Spoilers ahead for Thor: Ragnarok. If you haven't seen the threequel, you may want to check out another one of our stories.
It's been less than a week since its release, so it seems like all eyes are on Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok. The threequel is being met with massive critical and box office performance, and has been praised for being a game changer for the franchise. Ragnarok also brought the return of Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner/Hulk, who was last seen flying a Quinjet away at the end of Age of Ultron. It turns out that writing for the big green guy wasn't easy, as there are a ton of questions surrounding Banner's relationship to The Hulk at this point. Ragnarok writer Eric Pearson spoke to CinemaBlend's own Eric Eisenberg about this challenge for the sequel, saying:
It was one of the toughest, most tedious things when you're writing a Marvel movie. There's a lot of back and forth of how much do we need to say? How much do we need to explain? There was probably... I mean there is a little bit from the Quinjet when he gets to the ship's log just to show a little bit of what's happened. But yeah, we probably shot more, and there are definitely versions of the scenes where we explained in greater detail.
While The Hulk's presence in Thor: Ragnarok was a major highlight for fans, putting him into the narrative was no walk in the Asgardian park. Because the sequel wasn't truly focused on Hulk, it didn't go into the specifics of how the character has changed since we last saw him. This no doubt was a writing challenge for Eric Pearson, who was one of three writers working on the dialogue and plot of Ragnarok.
Ragnarok did seem to just add more questions about Hulk, and the monster's relationship to his body shared with Bruce Banner. It turns out that The Hulk has been in full control for the two years since Age of Ultron, and it was only Black Widow's message to Banner on the Quinjet that helped the good doctor temporarily regain control. Banner spent much of the film in fear that he won't be able to come back after transforming into The Hulk, but answered the call to help battle Hela. It was also unexplained how The Hulk managed to become such a conversationalist this time around, while it also endlessly spoofing his de-transformation ritual with Black Widow. Like I said, we have more questions than answers.
Luckily, there should be some answers coming down the pipeline. Kevin Feige and Mark Ruffalo have crafted a three film narrative for the character, which will conclude with the next two Avengers films. This is likely where the answers will come, making fans wait even longer to get the whole story around The Hulk.
Thor: Ragnarok is currently in theaters, and he'll next pop up in Avengers: Infinity War on May 4th, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your trips to the movies in the New Year.
