She-Hulk: Mark Ruffalo talks about Smart Hulk and what may be in store for the future

When Mark Ruffalo was first cast as Bruce Banner/Hulk in the original Avengers movie in 2012, people didn’t quite know what to expect since the previous foundation for the character was portrayed by Edward Norton. Ruffalo was able to put his own spin on the character, and audiences were quick to accept him into series continuity. Here we are. It’s ten years later, and Ruffalo has made seven appearances in the Marvel universe.

On August 18, the debut of the new Disney+ series from Marvel Studios, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, saw the return of Ruffalo as the big green angry guy. Outside of the Marvel movies, Ruffalo was not known as a summer blockbuster actor, and even he would tell you how surprised he is that he is still here. 

Ruffalo states in an interview with Variety, “I mean, I’ll probably do it as long as they’ll have me if people are interested, and I can bring something that’s interesting to me to it and interesting to the fans.”

The normal intense nature of the Hulk character has been softened with his current incarnation of Smart Hulk, and Ruffalo says that he was attracted to returning for She-Hulk because the notion of Banner having to coexist with his alter ego opens itself to some lightheartedness after feeling dour about the current state of things. “It was something that I’ve always sort of wondered: How does Hulk or Banner live their lives? I mean, if he is living on his own, like, how does he not hit his head on doorframes? It just opened up a whole world that’s really funny and playful that I was craving after COVID,” Ruffalo adds.

Ruffalo is aware of older Hulk stories from the comics and thinks there are interesting places to go for the future that should please Marvel fans, especially since Thor: Ragnarok had established Hulk’s life on Sakaar. “It’s really an interesting, exciting part of the Hulk story and Banner story. I do think that the trip to Sakaar is a good place to start and what that means to the idea of what the fans have been asking for — this idea of Planet Hulk or World War Hulk or just the journey that Banner and Hulk have to make to come to peace with each other.”

 What do you hope to see from Hulk in the future?