Though The Hulk may not have been the most celebrated hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he is certainly not disappearing anytime soon.  According to JoBlo.com, Mark Ruffalo has signed on to resume his role as The Hulk in the upcoming third Thor movie, Thor: Ragnarok.  The film, named after the Nordic pagan myth of the death of the Gods, is being released on July 28, 2017.  This puts it directly into Marvel Studios’ ‘Phase III,” which means it is leading up to Avengers: Infinity War Part I.

The Hulk has worked well in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a back-up character, mainly because it is hard to build an entire plot around a character who quickly becomes a one-note smashing machine.  When looking at the entire team of superheros as a pantheon, however, his presence plays much better as he is an important aspect of a broader depiction of heroism.  It makes sense, then, to have him in Ragnarok, where the slim veneer of barrier between superheros and mythological Gods and Goddesses is dropped.  It is also important to keep up his appearances for the film fans so that he can play well in later Avengers films.

In Ragnarok, it is said that the Hulk will be teaming up with his Avengers partner Captain America, played by Chris Hemsworth.  One theory that is floating around is that this is the first step towards using the Planet Hulk storyline, which is one of the more celebrated regular continuity Hulk stories.  This is a possibility, but until there is more evidence of this, it is likely we will not see another Hulk film.