Captain America - Civil War: Mark Ruffalo reveals Hulk cut from upcoming Marvel movie

It seemed for a while that Disney were intent on cramming every single Marvel character into Captain America: Civil War, to achieve ultimate impact.

The titular character/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is there, of course, as well as Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) because of their relevance to Civil War's comic-book origins.

But it wasn't long before it was announced that Age Of Ultron's Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) would be popping up, joined by Avengers-outsiders Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland). Heck, even Hawkeye will have a place in the eagerly-anticipated film after his interesting story arc in the previous movie.

One character that won't feature in the upcoming movie however is the Hulk, star Mark Ruffalo has recently revealed. But as it turns out, that wasn't always the case. Talking to Bad Taste.it (via Coming Soon), the Foxcatcher actor confirmed that Bruce Banner was initially set to appear in the movie, but Marvel decided to keep his impending storyline a secret for now, in hope of a "bigger reveal" later on.

It seems like a smart move considering how much will be going on in Civil War. What with the animosity between Captain America and Iron Man, as well as Cap's former rival Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier returning from the dead, so to speak, it's going to be strapped for time to cover everything. So if they want Hulk to make a big entrance into the action after he vanished at the end of Age Of Ultron, then this movie isn't necessarily the one to offer up such an opportunity.

"The reason [for his disappearance] is too great to be revealed in this movie," Ruffalo told the publication. "I thought that I would be in the film, but in the end they evidently believed that the reveal of what happened to the Hulk was too big, and Marvel wants to save that information for later. My character had been in the script, but then he got removed. Who knows, maybe the Hulk will never return. They want to keep the revelation of what happened to him a secret, because it's something really big."

In true Marvel style, everything about this "big reveal" has remained entirely under wraps since the latest film's release, despite everyone speculating as to where the Big Guy could have gone at the end of Age Of Ultron. The 47-year-old had previously suggested in an interview with IGN that Banner could be in space, but then immediately went on to say that he'd be "very interested in doing that" indicating that that isn't the true way they're going to take the character.

One thing that is for certain is that the Marvel and Disney duo could have some trouble developing a standalone Hulk film thanks to a complicated rights agreement with Universal Pictures. But that doesn't mean that the character won't be able to stand at the forefront of potential ensemble movies. Either way, wherever they decide to take the Hulk, with all this hype around his personal plot, it's bound to be worth the wait.