How would another Hulk movie work?

[Rikun]

So there have been floating rumors about Mark Ruffalo's performance as Bruce Banner being so well received that another Hulk movie could be a possibility. However, when I mentioned this to my sister who's got a casual interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she failed to see how a third Hulk movie could be made. The major points she brought out were:

1) The first two Hulk movies weren't exactly well received, which means Marvel's not exactly jumping on doing the Hulk again.

2) Banner learned to control his anger by the end of the Avengers, thus completing his story arc.

And while I'd love to see another Hulk movie again, I can't deny that she brought up some really good points. What can you do with the Hulk now that after the Avengers he's not as feared as before and he's got his anger issues under control? While nobody knows what the ultimate plan Marvel has will be, I wonder if the Hulk fans out there could throw up some plausible stories that could star the Hulk would be.

Some plot threads I've considered would be:

1) We really didn't get to see what happens with The Leader, even though it was teased at the end of the Incredible Hulk. Perhaps it'd be cool to see how that turns out.

2) Bring in Jennifer Walters as She Hulk to add another dynamic to the character. Granted, this means less focus on Hulk and more on She Hulk if you went this route, but any movie that can introduce a new strong female character is great in my book.

3) A lot of people are citing Planet Hulk as a possibility, but I honestly think that all hinges on whether or not Guardians of the Galaxy can warm audiences up to the crazy cosmic Marvel Universe. And even then, it'd be hard to ground Banner in reality when he's off having weird space age adventures.

4) Something to re-establish Hulk as a threat and resume the whole Hulk vs. military dynamic that's defined him for so long. I'm not too keen on this idea since it reverses his character development, but what can you do?

If there are any more ideas, what could it be?

 

[Bertylicious]

I guess you could explore the idea of the Hulk becoming more and more lucid which seems to be a good thing but is actually Bruce Banner's personality being sublimated (is that the right word?) by the Hulk persona. The whole thing could be a metaphore for giving into rage being a kind of suicide of the self.

Also you'd have a big green lad wrecking stuff, which is always good.

 

[Queen Michael]

You could do the entire Bruce Jones "The Fugitive" thing where it mostly focuses on Bruce doing his best not to Hulk out while hiding form the government. It'd be easy to find some explanation for why he's lost control of his transformations again.

If we're going the popcorn route, introducing She-Hulk would indeed be a great idea.

You know what'd also be a great idea? Not using the Red Hulk ever.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Do She-Hulk. This will solve everything wrong in the series, reinvigorate the marvel franchise and allow for the inevitable crossover with deadpool.

Just think about that. Deadpool and She-Hulk destroying the fourth wall together.

Oh, good times. Good times.

 

[Ieyke]

So there have been floating rumors about Mark Ruffalo's performance as Bruce Banner being so well received that another Hulk movie could be a possibility. However, when I mentioned this to my sister who's got a casual interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she failed to see how a third Hulk movie could be made. The major points she brought out were:

1) The first two Hulk movies weren't exactly well received, which means Marvel's not exactly jumping on doing the Hulk again.

2) Banner learned to control his anger by the end of the Avengers, thus completing his story arc.

And while I'd love to see another Hulk movie again, I can't deny that she brought up some really good points. What can you do with the Hulk now that after the Avengers he's not as feared as before and he's got his anger issues under control? While nobody knows what the ultimate plan Marvel has will be, I wonder if the Hulk fans out there could throw up some plausible stories that could star the Hulk would be.

Some plot threads I've considered would be:

1) We really didn't get to see what happens with The Leader, even though it was teased at the end of the Incredible Hulk. Perhaps it'd be cool to see how that turns out.

2) Bring in Jennifer Walters as She Hulk to add another dynamic to the character. Granted, this means less focus on Hulk and more on She Hulk if you went this route, but any movie that can introduce a new strong female character is great in my book.

3) A lot of people are citing Planet Hulk as a possibility, but I honestly think that all hinges on whether or not Guardians of the Galaxy can warm audiences up to the crazy cosmic Marvel Universe. And even then, it'd be hard to ground Banner in reality when he's off having weird space age adventures.

