Exclusive: Mark Ruffalo Will Be Human Again In She-Hulk
We've exclusively learned the fate of Mark Ruffalo's character in the new Disney+ series.
Update August 18, 2022: This Giant Freakin Robot exclusive was not confirmed, and while Mark Ruffalo did appear in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, it was not just as Bruce Banner. He played the Smart Hulk version of the character we met in Avengers: Infinity War.
Mark Ruffalo will be taking up the role of Bruce Banner once again in She-Hulk. The Disney+ series is mainly going to focus on Jennifer Walters, a lawyer and now a superhero. The series is said to be more of a comedy starring lawyers, which will be something fun and new for the superhero genre. While Jennifer Walters is our central Hulk character in the show, many have wondered what Bruce Banner’s story is going to be now in the series. How big will his role be? Will he simply be there as a mentor for the main character? What are Marvel’s plans for developing The Hulk audiences know and care about? A trusted and proven inside source for Giant Freakin Robot did some work on our behalf and has shared with us that Bruce Banner will be human again in She-Hulk.
Our source was specific that this means no more of the merged personality Professor Hulk for Bruce Banner. Mark Ruffalo’s character will be back to being Bruce Banner and the combined Professor Hulk will be gone. Our source was unable to share whether this development for the character will happen toward the beginning of She-Hulk, if it will happen off-screen before the series, or if it is something that we will see happen during the show. Hopefully, it’s something we get to see develop over the season so it feels like a complete arc. It’s going to be interesting to see how Jennifer Walters feels about this transformation as well. How will it affect how she feels about her own state as She-Hulk?
After Avengers: Endgame, Mark Ruffalo thought that might be the end of the story for his character. We got to see Merged Hulk, most often called Professor Hulk. The character had come to accept himself in a way that has given him some peace. He considered that may be a fitting end for his character arc. While we have yet to see the actor in a solo Hulk movie, something the actor has expressed interest in, we’ve seen him evolve in the background over many films. Where he’s at in Endgame could have been a fitting enough conclusion to his story. Of course, for many, him becoming human again has always been the end they’d like to see.
There’s no hiding that Bruce Banner always wanted to be himself again, without The Other Guy. That hasn’t ever seemed like a possibility for Mark Ruffalo’s character, even though it’s always been what he wanted. The Merged Hulk was a kind of compromise. There was a beauty to seeing him accept these two parts and make them whole.
Hopefully, it will be written in a way that speaks to Mark Ruffalo’s character, and not just as a side story that supports Jennifer Walters’ character in She-Hulk. While that will be an important element, since it is the She-Hulk series, watching Bruce Banner’s entire Marvel Cinematic Universe evolution always happening in the background can sometimes be frustrating for fans who love him. Hopefully, if this is his actual ending, it will be one that he deserves.
