Should Hollywood make another standalone Hulk movie?

I, like most of you who are avid fans of the angry green giant, know the answer to this. Hollywood definitely should make another one and here’s why. It’s 2012 and it’s post Avengers. It’s a new generation of movie goers now. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’ve probably been living under a rock or need to stop playing MMOs for a while. A little over a decade ago, you’d notice at that time, people didn’t have the over excitement about superhero movies as we do today. Even our beloved Dark Knight was nowhere to be found. All thanks to Schumacher’s “Bat nipples” and overuse of the entire color spectrum in his films. It was like The World of Color threw up on Batman. However I digress, Batman and DC Comics are another story. Anyways, as these respective movie companies with Marvel licenses released fairly decent movies (I use that term lightly) one after another, whether it was purposefully or not, they created a constant expectation from us. The expectation being, “Why did they choose/do XYZ for this film? Will the next movie be better?”. Believe it or not, this is still happening even today… cough Wolverine cough.

Ultimate Hulk vs. Ultimate Wolverine
(picture MARVEL.COM all rights reserved)

As for our expectations for another Hulk movie, I believe we are all ready. Mistakes were made with the previous standalone Hulk movies, especially with Hulk’s daddy issues in 2003, however most of these were finally cleaned up during the last reboot and with the Avengers. In addition Hulk’s popularity has soared tremendously within the general public and fans alike. The green guy not only stole the show in The Avengers, but he had the best scenes. That statement may sound a little biased, because it is. Hulk was the game changer. Just ask Loki…

Looks like Loki is speechless. Let’s move on…

So why another Hulk movie even after the Avengers? Well in a nutshell, there are two story arcs that changed the world of Marvel forever. The first one was: The Civil War. Basically, without major spoilers, this was a bloody fight between two sides of heroes who fought for and against the registration act set forth by the United States Government. Captain America lead the non-registered heroes versus Iron Man and the registered heroes, which caused major casualties on both sides. Kevin Feige the President of Marvel has hinted at perhaps going down that route with the Marvel movies. The second is: World War Hulk. In this arc, Hulk returns to earth to take on ALL of the heroes responsible for shooting him into space. This is the angriest that I’ve personally read the Hulk at, and he doesn’t flinch when he exacts his retribution on the major characters. It takes all of the heroes to work together to try and take him down. If Marvel can do it, and I think they can, at least one of the six films that Mark Ruffalo has signed up for should set him up for Planet Hulk (The prelude to World War Hulk). I suggest you go pick up the complete graphic novels or Wiki it. You will not be disappointed.

Big green deserves his own standalone now more than ever. The Hulk is both a simple and complex character. The basic human need to find inner peace coupled with the need to let loose with no restrictions. This is what makes the Hulk a great character piece for a balance of drama and action on the big screen. Also, who wouldn’t want to see Hulk smash again?