Green, mean and here to stay

You can’t kill The Hulk. The most troubled of the Marvel franchises is not going away.

Though it wasn’t exactly a megaflop, Ang Lee’s 2003 take on the off-beam super- being didn’t set the world alight. Five years later, Marvel hired Louis Leterrier to direct a strangely pitched second film – a sequel that looked like a reboot – called The Incredible Hulk, with Edward Norton taking over anger management duties from Eric Bana. That film did only modestly well at the box-office.

However, many viewers of Marvel Avengers Assemble, already a smash before its US release, felt that Mark Ruffalo’s turn as tense Jekyll and green Hyde was the highlight of the film. Marvel has, therefore, elected to sign up Ruffalo for another six performances as the Hulk. One assumes the deal includes more appearances in Avengers sequels.

The Hulk is (ahem) a smash after all.