4) Something to re-establish Hulk as a threat and resume the whole Hulk vs. military dynamic that's defined him for so long. I'm not too keen on this idea since it reverses his character development, but what can you do?

If there are any more ideas, what could it be?

This would be the second Incredible Hulk movie, not the third.

This is easy.
Maybe have him being hunted by the Hulkbusters again now that SHIELD isn't around to distract them, with General Ross and Major Talbot(since he's been introduced now) both leading Hulkbuster teams. But they have to team up with the Hulk (and later She-Hulk) to battle the Leader and his army of gamma monstrosities (maybe including Abomination as the "general" of his army).
You set up Jennifer Walters as an opposing lawyer in the Daredevil show, and you turn her into She-Hulk in the Hulk sequel.
You replace Liv Tyler with Jennifer Connelly, because she's infinitely superior, especially as Betty Ross.
Also, the story depends on where Age Of Ultron leaves off with the Hulk.

Maybe turn Doc Samson into...Doc Samson...if there's a non-stupid way to do it in the same movie where Jen becomes She-Hulk. Maybe he's rescued as The Leader is beginning to experiment on him?

Basically, Hulk needs people who are somewhat on his level. Friend and foe.
Banner has plenty, but the moment he transforms he's alone....unless the Avengers are around.
Hulk with teammates is why he worked so well in The Avengers.

 

[Tom_green_day]

Reboot it but Bruce Banner is this down-and-out drug addict lowlife who takes a bad dose of heroine that makes him very ill but then turns him into the Hulk. Truth is, going green and rage-filled and taking down baddies is just a metaphor for the resolve he gained from the bad drugs to kick all his bad habits and become a decent human being. There, better Hulk film than any action film. But then again it might be too hard for the average superhero fan to understand.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

The Ang Lee Hulk movie was awesome, mainly due to the story they built between Banner and his dad. Though the dogs sucked. Thing about Hulk as a character is most you can do is get him into a situation where he is pissed off and becomes Hulk. Doesnt even have to be personal to him. An thats the reason its difficult. Now if you moved him to smart hulk, like in the comics, then you can do some good movies with him. Until then, he is better as a support character, though im sure there are some great writers that could write a good story for him. I think the problem is building the mythology around him thats difficult but may be easier after Avengers 2.

Still love Ang Lees movie, the other Hulk movie sucked.

 

[Ieyke]

The Ang Lee Hulk movie was awesome, mainly due to the story they built between Banner and his dad. Though the dogs sucked.

and the charater models were terrible, and the animation sucked, and Hulk was a terrible color, and the editing was godawful, and the pacing sucked balls, and the story was boring, and the only good thing in that movie was Jennifer Connelly.

The Incredible Hulk was about 100x better, albeit with Liv Tyler being a really weaksauce Betty Ross, and the whole movie could've benefited from Jennifer Connelly replacing her.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

2) Banner learned to control his anger by the end of the Avengers, thus completing his story arc.


If there are any more ideas, what could it be?

On point #2: Why would that need to be the end of his character arc? Well, maybe that one, but they could start another one. He's been hiding from western society and living quietly in trying to suppress his anger, and now he's got that out of the way, could he perhaps try to reintegrate into society? After all, he's a scientist, and I would imagine Tony Stark being very willing to give him boatloads of cash to do whatever research he'd want, as thanks for saving him in The Avengers.

Maybe introduce Sentry? I don't know that much about him, but isn't Hulk considered the only one who can go toe-to-toe with him? It'd make for an interesting dual character dynamic, as both of them would be struggling with something inside them that they can't control. Planet Hulk would be a possibility, but it'd probably depend on the success of Guardians of the Galaxy. And even then there's the fact that GotG is being built up like a comedy, whereas Planet Hulk (from what I've read of it anyway) was played fairly straight in the comics.

 

[El Luck]

I'll say two words and just walk away: Planet Hulk. Toodles.


...ok three words.

