Thor: Ragnarok - 10 Big Implications Of Marvel Adding Hulk

6. Tying The Earth-Bound MCU To Space More

Whether James Gunn is happy with it or not, Hulk and Thor going into new parts of space (the news leak conspicuously mentioned that the planet they were going to be visiting was going to be neither Earth nor Asgard) is good for tying together the inter-galactic elements of the MCU with the Earth-bound ones. That is pretty key, given that the Guardians Of The Galaxy (and to a lesser extent Thor, but he's mostly planet-bound usually) are otherwise an island in space, removed from the rest of their fellow MCU members. If they're going to all come together for Infinity War, there has to be some cross-pollination as soon as possible. The other smartest way to explain the space road trip might well be to have Hulk and Thor on the trail of The Collector - tying them to the Guardians indirectly - who of course is still in possession of one of the Infinity Stones after Thor's Warriors Three handed it over to him idiotically for safe keeping. Perhaps Thor could use Hulk - a one off that The Collector would definitely love in his collection - as some sort of perverse bait? That would definitely fit with the agenda to lighten up the script, as Hulk could be reinvented as a grumpy Mr T-type figure.