Marvel Studios' Hulk: New Movie Rumored to Adapt World War Hulk Plot

[Dead2009]

Marvel Studios' Hulk: New Movie Rumored to Adapt World War Hulk Plot

Marvel Studios is rumored to be putting a film based on World War Hulk into production next year.

thedirect.com

Time to talk about The Incredible Hulk . At one point, many refused to accept the fact that the film was even canon . The movie had a different Hulk actor, and its events are rarely referenced in the wider MCU—in fact, there are still several plot threads still hanging to this day.

Cut to 2021, and things have changed, if only slightly. General Ross returned to the MCU with Captain America: Civil War , and Tim Roth's Abomination took the stage for a brief moment in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings .

Yet there has still not been a single solo Bruce Banner project since his 2008 outing. He has simply played a vital role alongside other Marvel heroes in various projects, all of which being team-ups of some fashion.

Bruce Banner's origin movie was distributed by Universal Studios, who had the distribution rights to the character, but not the ability to make a movie about the character himself—those particular rights still belonged to Marvel Studios.

Universal has leveraged this over the years by not letting Marvel Studios release a project based solely on the green angry giant, as Marvel Studios/Disney would not allow a different studio to distribute the title.

With She-Hulk on the horizon , fans thought things might have changed. Yet, with Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner still active, there continued to be no Hulk solo project. Thankfully, it seems that's about to change.

The GWW has learned that Marvel Studios has a "solo" Hulk film in active development which is going by the title of World War Hulk . The film is currently slated to start production in late 2022, after the debut of She-Hulk on Disney+.

With a production date in 2022, the movie would likely be set for a late-2023 or early-to-mid-2024 release.

 

[doctornick]

Would be nice if we knew the actual status of the Hulk (and Sub-Mariner) distribution rights. It seems plausible that by this point, Universal may have lost them and they've reverted to Marvel. It would seem odd for Disney to make a Hulk movie that Uni would get to distribute so this rumor is intriguing at least. Has there ever been a more detailed leak or report about the Uni Hulk or Namor contracts?

I did find it interesting to see Abomination featured in Shang-Chi so that definitely feels like a way to maintain some awareness of TIH as a movie. And the She-Hulk series does suggest that they are willing to delve more into the Hulk mythos in the MCU now, so perhaps it is because of a change to the distribution rights.

 

[seascape]

I find it hard to believe Marvel would make a standalone Hulk movie if Universal still owns the distribution rights. Now, if they have those rights back make it. However if not, why would Disney allow Universal to distribute it. That leads to what would it take to let Universal have an easy 100 million dollar plus profit on a Hulk movie? Keep in mind Disney would still make a profit but they would clearly want something in return so what could that be? It could and most likely be part of a bigger contract including the purchase of Comcast's share of Hulu and maybe for future Hulk rights and maybe the rights for Disney to use the name Marvel in their US themeparks. I doubt it would include the rights to the charaters Universal already has in the themeparks but a deal could be made that is benefitial to everyone.

 

[Disney Irish]

There were some rumors a couple years ago that the distribution rights for Hulk and Namor had reverted back to Disney/Marvel from Universal. Wonder if that actually was true given this new rumor?

Guess time will tell....

 

[Lucky Rabbit]

There were some rumors a couple years ago that the distribution rights for Hulk and Namor had reverted back to Disney/Marvel from Universal. Wonder if that actually was true given this new rumor?

Guess time will tell....

Pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if this was part of the Hulu buyout post-Fox merger. Once that happened suddenly we get a She-Hulk show and Namor is in Black Panther 2.

 

[seascape]

Pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if this was part of the Hulu buyout post-Fox merger. Once that happened suddenly we get a She-Hulk show and Namor is in Black Panther 2.

She Hulk is a TV series and not a movie so the contractual rights are different.

 

[Lucky Rabbit]

She Hulk is a TV series and not a movie so the contractual rights are different.

Correct, and maybe Marvel had them all along. It’s also possible that Universal had the distribution rights on all live action. It just seems like suddenly the Hulk floodgates have opened.

 

[Disney Irish]

Pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if this was part of the Hulu buyout post-Fox merger. Once that happened suddenly we get a She-Hulk show and Namor is in Black Panther 2.

Its also possible, again pure speculation, that the rights reverted to Disney/Marvel after a period of time of no solo Hulk movie released by Uni. This is similar to rumor within the Sony/Marvel deal where if Sony doesn't produce a Spidey film every 3-5 years or so the rights revert back to Disney/Marvel.

Again time will tell.

 

[doctornick]

So, with The Incredible Hulk movie appearing on Disney+ with no fanfare, I am curious as to the status of the Hulk theater (distribution) rights for a solo outing. There's been whispers that the rights have reverted to Marvel from Universal. I found this article from last year to be interesting:

MCU: New Evidence Reveals When Hulk Movie Rights Could Return to Disney

Disney may regain distribution rights to the Hulk from Universal next year.

thedirect.com

It predicted rights reverting to Disney 15 years after the previous film was released. And The Incredible Hulk was released June 13, 2008 so the appearance on Disney+ lines up perfectly for that. With the talk of a World War Hulk movie including the appearance of Skaar in She-Hulk, things potentially are pointing towards Marvel and Disney perhaps fully owning Hulk theater rights now.

I wonder what this would mean for Namor as well since Uni held those distribution movie rights too. Not that I think a solo with him is impending but I'm curious if they could do so if desired.

 

[Phicinfan]

So, with The Incredible Hulk movie appearing on Disney+ with no fanfare, I am curious as to the status of the Hulk theater (distribution) rights for a solo outing. There's been whispers that the rights have reverted to Marvel from Universal. I found this article from last year to be interesting:

MCU: New Evidence Reveals When Hulk Movie Rights Could Return to Disney

Disney may regain distribution rights to the Hulk from Universal next year.

thedirect.com

It predicted rights reverting to Disney 15 years after the previous film was released. And The Incredible Hulk was released June 13, 2008 so the appearance on Disney+ lines up perfectly for that. With the talk of a World War Hulk movie including the appearance of Skaar in She-Hulk, things potentially are pointing towards Marvel and Disney perhaps fully owning Hulk theater rights now.

I wonder what this would mean for Namor as well since Uni held those distribution movie rights too. Not that I think a solo with him is impending but I'm curious if they could do so if desired.

I have seen other reports out that the rights have reverted, which is why the movie is on D+. Keep hearing rumors of a World War Hulk movie coming to MCU

 

[doctornick]

I have seen other reports out that the rights have reverted, which is why the movie is on D+. Keep hearing rumors of a World War Hulk movie coming to MCU

Most of them seem to use the presence of TIH on D+ as the "proof" of the rights reverting but it could be a simple deal between Comcast and Disney to have it appear there (similar to the deal Disney has with Sony).

The article I quoted though was interesting because it was from last year and predicted this month as being when rights would go to Disney so it seemed more credible to me. But I'd love to see a reliable trade source discuss the situation.