Mark Ruffalo Teases Hulk and Banner Separation For Thor: Ragnarok

With the Hulk going cosmic in Thor: Ragnarok it’s a wonder how they will fit in Bruce Banner, the Green Goliath’s fragile and puny alter-ego.

As the Hulk will be smashing side-by-side the Odinson on Asgard, will there be any room for Banner in the cosmos?

It turns out Kevin Feige may have an out (which potentially could work for a Planet Hulk movie) as Mark Ruffalo recently spoke to the Huffinton Post teasing Banner and Hulk may be featured on screen together.

“I play Dr. Bruce Banner, and occasionally I turn into a big green, mean monster,” Ruffalo offered. “I am excited to keep coming back to this role. I see a lot of space for it to grow. I feel like there’s a lot of cool stuff to explore still, especially the relationship between Banner and Hulk. Hopefully, we’ll see the two of them in a scene together. That would be cool!”

Fans of the movies and comics know that the Hulk and Banner are essentially the same person, but actually, the Hulk represents sort of a different personality. At times, Banner’s various personalities have triggered different Hulk versions such as the dumb Green Hulk, which is akin more to Banner’s infant years; then there is the Joe Fixit Grey Hulk – actually the first iteration of the Hulk – who is not as strong as his green brother, but comes off as more cunning and more adolescent-like (there have been other versions as well including Devil Hulk, and the popular Future Imperfect version, Maestro).

The Banner, Green and Grey personalities actually combined in one of my favorite story arcs, with the culmination being the smart Professor Banner Hulk (I asked Peter David at the NYCC if we would ever see the Banner Hulk in a movie to which he replied, “Probably not,” and noted it’s one of his favorite versions of the Hulk, too). So as Banner seemingly suffers from a gamma-irradiated multiple personality disorder, it’s possible Banner and Hulk might actually be separated in the movies. This has actually proved disastrous in the comics as the two can’t survive without the other, and in addition, the inclusion of Banner was a calming factor for the Hulk.

So without Banner, we might see a totally nutso Hulk in Thor 3, as some cosmic factor could explain how the two get separated (Doctor Doom also separated the two recently in the comics). Still, another possibility (and similar to the comics) is that Banner could have a conversation with the Hulk in his head, which they were ought to do in the comics. At times, the various personalities would be attempting to take control, with the battle taking place in Banner’s mind.

“Thor: Ragnarok” has a November 3, 2017 release directed by Taika Waititi starring Chris Hemsworth.