Is Mark Ruffalo's Hulk on a 'Captain America: Civil War' Post-Credits Scene? [SPOILERS]
The release of the first film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3, Captain America: Civil War, is just around the corner -- but one character's appearance in the film remains unclear. There have been numerous rumors regarding Mark Ruffalo's involvement in the Steve Rogers sequel, could his Bruce Banner/Hulk pop into a post-credits scene? [SPOILERS]
There have been multiple rumors regarding Ruffalo's appearance in Civil War: though he denied being involved in the film, he was later seen with the cast in Berlin during the shoot, and Anthony Mackie (Falcon) later implied the Oscar nominee was part of the film's cast. Now that the first audiences have seen the film (its world premiere was earlier this week), the answer is finally out there: does Hulk appear in Civil War?
It turns out he isn't, but originally there were plans to have Ruffalo in a post-credits scene, like on Iron Man 3. According to Civil War screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, Hulk's story is taking the character in a different direction right now, and it didn't make a lot of sense to have him here.
"Mark Ruffalo shot no scenes. We talked about having Bruce Banner at the very end of the film, and it just, again, seemed like we're sticking people in just to stick them in," Markus told The Huffington Post earlier this week. "He has clearly gone somewhere at the end of Ultron, and that's a story. Don't blow it off and put it in a little tiny chunk just to put in a little extra filigree on our movie."
McFeely added that, back when those rumors of Ruffalo being around the set first got out, it wasn't actually the Spotlight actor but rather the movie's unit publicist, John M. Pisani, who "looks a lot like Ruffalo."
Ruffalo will next appear on the MCU next year, on Thor: Ragnarok.
Comic Book reports that another character that was ultimately left out of this film was The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), a character that was introduced in last year's Ant-Man, though she was never in full costume. Lilly's superheroine will get her own day in the sun in 2018 with Ant-Man and The Wasp.
It's unclear who will be around for any Civil War mid or post-credits scenes, but considering the MCU's next film is this fall's Doctor Strange, it wouldn't be absurd if Benedict Cumberbatch made an appearance as the Sorcerer Supreme.
Captain America: Civil War reaches US theaters on May 6.