Is Planet Hulk coming to Thor: Ragnarok?

Making a good Hulk movie seems to be an impossible task. The handful of attempts out there seem to have all fallen flat, due to the fact that it’s impossible to support the green giant when he’s tearing up half a city. Hulk is also pretty boring when you get down to it, he gets stronger as he gets angrier so all he has to do to win any fight is get angry enough, that’s dull. The comics had the same problem, Hulk was an extremely boring character with only a handful of decent stories, but that all changed in the noughties with Planet Hulk. This week Geek.com surprised everyone with an exclusive revealing that we might see the Hulk’s finest hour on the big screen after all.

Quick history lesson, back in 2006 Marvel started a new story arc for the Hulk with Planet Hulk. The story saw the Hulk landing on an alien world where he was no longer the strongest. Hulk was forced to become a gladiator and he began to learn the ways of combat, embracing the intelligence he gained from his Banner side. After a series of big battles, including a fight between the Hulk and the Silver Surfer, the green giant clawed his way up to a rank where he could challenge the king of the planet for dominance. After that there was a whole thing where Hulk came back to Earth and almost murdered every known superhero, but we are getting ahead of ourselves…

Geek.com quoted sources working on the current script for Thor: Ragnarok who claim that the film will revolve around Thor trying to defeat both Loki as well as new villain Hela, the goddess of death who is capable of destroying Thor’s hammer. Thor will be stripped of his power and sent to a gladiatorial planet where he will have to battle a series of alien fighters before taking on their champion, who just so happens to be the Hulk. Sound familiar? Geek.com goes on to talk about how Thor will have to assemble a magical weapon to combat his villains while receiving aid from the Hulk, who is now more in touch with his Banner side. This will also lead, Geek.com suggests, to Hulk coming back to Earth to wreak havoc sometime after the Infinity War films.

Many fans were puzzled by the lack of a Hulk film announcement when Marvel put out their plans for ‘Phase Three’ of their universe. Unfortunately, due to a deal with Universal Studios, it’s impossible for Marvel to make a solo Hulk film but they are able to put him into team-ups like the one suggested in Thor. It looks like we might get several appearances from the Hulk across the next few Marvel films to build him up as a villain after Infinity War. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the green giant being shot into space at some point in Civil War, even as a post-credits sequence. But no matter what happens, there is one thing I can confirm: Thor: Ragnarok has to be a better film than Thor: The Dark World.