‘Captain America: Civil War’ Will Not Feature Hulk; Mark Ruffalo Teases Why He Was Excluded

Even though “Captain America: Civil War” features a slew of superheroes, the Hulk will not be one of them. Mark Ruffalo revealed that Bruce Banner and his alter ego will sit out this round, clearing up some previous confusion.

“The reason is too great to be revealed in this movie (Civil War),” Ruffalo told BadTaste.it (translated by Coming Soon). “I was in the script, but then they removed my character. They don’t want to reveal where is he and why. I don’t even know if Hulk will be back soon.”

“Captain America: Civil War” will divide the Avengers as the government tries to control superheroes. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans) will be on opposing sides of the argument. In addition to Hulk’s absence, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) also hasn’t been announced as part of the movie's large cast. Thor’s absence hasn’t been explained, but he might be busy running Asgard. Hulk, however, is missing.

Last time audiences saw Hulk, he was flying a jet after the battle in Sokovia in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) was trying to get the green guy to turn back into Bruce Banner via video chat. However, Widow’s “lullaby” was interrupted when Hulk turned off all communications. It looks like Bruce Banner will stay in the form of Hulk and hide from everyone for a while.

Although Marvel never confirmed that the Hulk would be in “Captain America 3,” it was widely assumed that he would appear. He was reportedly spotted on set in Berlin, and Downey told Ruffalo that he would be in the film. “If Robert Downey Jr. says I'm in 'Captain America,' I'm in 'Captain America' dammit,” Ruffalo told HitFix in June. “And I will wait for the day that my call sheet shows up at my doorstep or my script. At this point, I'm told that I'm in it by Robert, which I'll take as biblical, but I just haven't heard or seen from production yet.”

Ruffalo doesn’t know when Hulk will appear again (although “Avengers: Infinity Wars Part 1” seems most likely), but there might be another Hulk appearing. General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt) will appear in “Civil War,” and in the comics, he becomes the Red Hulk. There are several rumors that he could transition into Red Hulk in the 2016 film, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Hurt previously claimed that he wasn’t sure his character would transform in the films.

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind feeling like I had that much power,” Hurt told the Wall Street Journal in June. “But I created Thaddeus’ originally [with] an ego with the same size as monster’s. With the same degree of messed-upness. I’d love to have a shot at it.”

“Captain America: Civil War” hits theaters May 6, 2016.