World War Hulk Movie: Potential Release Date, Plot & Characters
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the largest and ever-growing movie franchise ever. While we have at least a dozen projects that Marvel Studios have officially announced, plenty of movie and TV projects could happen, or previous projects have set up the plot for them but haven’t been officially announced yet.
One of them is the World War Hulk. Although Marvel Studios does its best to give us at least three superhero blockbusters a year these days, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen the latest Hulk solo film—15 years, no less. Previous attempts to make a Hulk movie haven’t been all that great. One of the problems is the rights since Universal Pictures distributed the previous Hulk movies, and we know that Disney is the one that keeps Marvel under its wing.
Marvel fans know that the Hulk is one of the most vital members of the Avengers, so instead of making a deal with Universal (because why the hell would they share their money with anyone), Disney and their subsidiary Marvel Studios decided to build the character through crossover films (Avengers) and guest appearances in other projects, such as Thor: Ragnarok and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Some fans weren’t happy with how the character was developed in Avengers: Endgame and afterward. However, the conclusion of the She-Hulk series also set the stage for future appearances of Mark Ruffalo’s character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Moreover, Tatiana Maslany’s titular character said, “save it for the movie,” in one of her fourth-wall-breaking moments. What did she refer to, we wonder?
World War Hulk: Potential release date and what it could be about?
World War Hulk has yet to be officially announced by Marvel Studios, so it’s hard to predict when it will be released. At the earliest, the movie definitely won’t happen before the start of Phase 6 in 2025. Only three Phase 6 projects have been announced: Fantastic Four, Avengers: Kang Dynasty, and Avengers: Secret Wars, which should conclude the ongoing Multiverse Saga. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has announced that more projects will be announced for Phase 6 in the future. Some of them could be additional sequels to Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Eternals, and Shang-Chi. Still, we’re betting there will be something brand new, and World War Hulk could be just that.
For not comic readers, the potential World War Hulk movie could be loosely based on the comic book mini-series of the same name. It follows a story after the Illuminati banished Hulk from planet Earth. The part of this story was already adapted in Thor: Ragnarok since Hulk landed on the planet Saakar, where he allied with Korg and Miek, among others. Hulk gathered his allies and returned to Earth, seeking his revenge. Plenty of known characters appeared in that story, and the members of the Illuminati were Black Bolt, Tony Stark, Doctor Strange, and Reed Richards. Some of the characters that also appeared are the X-Men, New Avengers, Fantastic Four, etc.
The original comic contained many characters, but it wouldn’t be the first time that Marvel adapted the comic on a much smaller scale with the necessary changes to fit the film into the MCU narrative. Captain America: Civil War is one of the best examples comic book readers will understand.
Who could potentially appear in World War Hulk?
Since we’re talking about a Hulk movie, it’s obvious that we’d expect to see Mark Ruffalo back as the main character, regardless of whether he’s currently the smart, not-so-violent Hulk. Ruffalo’s previous appearances in the MCU have set the stage for his potential future appearances, so we can only wait to see if the rumors are true. Based on what we’ve seen from Hulk-related storylines in the MCU, the return of Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk and Hulk’s son Skaar would also be expected.
The original comic book story featured some of the characters we’ve already seen in the MCU. Not only Doctor Strange and Iron Man but also some supporting characters like Namor Tenoch Huerta and Brett Goldstein’s Hercules. However, it is known that if something happens in the source material, it does not necessarily mean anything for the adaptation. Comic book adaptations are not the same as book adaptations, sometimes, the only thing screenwriters can take from the source material is the title.
When was the last time we had a Hulk solo movie?
Some Marvel characters had a lot of solo movies (Spider-Man), some had a few (Thor), and Hulk had only two. If we exclude old TV movies from the ’80s starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, the first Hulk movie was released in 2003, starring Eric Bana and directed by Ang Lee. The movie received mixed reviews, and the planned sequel was later repurposed as The Incredible Hulk reboot starring Edward Norton, which was the second movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Norton was later replaced by Mark Ruffalo, who played Bruce Banner for the first time in The Avengers (2012). He later reprised the role in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Bruce Banner remained a part of the MCU’s roster after Thanos’ defeat, and he also appeared in the post-credit scene of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. From everything we have seen, it’s safe to say that we will watch Ruffalo as the Hulk again, maybe in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty or the currently still unannounced World War Hulk. Only time will tell.
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