An interview with The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier at MTV Movie Blog sheds some interesting light on the Hulk’s cinema future. Will the Hulk be friend or foe to the Avengers? Well that’s up to the box office.

According to the interview, the ending to The Incredible Hulk was left vague intentionally for whoever is set to direct the Avengers movie to take whichever direction he/she wants with the character. Both Leterrier and star Edward Norton agree that the final shot of Banner smirking at the camera is up to interpretation and can be taken different ways. Perhaps Banner is smiling because he is starting to control the Hulk, or maybe he is smiling because he is starting to enjoy his destructive side. Leaving the ending intentionally nebulous allows the character to possibly become the enemy in the Avengers movie.

Leterrier says the decision for the Hulk to be good or bad should be up to the fans, but it is clear that the determining factor will be box office success. If The Incredible Hulk manages to be a success in some sense of the world then he will go on to The Incredible Hulk 2 and remain the good guy. If it under performs, however, the Hulk may end up being the Avengers nemesis.

Personally I would not mind seeing the Hulk be a villain in the Avengers movie, but I wouldn’t want him to be the sole enemy. I could see a little bit of the movie devoted to fighting the Hulk, and perhaps the Hulk could eventually “join” the Avengers and help them take down another foe. The Hulk was a founding member of the Avengers before he went on to pursue smash other things.

If The Incredible Hulk isn’t as successful as Marvel hopes and they do decide to make him an enemy I would suggest that in the Avengers movie they do what the Illuminati did in the comics and launch him into space. That would get rid of his character and they could pretend he never existed. Problem solved.