After months of inactivity, the last few weeks have seen the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s roster of Disney Plus exclusives burst into life. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has resumed shooting, the first trailer for WandaVision dropped, Samuel L. Jackson was announced to be headlining a Nick Fury series, newcomer Iman Vellani was cast as the title character in Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk scored a major coup by landing Tatiana Maslany to play Jennifer Walters.
Fans went wild at the news of the Orphan Black star going green to portray the MCU’s latest gamma-irradiated superhero, but she remains the only member of the cast officially confirmed. That being said, most people are expecting Mark Ruffalo to show up as Bruce Banner in at least one episode. It would be strange if She-Hulk didn’t feature the franchise’s original Avenger with anger problems, after all, and while a new report claims that Banner will appear in the series, there’s no mention of Ruffalo at all.
Instead, Marvel are reportedly on the lookout for an actor around ten years old to play a younger version of the character, which instantly opens up the possibility that Bruce is only going to be seen during flashbacks, meaning that there might not be any need to have Ruffalo drop by.
The Hulk hasn’t gotten a lot of backstory in the MCU, partly because everyone knows it already and also because the rights issues surrounding the hero are messy. The most likely scenario, then, is that the flashbacks will establish the close relationship Bruce had with his cousin Jennifer when they were younger, which will go on to inform the present day events that make up the bulk of She-Hulk‘s story without locking Ruffalo down just yet.
