Get ready for your Hobo Hulk Funko dolls!
Okay, perhaps we won’t see the big guy stowing away on any trains anytime soon, singing “She’ll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain,” but judging from this pic that Mark Ruffalo shared from his last day of filming on Avengers: Infinity War, he’s at least got the right bag for the trip.
yep, that’s Ruffalo, presumably all mo-capped up as the big green guy, giant bindle in hand, smile on his face, and looking ready to take on the lonely world yet again.
Judging from what’s been discussed beforehand by Ruffalo, perhaps we can also presume that this is the end of the Hulk’s three-movie arc. If you’ll recall, before Thor: Ragnarok, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige asked Ruffalo for his thoughts on how the character should evolve beyond just a big, green smashing machine. So the actor gave the studio head his thoughts on the matter, which he kept necessarily vague.
“And he's like, 'I love that. Why don't we do that in the next three movies, starting with Thor 3 and then we go into Avengers 3 and 4.' And I was like, 'That sounds great!' And so we are at the beginning of this arc," said Ruffalo, before Ragnarok’s release.
He went on to say that Hulk’s unprecedented speaking in the movie (in the MCU, at least) had a lot to do with the character’s arc: "Hulk speaking is the start to separating of these two individuals, these identities in this split-identity person, and where that's going to end up going. So it was really interesting to me. He's like a baby! He's like a five-year-old or six-year-old.”
So presuming that Hulk was that age in Ragnarok, and presuming he’s doing some growing up in the two upcoming Avengers movies, perhaps Ruffalo’s end in the films only marks the beginning of Hulk’s journey into adulthood and finding his own way.
While it’s possible that Ruffalo just can’t help feeling a bit goofy wearing the motion-capture suit and wielding a plus-sized bindle, the look on his face doesn’t imply that he’s going off into isolation as “The Lonely Man Theme” from The Incredible Hulk TV show plays in the background. No, he looks pretty darn happy about the journey ahead, right?
We’ll know plenty more about Hulk and Dr. Banner’s story when Avengers: Infinity War opens wide May 4, 2018, and when the as yet untitled Avengers 4 film launches May 3, 2019, but for now, let’s all just hope the best for Hulk finding his way in this big, bad world, and that he doesn’t end up singing the "Hobo’s Blues."