Marvel Studios has officially clarified how its Hulk movie deal with Universal Pictures affects the character’s status in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

According to The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (released recently by Abrams Books), Universal and Marvel officially agreed on a new arrangement relating to the Hulk picture rights in 2006. However, this occurred only after Universal failed to complete a sequel to Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk film by the agreed deadline (at which point the rights would revert to Marvel).

Former Marvel Studios executive David Maisel, who was instrumental in getting the MCU up and running, later recommended that Marvel Studios create the next Hulk feature and pay Universal to distribute it, which culminated in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. This also insured that Marvel Studios would be able to utilize Hulk in “future multicharacter films,” beginning with The Avengers in 2012 and continuing with Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). At the same time, Universal retains “the right of first refusal to distribute any future solo Hulk movies,” which explains why the MCU lacks a second Hulk solo film.

Of course, this hasn’t stopped Marvel from giving the Hulk a multi-film arc in the MCU, similar to those given to Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow. As Mark Ruffalo, who replaced Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/Hulk after The Incredible Hulk, explained in 2017, Marvel Studios President/Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige “pulled me aside before [Thor: Ragnarok], and said, ‘If you were gonna do a … if we were going to do a standalone Hulk movie, what would it be?’” Ruffalo’s suggestions were included into not only Ragnarok, but also Infinity War and Endgame.

Bill Murray Will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’

Bill Murray walks a red carpet during the 14th Rome Film Festival on October 19, 2019 in Rome, Italy. Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for RFF

Bill Murray has confirmed that he will be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

During an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on Tuesday, Bill Murray said that the director of the iconic cheerleading film “Bring It On,” Peyton Reed, persuaded him to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.”

Murray mentioned this when asked if familiarity with a filmmaker influences his project selection.

“You know, recently I made a Marvel movie,” Murray said, according to a Google translation of the interview. “I probably won’t tell you, but never mind.” Murray, of course, continued to tell the interviewer everything, including how director Peyton Reed persuaded him to join the project.

“In any case, some people were quite surprised why I decided on such a project,” he continued. “But for me the thing was quite clear: I got to know the director—and really liked him very much. He was funny, humble, everything you want from a director. And with the cheerleader movie Bring It On, he had already made a film years ago which I think is damn good.”

The third Ant-Man film will be released on July 28, 2023, as stated by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige during Disney’s 2020 investor day.

The successful film genre has already attracted a slew of high-profile stars, including Robert Redford, Sylvester Stallone, Tommy Lee Jones, and, most recently, Angelina Jolie.

There is no information on who Murray will portray in the movie, in which the heroes will face a variation of Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conquerer. But we’re hoping that the part is more than just a cameo.

Could you imagine a super-powered Bill Murray armed with Scott Lang’s enlarging and shrinking technology? In any case, Murray’s tenure in the MCU appears to be coming to an end after Quantumania. “Let’s put it this way: the director is a good guy, and now I’ve at least tried out what it’s like to shoot a Marvel movie,” he said. “But I don’t think I need that experience a second time.”

Paul Rudd will return as Ant-Man/Scott Lang, alongside Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Michael Douglas as Hope’s parents.