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Mark Ruffalo may appear in as the Hulk in an upcoming Marvel movie

Ruffalo is reportedly in negotiations to appear in a movie starring a fellow Avenger. The actor was last seen as the Hulk in this summer's movie 'Avengers: Age of Ultron.' Are audiences tired of all these Marvel cameos?

Mark Ruffalo stars as the Hulk in the Marvel universe.

Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

October 16, 2015

Superhero Thor may be getting a little help battling his enemies in the upcoming movie 鈥淭hor: Ragnarok.鈥澛

Actor Mark Ruffalo, who portrays the superhero the Hulk in the Marvel films and fights with Thor as part of the Avengers team, is reportedly nearing the end of negotiations to appear in 鈥淩agnarok.鈥 Ruffalo has so far appeared in the two 鈥淎vengers鈥 movies and also appeared briefly in another fellow Avenger's film, the 2013 movie 鈥淚ron Man 3.鈥澛

Casting Ruffalo as Bruce Banner was seen as a win for Marvel when the first "Avengers" movie, Ruffalo's first appearance as the character, was released. Two previous "Hulk" movies had come to theaters, starring two different actors, Edward Norton and Eric Bana. The third time was apparently the charm 鈥 fans and critics have enjoyed Ruffalo's portrayal.

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鈥淩agnarok,鈥 which is scheduled to come out in the winter of 2017, will be the newest film centered on the Marvel superhero Thor, who comes from Asgard and wields a powerful hammer. However, the movies starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor are actually low-grossing compared to other Marvel productions. (Of course, just about any movie released by Marvel recently has still been a hit.) While the first movie featuring fellow Avenger Captain America, 2011鈥檚 鈥淐aptain America: The First Avenger鈥 was on the lower end of Marvel box office grosses, the second 鈥淐aptain America鈥 movie that came out in 2014 became a big hit for Marvel. By contrast, Thor鈥檚 second movie, 2013鈥檚 鈥淭hor: The Dark World,鈥 only did slightly better financially than the 2011 鈥淭hor鈥 movie and 鈥淒ark World鈥 was slammed by critics.聽

So perhaps Marvel is hoping that bringing in Thor鈥檚 friend Bruce Banner, also known as the Hulk, will pique audience members鈥 interest and result in a more successful 鈥淩agnarok鈥 film.

Having the Hulk pop up in Thor鈥檚 story will also address the question that seems to have been asked for every movie since 鈥淭he Avengers鈥 was released. If one Avenger is battling a villain, why don鈥檛 the other Avengers help them out? When 鈥淒ark World鈥 was released and the question was raised, Hemsworth made up some humorous excuses for the other characters, , 鈥淐aptain America is doing some shopping, Iron Man is fixing his suit, and Hulk was鈥 I think he was on a holiday somewhere?鈥

Is Marvel鈥檚 strategy of having their superheroes appear in one another鈥檚 movies getting stale for some moviegoers? The gimmick was part of how the company originally introduced moviegoers to the Avengers team. While Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor all got their own movies before Marvel released 鈥淭he Avengers," the superhero Black Widow appeared in Iron Man's movies. That way, audiences unfamiliar with comic books already knew and presumably were attached to most of the main characters in 鈥淎vengers.鈥 The strategy paid off. The first 鈥淎vengers鈥 movie is still the company鈥檚 highest-grossing film domestically, with the second 鈥淎vengers鈥 movie coming in behind it.

But in the Avengers sequel, which was stuffed with appearances by Marvel players like War Machine (Don Cheadle) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) as well as appearances by new superheroes like Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), some reviewers complained that the screen was feeling too crowded. 鈥淭he strain of multitasking begins to show,鈥 writer A.A. Dowd wrote. 鈥淭he film doesn鈥檛 just reassemble the all-star ranks 鈥 it also feeds supporting players, borrowed from Marvel鈥檚 various solo outings, into the franchise hub 鈥 the movie never really finds room to breathe.鈥 writer Eric Kohn agreed, writing, 鈥淥ther characters 鈥 surface in bit parts just to remind us of the bigger picture. But at this point it's gotten so crowded that the franchise could burst at any moment.鈥

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So now the question is, will audiences cheer or yawn if the Hulk appears to help out Thor in 鈥淩agnarok鈥?