Sounds Like [SPOILER] Might Be in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR After All
What follows might be a spoiler to some, but just for safety - SPOILER WARNING
There has been a lot of back and forth discussion regarding whether or not the Hulk/Bruce Banner would appear in Captain America: Civil War. The talk all started when actor Mark Ruffalo suggested that he was going to be in the movie. Robert Downey Jr. even suggested that he would be in the film, but that was followed by denial from several people involved with the film. Then Anthony Mackie said this during an interview with the Movies With Ali Plumb podcast:
"Having seen the movie, it’s Marvel’s best movie so far. And I’m being honest – if a Marvel movie sucks, a movie in the Marvel universe, I’ll tell you it sucked. Winter Soldier and (the first) Iron Man are probably Marvel’s two best movies, and I feel like (Civil War) beats both of those movies. It’s really, really good. It’s because it’s more of an acting movie than an action movie. I feel like the story is very concise and interesting, and you get to see Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans and Scarlett Johannson and Mark Ruffalo and everybody just do really, really good acting. And then there’s action in it. I think it might be the first superhero movie that might be up for Best Picture."
Mackie clearly mentions that Mark Ruffalo is in the movie, and the fact that he's one of four people that he brings up in such a huge cast tells me maybe his role in the story will be a decent sized one. He did say we get to see him do "really, really good acting." This seems like pretty solid confirmation that Hulk/Bruce Banner will be in the film, but then there's a chance that Mackie doesn't know what he's talking about. The Hulk didn't really play a role in the Civil War comic book series, but that doesn't mean Marvel wouldn't include him in this movie.
CBM suggests that "it's perfectly feasible that we could see him unleashed as a secret weapon by one of the teams similar to how that Thor clone was utilized by Iron Man's forces in the comics." Banner would most definitely side with Tony Stark because the two characters have become pretty close friends over the course of the Marvel films. Maybe it will even help set up Hulk's involvement in Thor: Ragnarok. There are no concrete details on his involvement if it's true, so we'll just have to wait and see for ourselves.
I also want to point out that Mackie says he believes Civil War could be the first Super Hero movie that gets a Best Picture nomination. That's a pretty bold and awesome statement. That gives us an idea of just how great this movie could be, and it would be so freakin' cool if it was nominated for a Best Picture award. It's only a matter of time before it happens, I guess it could start with Captain America: Civil War.
The movie is scheduled to hit theaters on May 6th. As a bonus, here's the recent cover for Empire Magazine!