After a series of projects that were not well-received, people are wondering if the production company of Marvel Studios is imploding under the weight of success it has built up for over a decade. With Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Secret Invasion and The Marvels failing to live up to the much more profitable films of the past, the comic banner under the Disney umbrella is now seeking to retool its creative output. Even though the anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine is turning out to be the sole film released from Marvel Studios this year, many think it might actually be the film to save the MCU.
One of two OG Avengers that people still think can carry the load is Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk. Although the character has already had a solo movie with Edward Norton in the role in The Incredible Hulk from 2008, Ruffalo’s interpretation was a slightly different take and yet to be given his own film. However, according to Deadline, Ruffalo doesn’t see the logistics for Marvel wanting to do a new solo Hulk film. In a recent GQ profile, Ruffalo stated, “I’d love to do a standalone Hulk. I just don’t think that’s ever going to happen.” He cites that the price of Hulk’s CGI would be far too much for a whole feature film, even though the technology has advanced in the years since his first appearance. He adds, “It’s very expensive if you did a whole movie, which is why they use the Hulk so sparingly. I priced myself out!”
Ruffalo also thinks that Marvel oversaturated their output, which may be what contributed to their current status. He says their “expansion into streaming was really exciting. But the thing about Marvel movies is, you had to wait three years and that created a mystique.” With Bob Iger aiming to stifle some of the releases for Marvel, Ruffalo sees the benefit of the course correction strategy. “These corrections could be really positive things. Will it be what it was? I don’t know.”
Last week, a seeming misunderstanding of a question at a Q&A led to Ruffalo basically revealing that Hulk may return earlier than we might think when he outright said that he appears in Captain America: Brave New World. However, it has since been cleared up that he mistook the question being asked and his answer was not referring to Hulk’s appearance in the upcoming film.