'Thor: Ragnarok': Mark Ruffalo Talks Hulk's Newfound Intelligence And Playing Two Characters In The MCU

With just a few weeks to go before the release of Thor: Ragnarok, avoiding spoilers that pop up is kind of like playing Whack-a-mole. The latest spoilery tidbit to be revealed about the film was provided by star Mark Ruffalo in an interview with the Daily Tribune. During this interview, Ruffalo spoke about the difference we'll see in Bruce Banner when he makes his return in Ragnarok:

"In this story Banner’s been basically inside the Hulk for two years when we find him. During this time, all of the traumatic things in his life that have been making him afraid, making him doubtful, making him unable to enjoy his life, have been erased. His neurotransmitters and neuropathways have been completely re-wired. So when he comes awake, he’s like an eight-year-old or 12-year-old boy."

The most intriguing tidbit, obviously, is that Banner’s brain has undergone a reset of some sort. Banner will apparently recover from all the recent traumas he’s endured and will awaken with a child-like mind. He's probably not going to think he's a child himself, but Banner will likely have a new outlook on life—similar to the optimistic one we presume a child of eight or 12 years old would possess.

How Will The Hulk Change In Thor: Ragnarok?

Ruffalo also spoke about the difference we'll see in this Hulk by pointing out how this new and improved Hulk will experience a wider variety of emotions and not be solely limited to anger. Hulk is no longer the rage-filled gamma beast we knew since the first Avengers movie; he's changed just like Bruce has:

"Hulk can be sad or happy. He’s speaking. He’s not only alive because of rage, so we can start to have more geography in the character’s emotional life, his intelligence, what he does, what he eats, if he sleeps – all the questions I’ve been dying to ask for years since playing this part. It’s a different Banner and a different Hulk. So I get to play two totally different characters in this movie, which is really fun.”

From what we can tell, Hulk has become similar to his World War Hulk counterpart. He's talking, fighting in gladiatorial combat, and he's trying to stop an evil dictator from ruling over Sakaar. The only thing he's missing is the Sakaaran girlfriend. Hulk's ability to speak is the characteristic we can best attribute to World War Hulk's influence being felt here, but it's also important to consider for another reason.

Assuming Hulk's dialogue is more developed than the one liners he's dropped in both Avengers movies, Ragnarok will likely establish the personality he'll posses moving forward from this point on by depicting Hulk having full-fledged conversations. Rather than just being capable of a nod or a grunt, he now has an opportunity to fully converse with people, developing a personality as he performs these interactions.

Since Ragnarok is utilizing various elements from that particular line of comics, the only base-line measurement we can gather is from the closest related comic, which is World War Hulk. Luckily, we won't have to wait too much longer to find out for ourselves because Ragnarok opens in theaters in the next few weeks.