The Hulk Will Appear in Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok

It had been rumoured that the Hulk would play a part in Marvel's next Thor movie, but now it has been confirmed that actor Mark Ruffalo is about to join the cast of Thor: Ragnarok.

Variety are reporting that Ruffalo is in "final negotiations" to return as Bruce Banner and his green-skinned alter ego in the film, which is due for release in 2017.

This will be the first time that Ruffalo has appeared in any Marvel film except for the two Avengers movies. In 2008, Marvel produced The Incredible Hulk, with Edward Norton in the lead role. To date, no further Hulk movie has been produced by the studio--Universal, rather than parent company Disney, currently owns the distribution rights to any standalone Hulk films.

Earlier this year, in an interview with the Daily Beast, Ruffalo spoke about being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "I like the challenge of it," he said. "I like the cultural significance of it. It's crossing into all kinds of cultures, and belief systems, and ideologies. It's hitting a lot of boxes, and really specialized boxes, too. And ultimately, the messaging of it is pretty good! It has a decency about it."

Neverthless, Ruffalo did admit that his presence in Marvel's films was very different to that of co-star Robert Downey Jr. "I wasn't The Hulk until recently," he said. "And Robert really rebooted the whole genre with Iron Man. And he really embraced it. He takes a star persona into the public.

"But me, I want to be an indie actor. I love doing films like Infinitely Polar Bear and Spotlight. They feed me. But Marvel feeds me AND my kids."

The previous Thor movie, Thor: The Dark World, was released in November 2013. It has earned more than $644 million worldwide, making it the sixth most successful of Marvel's films to date. Thor: Raganrok is due to be released on November 3, 2017.