‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Scoop: ‘Planet Hulk’ Storyline Now Incorporated? Thor And Hulk To Take A Galactic Road Trip [Rumors]

Thor: Ragnarok, which is being directed by Taika Waititi, has an interesting piece of information about Hulk’s involvement in the movie. It’s also been revealed that Cate Blanchett’s character is in league to putting this whole thing in motion with Thor’s brother, Loki, according to Slash Film. This getting into spoiler territory, so be warned.

If anyone is familiar with the comic book Planet Hulk event, there had been rumors and buzz going around a couple of years back of how the Avengers: Age of Ultron’s final act in the movie would have Hulk be in a S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjet and shot into space in a similar fashion as it happened in the comic books and wind up on a desolate planet destined to take on gladiator fights.

Rumor: Thor And Hulk's Cosmic Road Trip To Begin In The Arena https://t.co/fVUHRQtpsi #ThorRagnarok pic.twitter.com/Mm7ZZ1nnAp

— MCU Exchange (@MCUExchange) January 25, 2016

Avengers director Joss Whedon talked about how a Planet Hulk idea wouldn’t work out, according to IGN and Mark Ruffalo addressed the idea that he would “be completely interested in entertaining that,” according to Screen Crush.

This wasn’t the case. Close, but not cigar as Banner’s Hulk wound up on a Quinjet, but lands somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean.

Now comes the scoop where the Planet Hulk storyline reels its head once again. Cate Blanchett is said to be playing Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, according to Slash Film, a villainous woman in the Marvel comic book franchise. This woman is suppose to be in league with Loki by banishing Thor on an alien planet far away and winds up having to fight in an arena-style situation.

It appears that Thor is exiled to this planet without his hammer and is still able to make his way through his battles, but figures out he needs a “MacGuffin” weapon to take out Hela and Loki. There is a theory that this weapon could have some kind of connection to that of the Infinity Stones or gauntlet.

“Thor knows that he has to get to some MacGuffin weapon object to defeat Hela and Loki (could this be the Infinity Gauntlet that Thanos is in possession of, or maybe an assemblage of Infinity Stones?) and he has to get off the planet. Thor runs through all of his alien opponents in gladiatorial combat, even without his trademark hammer. Finally, Thor has to face the current champion of the arena, and wouldn’t you know who that ends up being? The Hulk.”

That said, it was reported via The Inquisitr that Mark Ruffalo had referred to Thor: Ragnarok as a “road movie”, but not of the classic variety. He found it comparable to the 80s movie, Midnight Run, which starred Robert De Niro as a bounty hunter and Charles Grodin as the white collar criminal evading De Niro’s character’s attempt to keep him captive.

So, from what Ruffalo said about Thor: Ragnarok being a “road movie” and if it’s true that Thor faces Hulk on an alien planet to possibly duke it out, it seems that Mark’s reference to the non-classical Midnight Run movie where the two main stars are at each other’s necks, it isn’t that far off the mark. With some added humor by director Taika Waititi, who claims it to be funnier than Thor: The Dark World according to Polygon.

Further Thor: Ragnarok spoilers ensue.

The sources provided Geek even more details on how Hulk himself will be making his way into the movie and more details on Thor’s exile to the supposed planet comic book equivalent of Sakaar. In the last Avengers movie, Hulk seemed more Banner-like in nature as opposed to being his ever-raging counter part. Perhaps Black Widow saw to it with some kind of signal of the touching of the hands in a Jane Goodall/gorilla-like fashion in Age of Ultron?

In Thor: Ragnarok, because of Bruce Banner’s awareness, even as the Hulk, he recognizes Thor and they reconnect to find the aforementioned MacGuffin weapon, according to the sources provided to Geek.

“His ‘Banner’ is starting to seep through into the Hulk persona, and because of the Hulk-Banner melding, Hulk actually remembers Thor and his relationship to him. That’s what starts the two on a Midnight Run to the MacGuffin that Thor desperately needs.”

That being said, this rumor could be based off an old script according to Slash Film, but the sources that provided Geek the information say this is the basic outline and that they seemed to have found away to utilize the Planet Hulk story line without a solo movie, which was an obstacle to begin with considering Universal Studios’ connection with the character.

“Marvel found a way to include the Planet Hulk storyline without having to attempt a solo Hulk movie where everyone is a CGI character, not to mention dealing with the character’s solo movie rights (which has some sort of hold-up with Universal). Instead, gladiator Chris Hemsworth will be the audience’s focus as Thor picks up Hulk on his road-trip through the stars.”

The Thor: Ragnarok movie debuts on November 3, 2017.

[Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Entertainment]