that very much feel like they’re part of the Planet Hulk story, but that the larger story will be about the Guardians finding a way to get Banner home, only to end up going with him. That would move a big piece of the puzzle into place to get Thanos looking back at the Earth in time for the third “Avengers” film.”
That kind of direction for the character is actually pretty exciting, and could nicely bring the characters from Guardians into the rest of the MCU. We did hear previously that GotG would connect with Avengers 3, and this kind of Hulk/Guardians team-up would be an awesome way to do it.
Of course, take this news with a grain of salt until we finally see Avengers: Age of Ultron. Remember, there were many rumors that Iron Man 3 would show Tony Stark joining up with the Guardians, and that never came to be. However, McWeeny is a solid source with a good track record, so he may just be right on the money with this one.
What do you think, would you like to see the Hulk join the Guardians of the Galaxy for a deep space adventure? Sound off in the comments section below!