Actor Mark Ruffalo has officially confirmed in an interview with BadTaste.it (translation via Coming Soon) that the Hulk will not be in the upcoming "Captain America: Civil War." However, he stated that the character was originally a part of the film's script and was later cut out due to bigger plans slated for the character.
"The reveal of what happened to the Hulk was too big," Ruffalo explained, "and Marvel wants to save that information for later. My character had been in the script, but then he got removed. Who knows, maybe the Hulk will never return. They want to keep the revelation of what happened to him a secret, because it's something really big."
The Hulk was last seen at the end of "Avengers: Age of Ultron," in a scene where he takes down one of Ultron's (James Spader) bots flying a Quinjet in stealth mode as he attempts to hide once again from the world. Based on Ruffalo's statement, the Hulk's current location and activities may be a bit too important and too big to cram into the already filled "Civil War" film.
In the original comic books, the Hulk is partly why the Superhero Registration Act is signed. The Hulk goes on a rampage which ends up killing 29 adults, two children and a dog. In "Avengers: Age of Ultron," the Hulk also goes on a rampage caused by the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), although it is not likely that this is the main cause of the superhero civil war.
As seen in the post-credit scenes for "Ant-Man," the Sokovia Accords might be the government's approach in controlling the use of superheroes following the destruction of Sokovia in "Avengers: Age of Ultron," an event mostly blamed on Tony Stark/ Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and not Bruce Banner/ The Hulk.
"Captain America: Civil War" will open in theaters on May 6, 2016.