 

[Loop Stricken]

The Incredible Hulk was about 100x better, albeit with Liv Tyler being a really weaksauce Betty Ross, and the whole movie could've benefited from Jennifer Connelly replacing her.

This sums up all of my opinions about the two Hulk films.

Reboot it but Bruce Banner is this down-and-out drug addict lowlife who takes a bad dose of heroine that makes him very ill but then turns him into the Hulk. Truth is, going green and rage-filled and taking down baddies is just a metaphor for the resolve he gained from the bad drugs to kick all his bad habits and become a decent human being. There, better Hulk film than any action film. But then again it might be too hard for the average superhero fan to understand.

... do not be ridiculous.

 

[Something Amyss]

On point #2: Why would that need to be the end of his character arc? Well, maybe that one, but they could start another one.

Just looking at the comics, Banner has overcome, negotiated with and made peace with Hulk several times. Sometimes they merge, sometimes they change, sometimes ponies are involved.

So I agree. It might be the end of the arc, but not necessarily the character. And to follow that up AND answer the question, what I want to see is HULK SMASH!

 

[happyninja42]

So there have been floating rumors about Mark Ruffalo's performance as Bruce Banner being so well received that another Hulk movie could be a possibility. However, when I mentioned this to my sister who's got a casual interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she failed to see how a third Hulk movie could be made. The major points she brought out were:

1) The first two Hulk movies weren't exactly well received, which means Marvel's not exactly jumping on doing the Hulk again.

Eh, there is a difference between "well received" and "made a profit". I don't know if the two Hulk movies made a profit, but I think they probably did. So that alone would probably be enough to justify to the devs to make another film. I mean it's not like making bad movies stopped other franchises. Star Trek movies, Star Wars movies for example had some horrible stinkers, but they kept making the movies.

2) Banner learned to control his anger by the end of the Avengers, thus completing his story arc.

And Thor learned how not to be a jerk by the end of Thor 1, thus completing his story arc. And yet they did another Thor movie. How? They came up with another story for him to deal with, that didn't revolve around his overcoming his arrogance. The only way having Hulk overcome his anger is a problem for making Hulk movies, is if you have the entire story be about him overcoming his anger. But there have been many versions of the Hulk in comics, some of which did overcome their anger issues, and became a balanced person. They still made comics in that series. They simply made the focus of the story to be about something else. Anything else. And that's really easy to do, just tell something that isn't an origin story for Bruce/Hulk. I mean, yeah he controlled his anger at the end of Avengers, but he still didn't like doing it, and it was still dangerous. It wasn't like he learned to always be angry in the last act of Avengers, he gave the impression that he had learned to always be angry before the events of Avengers. So, technically, he was in control of the Hulk before Avengers, and yet he still lost control, got super mad, and killed some people. I mean, if the Hulk has been pumping out comics for decades, I'm pretty sure that not every single issue has been about him losing control. They've done other things with the comic series, no reason they couldn't do so again.

And while I'd love to see another Hulk movie again, I can't deny that she brought up some really good points. What can you do with the Hulk now that after the Avengers he's not as feared as before and he's got his anger issues under control? While nobody knows what the ultimate plan Marvel has will be, I wonder if the Hulk fans out there could throw up some plausible stories that could star the Hulk would be.

Grab random Hulk comic book from multiple decades of publication and run with that plot. xD Next question!

2) Bring in Jennifer Walters as She Hulk to add another dynamic to the character. Granted, this means less focus on Hulk and more on She Hulk if you went this route, but any movie that can introduce a new strong female character is great in my book.

No argument here.

3) A lot of people are citing Planet Hulk as a possibility, but I honestly think that all hinges on whether or not Guardians of the Galaxy can warm audiences up to the crazy cosmic Marvel Universe. And even then, it'd be hard to ground Banner in reality when he's off having weird space age adventures.

Eh, I don't see this happening, mostly because Space Hulk just isn't what I think of when I think of Hulk. I think of the mild mannered man, wandering our world, and getting into trouble/adventures when circumstances arise. Astro-Hulk just doesn't really seem like a winner to me as a continuing franchise. xD

4) Something to re-establish Hulk as a threat and resume the whole Hulk vs. military dynamic that's defined him for so long. I'm not too keen on this idea since it reverses his character development, but what can you do?

