The Marvel Cinematic Universe is full of lore and characters; however, one of the biggest questions in the MCU timeline revolves around the Hulk. For years fans have been debating if the green giant’s debut was in 2008 with Edward Norton’s run as the character or if the 2012 Marvel movie Avengers starring Mark Ruffalo counts as his first MCU outing.
Well, thanks to the latest Marvel series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, the debate can end. The sci-fi series has made the 2008 movie canon in the timeline and has even gone so far as to reference how the Hulk was played by another actor in the 2000s movie in one of its meta and fourth-wall-breaking moments. Although this means that he is technically Hulk number two, Ruffalo revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he is all for Marvel addressing the history of the character.
“I think it’s really funny. It’s just the reality that we all are often dancing around, but it’s true,” he explained. “I actually joked with Ed about this. I was like, ‘It’s like our generation’s Hamlet. Everyone’s going to get a shot at it.'”
“And there’ll probably be another couple before it’s all over. People will be like, ‘Remember when the Hulk used to look like Mark Ruffalo? Now it looks like Timothée Chalamet.'”
The star went on to say how the fact that the Hulk keeps changing is what keeps the Marvel character exciting. So, it makes sense why he is keen to embrace Norton’s run as the Hulk in the canon too.
“The cool thing about this world is that it could just be anything,” he says. “Five years from now, it could totally morph into anything, whatever’s pertinent at the time. I almost see him going back to ‘Berserker Hulk’ or ‘World War Hulk’. It could go anywhere. That’s the exciting part — I’ve played five different versions from beginning to now, and that’s kept it interesting for me, and I hope interesting for other people.”
Fans can watch new episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law every Thursday exclusively on the streaming service Disney Plus.