Mark Ruffalo Revealed Future of Hulk:
Hulk has been through so many different phases in the MCU. In fact, the last 3 appearances of his ran an entire arc. We saw a new version of Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok as Banner was stuck in the back seat while Hulk drove the car for 2 years or more. That’s why he learned to speak and everything. Then in Infinity War, Thanos gave Hulk the beat down of his life and forced him back. Hulk was tired of fighting for Banner so he never emerged in that movie. Then came Endgame.
In Endgame, we saw the most evolved version of Hulk, i.e. the Smart Hulk. Banner spent 18 months in a gamma lab (a bit of which we wish we should have got to see) and put the brain & brawn together to achieve the best of both worlds. Endgame revealed that the reason for his entire existence was to bring everyone back with the snap. Smart Hulk was so evolved that Marvel didn’t even feel the need to give him a shot at Thanos. His fighting style became controlled while he also
became a bit weak having used the Infinity Gauntlet.
All of these are teases for what will happen in Hulk’s future. Mark Ruffalo was recently asked about what according to him should be the future of Hulk. And to this, he replied “I’d like to see him hang out with some of the new folks, you know? Maybe be like a guru to some of the younger ones.” Ruffalo is such a cute, innocent and lovable guy! Even when he’s talking normal stuff, he is actually spoiling future projects unknowingly.
What he has said here is exactly what will happen to Hulk in the future. The next Hulk appearance is suspected to be in the Disney+ series, She-Hulk. And, now that he is smart Hulk, Jennifer Walters will perhaps turn into She-Hulk because her cousin Smart Hulk gives her his own blood after the accident she goes through. Beyond that, we can assume that Hulk will mentor him and help her out with the changes that have happened to her body. He’d hang out with “new folks”.
The Smart Hulk persona is the “Professor Hulk” persona from the comics. So, there is a huge chance that Hulk would not be in a massive fight sequence like he used to be until Thor: Ragnarok. He is one of the OG 6, and he’d rather be behind the scenes now mentoring the many “younger ones” which are going to become prominent in the MCU. Other than his cousin Jennifer Walters, he could also mentor the likes of Spider-Man, and have appearances in projects like the Young Avengers! He was shown being a role model for kids in Endgame, and they also loved him back. So, perhaps that will become his future role!
We imagine that even in Avengers 5, he’d be behind the scenes helping out with missions as the guy in the chiar, coming to fight only when it becomes a necessity. So, the bottom line is that we shouldn’t expect a lot of Hulk “Smashing” from here on out. That’s because of the persona he is currently in. Yes, Hulk will continue to appear in the MCU, but the question is – until when? If Hulk’s future is not huge, then we could assume Hulk to get retirement in this Smart Hulk persona.
Or there could be a chance for us to see the rage monster return because Marvel hasn’t done the World Breaker Hulk yet. Smart Hulk is more Banner, and less Hulk right now. What if something happens that allows Hulk’s extreme rage to take over once again, and we finally get the world breaker Hulk? That would be awesome, but it’s highly unlikely for Marvel to go back to the Rage Monster that Hulk was. Marvel seems to be done with that, and it’d also be hard to do with a permanently damaged arm. So, let’s see what happens.
She-Hulk series arrives in 2022.
