The Hulk might be coming home as rumors are spreading that claim Marvel now completely owns the rights to the big, green and angry hero, which could potentially lead to a new series of standalone films for the Hulk.
Marvel’s rights are a complicated affair as the character’s distribution rights belong to Universal.
Recently, a rumor occurred that Marvel might finally have total control over Hulk. How? We don’t exactly know, maybe it was a matter of money, or maybe the end of the deal between the studios came about.
In November 2019, Mark Ruffalo attended the Tokyo Comic-Con and declared, “Kevin Feige just asked me last week if I had any more ideas or stories for the Hulk and I said yeah, I think there are still some stories to tell and he said, ‘Well why don’t you come in and tell me about them and we’ll see if we can find a place for you in the Marvel universe?’”
Does this mean that Kevin Feige is finally allowed to explore Hulk’s solo adventures? Possibly. The rumor is also that Marvel Studios regained the rights of Namor who could very well appear soon after being teased in Avengers: Endgame.
What does Universal’s ownership mean for the Hulk?
Well, Universal has the final say if Marvel Studios wants to use Hulk in a solo movie. In clear, it was probably always a “no” from Universal or the deal in making one wouldn’t be worth the money for Marvel. However, Disney does have the right to use the character in their team-up movies as they did for The Avengers saga or Thor: Ragnarok.
There have been solo movies for the Hulk such as The Incredible Hulk (2008) for example which is the second movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but those ended over a decade ago.
The main character was portrayed by Edward Norton, who was then replaced by Mark Ruffalo in The Avengers. If this movie was made possible, that’s only because at this point, Marvel Entertainment was an independent production company working with distributors. Disney eventually came around, bought Marvel, and they started distributing the movies themselves, beginning with The Avengers.
Also read: Thor Was Meant To Keep His Eyepatch in Avengers: Endgame
Nothing has been officially confirmed but with the She-Hulk series coming on Disney+ in 2022, we can speculate about a future for our beloved green giant on Disney+ or in theatres. Maybe we’ll even see Ross mutate into the Red Hulk.
What do you want to see from the Jolly Green Giant and his family of side-characters in the MCU? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments below!
