Next year's "Captain America: Civil War" is essentially an Avengers 2.5 movie given the vast amount of superheroes that are going to show up. Capes, both old and new, will go toe-to-toe in the ensemble mash-up yet the movie will be missing two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's bigger faces in Chris Hemsworth's Thor and Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner/Hulk.
While the Hulk was originally written into the movie, his character was later cut and reassigned to a new film - "Thor: Ragnarok."
JoBlo reports that Ruffalo will make an appearance in the third (and likely last) solo "Thor" film, set to be helmed by Taika Waititi and center around Asgard's battle with an apocalyptic force. Pretty cool, right?
JoBlo also confirmed the return of Tom Hiddleston's Loki and Jaimie Alexander's Lady Sif, however it is still unknown if Natalie Portman or Anthony Hopkins will reprise their respective roles.
One of the more interesting tidbits to come out of the report is that at least some of the film will take place on a "distant planet" that is "not Asgard and not Earth."
Where could our heroes be? How did the Hulk even get there?
This mysterious planet story line could be an indirect reference to the much beloved "Planet Hulk" comic and animated feature. Many fans have lobbied for a solo "Hulk" movie that borrows elements from that story, so including some of it in the third "Thor" film would be a nice compromise.
"Planet Hulk" finds everyone's favorite green rage monster losing control of his powers and causing untold collateral damage, forcing the Avengers to exile him into space. There he crash lands on an alien world and is forced into a galactic gladiator ring and is soon leading the warriors in an uprising against the planet's leading tyrant. If you haven't seen the cartoon movie, we highly recommend it.
Marvel has yet to confirm Ruffalo's participation in the film, though it's hard to believe fans wouldn't get a glimpse of him between now and "Avengers: Infinity War - Part I" in 2018. That's a long time to keep a fan favorite (and merchandise selling machine) on the shelf.
"Thor: Ragnarok" is set to hit theaters on November 3, 2017.
