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Marvel False Alarms: Hulk Not in Captain America: Civil War (Still), No Punisher Spinoff (so Far)

Nothing to smash here. Move along.

hulk mark ruffalo

Captain America: Civil War‘s Falcon, Anthony Mackie, seemingly slipped in a recent interview and mentioned Mark Ruffalo among the movie’s cast, and we’ve heard rumors that the Punisher will get his own spinoff after he appears on Daredevil next month. Sadly, neither of those things appear to be true.

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Mackie took his foot back out of his mouth to clarify his remarks, in which he praised his co-stars’ acting, including Ruffalo, Marvel’s current Hulk. However, Mackie explained on Late Night With Seth Meyers that he was talking more generally about acting across the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying,

It’s so ridiculous! I was giving respect to my fellow actors. I said Marvel movies are so great because they have great actors—the likes of Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr. (Love that guy.) You know, people take that to mean that I’m saying this is what the movie is about, and this is in the movie.

It was already confirmed, on more than one occasion, that the Hulk would sit Civil War out, and the reasoning makes a whole lot of sense, but Marvel’s tight-lipped nature has a way of causing fans’ speculative tendencies to run away with them. Still, once again, Hulk is not in Civil War.”

“But what about the Punisher show!?” you ask? The one’s not happening, either. Well, at least it’s not happening now. I would be 0% surprised if it happened at some point in the future, but it’s not part of the current plan at Marvel. That information comes straight from Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s head of television, who told Digital Spy,

I think that’s something that people are speculating on, as opposed to something that’s actually happening. It’s certainly our hope that any of our characters will be embraced and that people want to see more of them.

He also mentioned that fans and critics seemed to be less surprised by Jessica Jones than he was, and he seemed to generally be saying not to take anything as a given, but also that anything could happen if the demand is there. It’s less ” a Punisher TV show won’t happen” and more “we’re not actively trying to make one happen now,” and that could easily change down the line.

(image via Marvel Entertainment)

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Dan Van Winkle
Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct <em>Geekosystem</em> (RIP), and then at <em>The Mary Sue</em> starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at <em>Smash Bros.</em>

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