Mark Ruffalo Bringing Hulk Into ‘Thor: Ragnarok’

Marvel Studios is near a deal with Mark Ruffalo to bring his Hulk character to Thor: Ragnarok, the third installment of the series that stars Chris Hemsworth as the hammer-wielding Norse god. The film will be directed by Taika Waititi, the New Zealand-born filmmaker whose credits include the indie Eagle Vs Shark and last year’s Sundance vampire mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows. Disney has set a November 3, 2017, release date for Thor 3.

Rumors of Ruffalo’s involvement are tearing up the geek sites, and it’s indeed happening. What I’m wondering is this: Of all the iterations of movies with the burly green guy, Ruffalo’s has been by far the best. So when is he going to get his own movie?

It’s possible that Ruffalo just doesn’t have time to do more than shred shirts and pants in Avengers installments, as he spends most of it starring in awards-season films. His sensibilities are more toward indie fare than tentpole. Coming off a strong turn in Begin Again and into a heartbreaking performance as wrestler Dave Schultz in Foxcatcher, Ruffalo is at the center of the strong ensemble cast of Spotlight, the Tom McCarthy-directed film about the Boston Globe Spotlight team’s reporting that exposed the cover-up of pedophile priests by the Catholic Church in Boston. Open Road world-premiered the film to rousing response at the Venice Film Festival and releases the pic November 6.

Alan Taylor directed the most recent God of Thunder pic, Thor: The Dark World, which Disney released in November 2013 to a worldwide gross of $644.8M. That came after Thor, directed by Kenneth Branagh, kicked things off in summer 2011, making $449.3M. Marvel has been masterful about cross-pollinating these franchises with its stable of stars, and Ruffalo’s presence could bring green to this sequel.

Ruffalo’s repped by UTA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.