Marvel Went To Surprising Lengths To Squash False Rumors Of A Planet Hulk Movie

The recently released book "The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe" contains many amazing tidbits for fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We recently reviewed the book, for those weighing a possible purchase. But we're here today to discuss one of the tidbits in question. Namely, the surprising lengths Marvel Studios went to in order to in order to squash rumors of a possible "Planet Hulk" movie.

As revealed in the book, during the filming of "Avengers: Age of Ultron," Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige worked hard to squash any rumors pertaining to Mark Ruffalo's Hulk going to space. However, this is said to have had almost nothing to do with internet rumors. Here's how Feige lays it out in the book:

"We never even considered doing "Planet Hulk' because, as cool as we thought the comic was, Bruce Banner is not a part of Planet Hulk."

For the most part, this is true. The "Planet Hulk" storyline from the comics is pretty Hulk-centric, without any puny Banner (though the studio has never adapted comic storylines too faithfully for the big screen, so this could have been changed). Feige also added the following, revealing just how far they want to cover this all up:

"We went so far as to change the Age of Ultron script because of [the internet rumors]. One of Joss' early drafts had Hulk, in a Quinjet, heading out of the atmosphere. At the end, Nick Fury is talking to Widow. She asks, 'Any sign of him?' And he says, 'We lost his signal when it went past Saturn.'"

As it happens, writer/director Joss Whedon's pages pertaining to Hulk taking off in the Quinjet at the end of the movie were changed to avoid any possible speculation regarding "Planet Hulk." We don't see him actually going to space, and Feige didn't even want them putting stars in the background of those shots. It was a long way to go, especially considering that they ultimately did kind of do this storyline just a couple of years later.

MCU fans may know that the "Planet Hulk" comic storyline was one of the main inspirations for 2017's "Thor: Ragnarok." It's interesting that the studio went this far to shut down those rumors, only to make a version of the story soon after. After all, given how meticulous Marvel Studios is about planning, they must have known this was on the table.

Now, the real question is: when are we going to see the follow-up in the form of Mark Ruffalo going berserk on earth with an adaptation of "World War Hulk"?