What we’ve learned has lined up with what Ruffalo is sharing, plus a long-standing rumor about the future of the Hulk dating back to fandom’s post-Avengers cries in 2013. Back then, audiences were enthralled by that movie’s version of The Hulk and how he was funny, well-powered, and not a drag like he had been in the two previous Hulk movies that made it to screens.
The rumour was that Marvel was planning to weave the character through the Avengers “Phases” in a creative way, banishing the Hulk from Earth after Avengers 2, spinning off into his own Planet Hulk movie (based on the Greg Pak comics storyline of the same name) and returning him to Earth in Phase Three in some sort of World War Hulk (also a comic book storyline) Avengers movie. The specifics of that arc were outright denied by Marvel staff over and over again, leading up to Joss Whedon’s follow-up (Avengers: Age of Ultron) and after the Hulk mysteriously steals a Quinjet and disappears at the end of that movie.
When Joss Whedon was asked if Planet Hulk or World War Hulk were going to be a Phase Three movies, his response was: “Well I’m really not supposed to comment, but no, that’s nonsense.” Which is what makes what follows all the more amazing.
According to our sources, after Thor catches on to Hela and Loki’s (still mysterious) plot that is going down in Asgard, Hela destroys Mjolnir, and banishes Thor from Asgard. Loki and Hela’s plan involves the major arc of the Marvel Universe, and just when it looks like Thor is about to put a stop to it, he gets banished — but not to any old planet. He ends up on a gladiatorial planet where his head is shaved and he’s forced to fight for his life. Let’s call this planet Sakaar, like it was in the comic books.
Thor knows that he has to get to some MacGuffin weapon object to defeat Hela and Loki (could this be the Infinity Gauntlet that Thanos is in possession of, or maybe an assemblage of Infinity Stones?) and he has to get off the planet. Thor runs through all of his alien opponents in gladiatorial combat, even without his trademark hammer. Finally, Thor has to face the current champion of the arena, and wouldn’t you know who that ends up being? The Hulk.
When we reconnect with Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok, he’s managed to avoid reverting back to the Banner state since we last saw him in the Quinjet in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Hulk in Hulk form is pretty much unkillable, so he survived the trip to Sakaar (however he got there). His “Banner” is starting to seep through into the Hulk persona, and because of the Hulk-Banner melding, Hulk actually remembers Thor and his relationship to him. That’s what starts the two on a Midnight Run to the MacGuffin that Thor desperately needs.
Some of these details could shift like the sands of time considering the shooting script for Thor: Ragnarok hasn’t been locked down, but sources confirm that the outline is there: Marvel found a way to include the Planet Hulk storyline without having to attempt a solo Hulk movie where everyone is a CGI character, not to mention dealing with the character’s solo movie rights (which has some sort of hold-up with Universal). Instead, gladiator Chris Hemsworth will be the audience’s focus as Thor picks up Hulk on his road-trip through the stars.
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