One of the big successes of Marvel’s latest superhero outing, Avengers Assemble, is how well writer-director Joss Whedon and actor Mark Ruffalo pulled off bringing Bruce Banner and his rage-fuelled alter ego to life. So it should really come as no surprise that Marvel might want to make more films based around the big green guy. And from what Ruffalo and Marvel’s president of consumer products have been saying, that could happen sooner rather than later.
Talking with Collider, Ruffalo says that he’s signed the seemingly standard six-movie contract with Marvel, and that he had such a good time, he definitely hopes they’ll keep him around for more.
But while Marvel film boss Kevin Feige has previously said there are no concrete plans to bring the Hulk back solo just yet, consumer products chief Paul Gitter sat down with Forbes magazine(via The Playlist) and talked up the company’s surprise at just how well old Hulky has been received and that things could be changing.
According to Gitter, the current thinking is to spin the Hulk off into the already-planned standalone TV series and then a likely next film in 2015.
If we’re honest, we’re going to wait to hear more from Feige before we start pencilling in more Hulk time to our diaries. He’s the man who sets the agenda for the movies, and basing the decision to make more Hulk movies on how many toys could be sold doesn’t really seem the Marvel way. Sure, they want to pump out more successful blockbusters and keep the pipeline flowing, but the idea of the Hulk on TV (where we doubt Ruffalo would be involved as he’d want to maintain his film career) and then a Ruffalo-starring film in a couple of years might be diluting things.
But we definitely want to see more Banner and Hulk outings, assuming they’re organised and planned properly. We’ve still got faith in Marvel’s ability to sort that out, even given the previous attempts to finding the right path for the character.
If you’ve already watched the Avengers assembling and are still on a high, you’ll definitely want to check out our spoiler-filled Podcast special, in which Feige fills us in on all sorts of secrets.[[Poll668]]