Is This How We Meet Hulk in ‘Thor 3’?

Drew Dietsch
Movies Marvel
Movies Marvel

Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok is going to be a very interesting film for a number of reasons. We’ve heard who Cate Blanchett’s incredible villain might be, the inclusion of What We Do in the Shadows director Taika Waititi is immensely intriguing, and there’s also the concept of the film itself: a buddy road movie starring Thor and the Hulk in space.

There’s been a lot of speculation about how the Hulk will factor into the movie. According to Geek.com, the current plan would involve a nod to one of the most famous Hulk stories in recent years. Now, this is considered rumor at this point, but it’s coming from some good sources so you may want to consider the next bit potential spoilers.

hulk thor article

The rumor is that Loki and Hela team up to banish Thor from Asgard (which includes the destruction of Mjolnir!) and he is sent to a gladitorial planet where he must fight to stay alive. It’s on this planet that he runs into his Avengers teammate, the Hulk.

Somehow, the Hulk has made it into space after vanishing at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron and has never reverted back to Bruce Banner. Because of this, his Banner persona has started to meld with his Hulk persona, and that’s what eventually allows him to recognize Thor and team up in order to retrieve some kind of MacGuffin weapon that can stop Loki and Hela. Could this be one of the Infinity Stones? The buzz is that Thor: Ragnarok will play a very big part when it comes to the overarching Marvel Cinematic Universe story, so it’s very likely we’ll be seeing one of the two Infinity Stones (Time or Soul, more than likely Soul) that we haven’t come across yet.

The Hulk being on a gladiator planet is obviously an allusion to Planet Hulk, a story which saw the Hulk sent into space by members of the Marvel universe in order to prevent his uncontrollable damage and unpredictability. It was rumored that Marvel intended their solo Hulk movie to be based on this story, but rights issues with Universal have made a solo Hulk film incredibly difficult. If this rumor is true, it looks like we’ll be getting something of a backdoor version of that story in Thor: Ragnarok.

Will this be how the Hulk and Thor meet up in Thor: Ragnarok? As combatants in an alien arena? We’ll find out when Thor: Ragnarok releases on July 28, 2017.


Traverse the entirety of the Marvel universe over at the Marvel Database, your definitive source for all the Marvel knowledge you can throw a Hulk at. And for more info on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there’s no better resource than the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki.

Drew Dietsch
Drew Dietsch has been professionally writing about entertainment for over a decade. His bylines include FANDOM - where he was a founding contributor and Entertainment Editor - Bloody Disgusting, SYFY WIRE, and more. He created and hosts GenreVision, a weekly film discussion show at genrevision.com.