Deadline just confirmed it
Mark Ruffalo Bringing Hulk Into ‘Thor: Ragnarok’
Marvel Studios is near a deal with
Mark Ruffalo to bring his
Hulk character to
Thor: Ragnarok, the third installment of the hammer-wielding Norse god series that stars
Chris Hemsworth. The film will be directed by
Taika Waititi, the New Zealand-born director whose credits include the indie
Eagle Vs Shark and last year’s Sundance vampire mockumentary
What We Do In The Shadows.
Disney has set a November 3, 2017, release date for
Thor 3.
Rumors of Ruffalo’s involvement is tearing up the geek sites, and it’s indeed happening. What I’m wondering is this: of all the iterations of movies with the burly green guy, Ruffalo’s has been by far the best. But when is he going to get his own movie?
It’s possible that Ruffalo just doesn’t have time to do more than shred shirts and pants in
Avengersinstallments, as he spends most of it starring in awards-season films. His sensibilities are more toward indie fare than tentpole. Coming off a strong turn in
Begin Again and into a heartbreaking performance as wrestler Dave Schultz in
Foxcatcher, Ruffalo is at the center of the strong ensemble cast of
Spotlight, the Tom McCarthy-directed film about the
Boston Globe Spotlight team’s reporting that exposed the cover-up of pedophile priests by the Catholic Church in Boston. Open Road
world-premiered the film to rousing response at the Venice Film Festival, and releases the pic November 6.
Alan Taylor directed the most recent pic,
Thor: The Dark World, which Disney released in November 2013 to a worldwide gross of $644.8M. That came after
Thor, directed by Kenneth Branagh, kicked things off in summer 2011 making $449.3M. Marvel has been masterful about cross-pollinating these franchises with its stable of stars, and Ruffalo’s presence could bring green to this sequel.
Mark Ruffalo Bringing Hulk Into 'Thor: Ragnarok'