To start with, Hulk’s movie rights are a bit of an issue. For a solo-Hulk movie, Marvel would need to work out a deal or at least untangle a mess with Universal. We are able to continue seeing the Hulk, but only in films not featuring him as either the only hero or the main hero. So, if Marvel wants to keep from clarifying the legal issues with Hulk movies and still legally deliver a Planet Hulk feature, they would need to get creative… and perhaps they already have.
Still in the developmental stages, Thor’s third solo film “Thor: Ragnarok” is set to debut November 3, 2017. The film’s still receiving many re-writes, and already in the ink may be an idea about how to accomplish the Planet Hulk story. By the Planet Hulk story, I mean Hulk… on a planet… far away from Earth… fighting space aliens as a gladiator. Christopher Yolk (Thor: The Dark World), Craig Kyle (Iron Man: Armored Adventures), and a well-liked industry writer Stephany Folsom are all teaming up to piece together Thor’s third installment.
The film is set to be directed by Taika Waititi. Most notably, he directed “What We Do in the Shadows”. While the film was great, original, and hilarious, there were some awesome effects used. Sure, the effects used don’t measure in scale to those used in each Marvel film, but I prefer quality and practical use. I’m hoping he’ll work out great. Giving some insight on the foundation, or lack there of for “Thor: Ragnarok”, the director explains that things are a bit of a mess due to the frequent shifting of ideas.
According to sources of sources, who have sources… the current story for “Thor: Ragnarok” includes the destroying of Mjolnir (Thor’s iconic hammer) and a banishment to a planet where he will be forced into a gladiator-type environment. After arriving there, Thor would somehow come across Hulk. There would be an easily written reason for Ragnarok to exist if and while Thor has been banished.
Skipping over the details, the film could easily appear to match up to a version of Planet Hulk fans have been crying for.
Within the details, there will be additional characters. Hela is the villainous daughter of Loki who’ll be played by newcomer Cate Blanchett. She’s one of the more intriguing additions and her role isn’t quite understood yet. She does maintain a title of Norse Goddess and strong ties to the underworld of Hel. It’s been said she may be the hand that destroys Mjolnir. I personally believe, or suspect that the underworld will be of huge significance and we may have not seen the last of the All-Father after all… It would be interesting to have Hela play a role where she is somewhat an overseer of Hel (may as well draw the connection to the biblical “Hell”) where not only the All-Father, Odin may be, but also Mjolnir. In the comic books Thor has a tough time getting access to this underworld location and would make sense to use it as a place to hide both from him there. I’m sure as many ideas and thoughts exist from fans, there may be a close count on ideas from those currently working on piecing the story together.
There’s a lot happening in the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now, and the next few years, and it would make sense to find ways to shift characters in and out before meeting Thanos on Earth. While playing with the idea of an underworld, Thanos has a passion for a character and thing called Death. All of this could be merged in a way to have not just fans, but a wider audience accept and understand what all is happening.
The last time we saw the Hulk, was in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and he was flying in a Quinjet. He decided to fly away from the team at the end out of guilt and confusion. He had earlier in the film had a violent confrontation with Iron Man which ended up destroying yet another city. In the comic books he was banished from Earth by the Illuminati (a team of genius minds). If you subtract the characters Marvel cannot use, that team includes: Dr. Strange, Black Bolt, and Iron Man. There’s a huge issue with movie rights when trying to create a by-the-book Planet Hulk story. So, with all those issues, and the current frame of mind for the Hulk, it may make sense to have banished himself.
On a side note, Helen Cho was a featured character in “Avengers: Age of Ultron”. The significance of her appearance is her connection to another character, her son Amadeus Cho. Amadeus Cho has a close relationship with the Hulk and would be an interesting work-in if the writers could manage it.
Another side note, is that Marvel’s Infinity Gauntlet story needs to speed up a bit in the area around the gauntlet. This could be a great time to speed this up. Without the hammer, Thor may need another weapon to combat whatever plan Loki and his daughter Hela are working on. This weapon could be the gauntlet. Maybe not with all the gems included, but if fans get to see the mighty glove in action before Thanos gets it, that might be a better bridge to make to casual moviegoers. Having some of these weapons already on Asgard may be an obvious link to the possibility.
I’m sure between now and the film’s release we’ll get and hear many more rumors. I haven’t been one of the fans really yearning for a Planet Hulk flick, but this I’m interested in.