Here’s Why Mark Ruffalo Says A Standalone ‘Hulk’ Movie Will Never Happen

OK, so it's no secret that whenever all of our favorite superheroes get together in one movie we're going to geek out a little bit. I mean, really, who isn't excited to see Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Batman, The Flash, and Superman in Justice League later this year? Exactly, I thought so.

It's exactly that kind of over-the-top excitement that brings comic book fans out for movies like The Avengers and Justice League. Naturally, though, anytime a movie like one of these two comes out, the first thing everyone assumes is there will be follow-up standalone movies for each major superhero.

In many instances, that is the case. Looking at characters like Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America, it seems almost guaranteed each superhero will get his/her own movie. But it's not that simple.

Recently, in an interview with Variety, Mark Ruffalo bluntly explained why we will probably never see him play The Hulk outside of his work on The Avengers, Iron Man, and Thor franchises. He said,

I want to just make one thing perfectly clear today: A standalone Hulk movie will never happen. Universal has the rights, and for some reason, they don't know how to play well with Marvel. And they don't want to make money.

Ouch. That's a pretty harsh letdown, but at least Ruffalo is being straight forward with us rather than getting our hopes up for nothing. The actor has expressed his interest in a standalone Hulk movie in the past, but, again, let us know it most likely wouldn't happen. He told Cinema Blend,

I'd love to do a Hulk movie, but that's beyond my control. It's controlled by Universal. Marvel doesn't even hold the rights to it. So, it's not on the horizon. And I don't know if it will be.

He followed up by explaining how he thinks Bruce Banner's storyline in other Marvel movies will add up to a standalone film for the fans. He said,

[W]e have worked a really interesting arc into Thor 3, Avengers 3 and 4 for Banner that I think will – when it's all added up – will feel like a Hulk movie, a standalone movie.

As disappointing as that is, and as much as it makes me want to Hulk smash stuff, at least we can take solace in knowing that Marvel is doing its best to bring us a Bruce Banner arc throughout a few different movies. I guess we'll just have to be patient with this one.