Throughout the run of the Incredible Hulk in the comics, we’ve seen the character evolve over time. He’s been a mindless beast, and he’s also been a scientist in a big green body. Within the Marvel Cinematic Universe the character has been closer to the rampaging monster side of the fence, though, to be fair, he’s never been completely mindless. It now appears that there’s a major conversation happening at Marvel Studios about his evolution, and when we might see a smarter, and possibly a speaking, Hulk.
We know that Hulk’s next appearance within the MCU will be in Thor: Ragnarok. That film’s director, Taika Waititi, spoke with HitFix about the decision making process involved. As you might expect, he doesn’t exactly have the freedom to make these decisions on his own.
It's interesting, because at the moment, there's a big conversation that's happening about how far to push that. Whether or not The Hulk should be [verbal/conscious]. I think a lot of those conversations have more to do with what's going to come up in future movies. So I think a lot of those decisions are larger group decisions, rather than anything to do with just me or the writer. They have a lot of stuff that they have to consider. But I do think that's the best way to track it. I think we all want that. I think we all want to see that development and the evolution of that character. I also think you can do it in a fun way.
As the MCU is all about creating long term continuity between films in the same way they’ve done with comics for decades, any major changes to characters will have repercussions in future films, so it’s a much bigger discussion if you decide you want to have Hulk start to speak. If he speaks in Thor: Ragnarok then the screenwriters for future films needs to know that as well, so that lines can be added for the big green guy.
If there’s a larger conversation happening, it seems like a safe bet that we may start to see at least a slightly smarter Hulk going forward. If everybody was in complete agreement to keep the Hulk in his current position for the long term then there would be no need for a discussion. Whether or not we’re going to see these changes begin in Thor: Ragnarok, or if they’re going to be held back for later films like Avengers: Infinity War, is anybody’s guess, though Mark Ruffalo himself has implied that we’ll be a smarter Hulk sooner rather than later.
Are you in favor of an intelligent Hulk, who even speaks, or do you prefer the mindless brute? Let us knows your thoughts in the comments.
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