The Hulk may get his own movie in 2015 - Nerd Reactor

One of the more controversial subjects for The Avengers was the departing of Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. Many felt that Norton did a fantastic job in The Incredible Hulk and were sad to see him go. Norton would be the 2nd actor to portray the mean green machine, following Eric Bana before him. So far, Mark Ruffalo has been receiving a lot of praise for this performance in The Avengers, leading many to question when will The Hulk have a solo outing on the big screen again.

Recently, Forbes talked to the man in charge of Marvel’s toys and other merch, Paul Gitter. Paul reveals that Marvel had a five  year plan for The Avengers and the decided to focus the core four members; Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and The Hulk. Naturally, some sell more merchandize than others, i.e., Iron Man and Captain America but surprisingly The Hulk may surpass them all.

Marvel executives have been “pleasantly surprised by the phenomenal response” to this green superhero, and expect this fan affinity to further strengthen once the movie opens. “His sales are up in a major way. We repositioned him from where he was always misunderstood to now depicting him in a more heroic and aspirational manner,” says Gitter. If Hulk’s successful turnaround continues, Gitter says Marvel “will spin him off to a stand-alone program next year,” supported by a big budget franchise movie in 2015.

This new info contradicts what Marvel Films head-honcho, Kevin Feige, said in earlier this month in an interview with the Huffington Post when asked if The Hulk would get another shot at his own film.

“Well, no, [The Avengers] was the other shot. Right? I mean, this was the third appearance of Hulk and everything that we had and were going for, we put in to Hulk’s appearance in Avengers. So, I love that people are saying [positive things about the Hulk in Avenger] and are feeling that way about Hulk, but mission accomplished at this point. And the way we go forward, we’ll see. But it was a long road to get to this point. Although, I will say, after the [premiere] screening, I heard various arguments over who was their favorite. Which is my favorite thing: Arguing what was the favorite moment or character. And the fact that so many of them are saying Hulk feels very, very good. Where we go next, we’ll see. But we’ll be very careful about it and deliberate â€" as we were in how we wanted to bring him back in Avengers.”

He is more or less saying, it is up to the fans and sales. So, if you like his performance and buy all The Hulk merch, chances are, they’ll be another Hulk movie.

In earlier interview, Mark Ruffalo has confirmed that his contract with Marvel Films has him locked in for 6 appearances as the Green Machine. So, it wouldn’t be that hard to get him on board for the a solo film, The Avengers 2, hell, even 4 more Hulk movies.

We’ll just have to wait in see but The Hulk smashes on to theaters everywhere in the US on May 4th.

Source: Forbes, The Huffington Post