Russo Brothers tease major Hulk connection to Doctor Doom in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’
Joe and Anthony Russo have spoken out about Hulk’s role in ‘Avengers: Doomsday,’ revealing that Bruce Banner is part of the story surrounding Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). Joe Russo told Empire that Banner is “certainly involved in the story that revolves around Doom.” The Russo brothers steered clear of confirming whether Mark Ruffalo, who portrays Banner, would appear in the film. Moreover, Anthony Russo added to the comment, saying, “The farthest we can go is to say, there are characters and actors who have not been announced, who are a part of Doomsday.” The directors behind the original ‘Avengers: Endgame’ in 2019 have returned to Marvel to direct ‘Doomsday.’
The comments were made as the directors discussed the new scenes in ‘Avengers: Endgame Encore,’ the re-release of the film that hit theaters on September 25. The ‘Encore’ cut features an extended ending plus three other scenes with Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the TVA, and Banner. In the Banner scene, he is in an underground bunker recording a video about a gamma experiment. His equipment starts to break down, and Doom, heard only off-screen, tells him he has come to collect him. Green magic fills the room, and Banner turns into Hulk, with only a glowing sigil left on the floor.
When asked what the scene means for ‘Doomsday.’ Joe Russo said Banner is in that bunker because he is dealing with the fallout from ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and trying to protect the world from himself. Joe added that Banner had gone to what he believes is one of the most secure places on the planet and somebody still found him. In ‘Brand New Day,’ Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) turns Hulk against Spider-Man and the Punisher (Jon Bernthal). In the same interview, Joe said Doom’s interest may be going beyond Banner. Anthony also compared the brothers’ effort to avoid spoilers to saving presents for Christmas morning.
Notably, this is not the first time Doom has gone after a target on screen, since he came for Franklin Richards at the end of ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps.’ Ruffalo’s name was left off Marvel’s official cast announcement for ‘Doomsday,’ and his last time appearing as Banner was in ‘Brand New Day.’ The ‘Encore’ has drawn crowds, hitting about $26 million domestically and $86 million worldwide, according to Deadline. That’s ahead of the ‘Resident Evil’ reboot, which took $23.3 million, according to ScreenCrush. The re-release lifted ‘Endgame’s’ lifetime worldwide total to $2.885 billion, just behind ‘Avatar’s’ $2.92 billion. ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ is set to open in theaters on December 18.
