At the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Hulk’s fate was left a mystery after he took off in a Quinjet. Is he in hiding or could he have ended up in outer space for an adaptation of Planet Hulk? Whether he’ll turn up in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 or Avengers: Infinity War next remains to be seen, but we now know that he won’t be in Captain America: Civil War.

Rumours have been swirling about Mark Ruffalo showing up in the movie, but like Thor, Bruce Banner doesn’t play a pivotal role in the Civil War comic book. For that reason, it was always tough to try and imagine where he’d fit into the story, and the actor has now explained that the reason he isn’t going to reappear is because Marvel may have much bigger plans for him.

“The reason is too great to be revealed in this movie,” Ruffalo explains. “I was in the script but then they removed my character. They don’t want to reveal where is he and why. I don’t even know if Hulk will be back soon.” It’s interesting that he was at one point included in the movie, but now isn’t, and it seems like Marvel may be flip flopping on the whole space thing.

Joss Whedon revealed earlier this year that Hulk’s fate at the end of his Avengers sequel was originally going to be a lot more definitive as we would have seen him heading higher and higher into the atmosphere. For Hulk to show up in Captain America: Civil War, he would obviously need to be on Earth, but his omission may point to him being a lot further away…