When we sat through several hours of Marvel Studios showing us chairs as its way of announcing the cast of Avengers: Doomsday, we were shocked by some of the names we saw. The revelation that many of the original X-Men actors would appear was big news. However, there were also many names conspicuous by their absence, and one of those was the Incredible Hulk, Mark Ruffalo.
Few of the original Avengers are left in the MCU, but Ruffalo’s Hulk is one, so not having him in the next Avengers movie is kind of a big deal. In a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the host asked Ruffalo about the fact that he’s apparently not in the movie, and the actor joked that it was because of his tendency to accidentally reveal spoilers. The actor said…
They decided it was better to get rid of me than for me to tell the end of the next movie.
While Tom Holland often gets a lot of flak for dropping Marvel spoilers, Mark Ruffalo is actually just as bad. Most famously, he once literally spilled the cliffhanger ending of Avengers: Infinity War long before the movie hit theaters.
The last time Ruffalo’s Hulk was seen in the MCU was as part of the She-Hulk: Attorney at Law series. He revealed a surprise son that, at this point, we know nothing else about, so there are likely a lot of fans who would love to see Ruffalo return if only to explain what the heck is going on.
It is possible that, despite Ruffalo’s lack of inclusion in the big cast announcement, he will still appear in Avengers: Doomsday. Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has made it clear that the list of names announced was not all-inclusive, so we still expect there to be a few surprises.
Certainly, if Ruffalo is in the movie but isn’t announced, then his appearance is exactly the sort of spoiler that Marvel Studios wouldn’t want to be revealed. It’s possible the actor’s joke is even more on point than it seems. By not announcing Ruffalo’s involvement, he won’t get asked what’s happening on the film, and thus the odds that he’ll accidentally reveal something are significantly reduced.
It’s also possible that Ruffalo isn’t in Doomsday, but will still appear a year later in Avengers: Secret Wars. While the two movies aren’t expected to be two halves of one story, the way Infinity War and Endgame were, they’re still likely connected in some way, so if Hulk appears in one of them, he’ll still be part of the story.
One of the other remaining original Avengers, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, is in Avengers: Doomsday, and his fate is already a topic of debate. Some fans are already worried he may not survive the film. This may make Hulk’s status all the more important.