Eh, the fact that Bruce has learned to control his anger, doesn't automatically exclude the military from wanting to get a hold of him for military purposes. They just can't use the "he's a public menace" angle as easily. I mean they still could, and cite any colaterral damage he causes when he saves the day as justification. But I just don't see that working.

 

[Colin Bagley]

I guess you could explore the idea of the Hulk becoming more and more lucid which seems to be a good thing but is actually Bruce Banner's personality being sublimated (is that the right word?) by the Hulk persona. The whole thing could be a metaphore for giving into rage being a kind of suicide of the self.

Also you'd have a big green lad wrecking stuff, which is always good.

That.

Genius.

*Shouts into the air*
Somebody make that guy the director!

 

[happyninja42]

I guess you could explore the idea of the Hulk becoming more and more lucid which seems to be a good thing but is actually Bruce Banner's personality being sublimated (is that the right word?) by the Hulk persona. The whole thing could be a metaphore for giving into rage being a kind of suicide of the self.

Also you'd have a big green lad wrecking stuff, which is always good.

That.

Genius.

*Shouts into the air*
Somebody make that guy the director!

Or a story where he isn't able to Hulk out, or flat out loses that part of him, and has to deal with the loss of a part of him that he actually had come to rely on in some ways.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

The Ang Lee Hulk movie was awesome, mainly due to the story they built between Banner and his dad. Though the dogs sucked.

and the charater models were terrible, and the animation sucked, and Hulk was a terrible color, and the editing was godawful, and the pacing sucked balls, and the story was boring, and the only good thing in that movie was Jennifer Connelly.

The Incredible Hulk was about 100x better, albeit with Liv Tyler being a really weak sauce Betty Ross, and the whole movie could've benefited from Jennifer Connelly replacing her.

An everything about The Incredible Hulk sucked apart from the cgi. Story was terrible, just a lazy way to put a character in an angry situation as its only way to get hulk to appear. Hulks a hard character to right unless they make him into smart hulk from the comics. But a lot of people only know him as the dumb hulk smash character.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Do She-Hulk. This will solve everything wrong in the series, reinvigorate the marvel franchise and allow for the inevitable crossover with deadpool.

Just think about that. Deadpool and She-Hulk destroying the fourth wall together.

Oh, good times. Good times.

I think looking at the camera and saying something funny is as outdated as stepping on a banana peel. I guess it works better on comic books?

 

[Flammablezeus]

Bruce learned to control his anger at the end of Incredible Hulk, not Avengers. But yeah, that just means we're finally past the introductory stage of Hulk (which took long enough.) Now they can finally focus on stories not involving him trying to simply keep his anger in check.

 

[FPLOON]

Well, you could technically put 1 and 2 together, where you introduce She-Hulk as well as for both of them take on The Leader... However, I can only see Planet Hulk working if, for example, you ONLY have the Hulk as the main focus instead of Bruce himself...

With that said, I'm down with either the Hulk taking on The Leader with the help of She-Hulk... or, if Marvel really can't think of anything else to do with their movie version of the Hulk, send him into space without any chance of him coming back until Avengers 3, while beforehand give Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk her beginnings of an origin story that leads to her joining the Avengers to "replace"[footnote]I put quotations on that word because from an outsider's "abridged story summary" perspective, it would seem that way...[/footnote] Hulk...

 

[TheIronRuler]

Do She-Hulk. This will solve everything wrong in the series, reinvigorate the marvel franchise and allow for the inevitable crossover with deadpool.

Just think about that. Deadpool and She-Hulk destroying the fourth wall together.

Oh, good times. Good times.

I think looking at the camera and saying something funny is as outdated as stepping on a banana peel. I guess it works better on comic books?

.
I don't think so! Just look at Spidey Vs. Deadpool!
It's funny as hell and it could work in a movie too!