Here's How The Hulk Could Fit Into Phase 2, 'The Avengers 2' And 'The Avengers 3'

Few would argue that a major highlight of Marvel's billion-dollar hit The Avengers was Mark Ruffalo's turn as the Hulk. The character popped off the screen with incredible action and provided some of the best moments of the film. But at the end of the movie, he drives away with Tony Stark and, if we're to believe the release slate, he won't return for some time. Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy are all scheduled before The Avengers 2. There's nary a Hulk mention in there. Seems odd that the entire story would ignore the unlikely star of The Avengers.

It seems that's because the Hulk will be a major player moving ahead from there. As I speculated a few months back, it seems the Hulk will return in The Avengers 2, and start a storyline that'll push forward through the hypothetical end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3: The Avengers 3. If true, this rumor contains major spoilers so proceed with caution.

The below rumor comes from Latino Review. Here's video announcement. We'll discuss below.

In that MTV story that Latino Review references, Marvel President Kevin Feige also said the following:

I don't think there's a lot that we couldn't do someday, as the cinematic universe continues to grow and expand and get as big as the comic book universe. "Planet Hulk' is a cool story, 'World War Hulk' is a cool story. I think there's pitfalls of continuity-overload, and mythology getting so dense that it almost collapses in on itself [with those cosmic projects]. It happens every few decades or so in the comics. Apart from that, I'd say everything is on the table.

So it seems that's exactly what's going to happen. Or, is currently planned to happen. This rumor is extremely early so things could change moving ahead. But, if so, it's pretty much like I wrote in September:

Planet Hulk, written by Greg Pak, was a storyline which saw a group of Earth bound superheroes (including Iron Man and Dr. Strange) fed up with Hulk's actions and send him into space. He encounters a worm hole and ends up on a planet where he leads an uprising and becomes the King. The follow up to that, World War Hulk, sees Hulk return to Earth and retaliate on the heroes who sent him into space with his new found followers.

Either of those sound like a pretty excellent and exciting way to give Hulk something new and fresh to do in a film. Picture this. The Avengers are fighting Thanos in The Avengers 2 along with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Hulk does something really really bad, maybe kills a major character, and after the battle, the Avengers vote for the Guardians to send Hulk away. End of Avengers 2, beginning of The Incredible Hulk 2 in space. In fact, if Planet Hulk turns into Incredible Hulk 2, World War Hulk could pretty easily be The Avengers 3. Hulk and his alien minions fight The Avengers on Earth.

Damn, seems like I called it. If this is true, what do you think?