For years, ever since Mark Ruffalo was cast as Hulk, Marvel fans have been clamoring for a standalone film, but sadly, it looks like the chance of Mark Ruffalo’s lead green-skinned superhero flick at Marvel Studios won’t be happening anytime soon.
In a new interview for GQ’s February 2024 cover story, Ruffalo, 56, openly spoke about the ongoing changes happening at Marvel Studios. These changes were evidently seen last year by die-hard fans, as the majority of the projects suffered box office and critical struggles, which has played a part in hampering the interest of moviegoers in buying tickets for the once guaranteed juggernaut hit superhero genre.
The Academy Award nominee gained international recognition for first playing Bruce Banner/Hulk in 2012’s The Avengers, ever since then, he has made numerous appearances within the superhero franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His last appearance was as the ‘Smart Hulk’ in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), created by Jessica Gao.
Despite having built a major fan base for his version of Hulk, in the interview, the “All the Light We Cannot See,” actor was surprisingly remaining skeptical about the possibility of any solo movie in the future. He believes that the character works best as a supporting role in other Marvel movies, allowing for more depth and development within the larger cinematic universe.
“I’d love to do a standalone Hulk, I just don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” Ruffalo told the outlet, which noted that the CGI required to create the Hulk on the big screen remains expensive. “It’s very expensive if you did a whole movie, which is why they use the Hulk so sparingly,” Ruffalo added. The actor also jokingly said, “I priced myself out!”
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In addition to this, when GQ asked Ruffalo about Marvel’s recent struggles balancing both films and Disney+ projects, the actor said, “I think the expansion into streaming was really exciting, but the thing about Marvel movies is you had to wait three years and that created a mystique.” He added, “These corrections could be really positive things.” He further said, “Will it be what it was? I don’t know.”
Ruffalo also expressed his views about the notion that acting in Marvel movies prevents actors from working in more traditional dramatic roles.
On this majorly debated subject on the internet, he tells the outlet that he remains “really proud of” his time as Bruce Banner. “I’ve sat in movie theaters with the movies I’ve done with big directors. I’ve also experienced these Marvel movies with an audience, and the amount of community and expression… it touched every single emotion,” he said. “That means something to me. I don’t look down on it.”
Even though it might be a long way to get a standalone Hulk film, the fans should be excited as the chance to see their favorite superhero on the big screen is still on the table!
Ruffalo still has two highly anticipated Marvel Studios movies scheduled to release on May 1, 2026, with Avengers 5, and May 7, 2027, with Avengers: Secret Wars. Details about these projects have been kept under wraps ever since Jonathan Majors, who was attached to reprise his role as Kang the Conqueror in The Kang Dynasty, was fired in December 2023.