After a pair of coolly received solo Hulk movies starring Eric Bana and Edward Norton, fans have really taken to Mark Ruffalo's version in The Avengers films. And that has led to many hoping there will be some kind of Planet Hulk or World War Hulk movie, with rumors persisting for months that this could happen. While Ruffalo has expressed his desire for a standalone Hulk movie, he's also made comments suggesting there could be some behind-the-scenes issues preventing it from happening, and now we know what those hurdles are.
According to a story at Forbes, the chief issue is that Universal, who distributed the first two solo Hulk movies, still have the right of first refusal to distribute the next one. Marvel has indeed regained the production rights to the character, but they'll have to strike some kind of deal if they plan a film. If Universal refuses, the right of distribution would pass over to Disney.
While this may not seem like a big deal given Marvel's willingness to strike such a deal with Sony over Spider-Man, the Hulk is a different matter altogether. There have already been two Hulk movies that didn't perform especially well, and the character has become a special component to the Avengers movies. The only place to see him now is when the whole gang comes together for a major battle, and to change that could have an impact on the the novelty of the franchise. This is probably a line of reasoning that will prevent a Black Widow or Hawkeye solo movie, too.
So there you have it; chances are we aren't going to get a Hulk film anytime soon. But then again, we never thought we'd see Spidey in the MCU, did we?
