... and the MCU is doing just fine without a standalone Hulk story, so you could be absolutely right as well. I would disagree about how 'integral' Ant-Man has been to the MCU. Dr. Strange... we'll see in Phase 3 I suppose.
Yeah, I mean, there are definitely different levels of important and different reasons for importance. Ant Man certainly isn't indispensable for the storyline they are doing. But Hank Pym's relationship to Stark and the world they have been building around the Stark family as the centerpiece of the MCU are pretty important, even if somewhat-tangential. Add to that the fact that Marvel nerds went nuts over the Ant Man suit at Stark Expo in IM2, and there was, IMO, plenty of justification for adding Ant Man to the MCU.
Dr. Strange, on the other hand, is pretty indispensable for Infinity Wars. They need someone with that kind of power who deals with otherworldly realms and all that that entails. Despite that many (myself included) think of him as a minor Marvel character, he is pretty important for what they are doing.
But I'm not really arguing with you, so please don't take it as that. I'm just fleshing out what I was saying in light of your comment.
The only Hulk story line that was in demand was Planet Hulk. We're getting that (kind of). There's no other demand.
Yeah, there's that. But in my opinion, I don't think it would have worked well with Hulk as just its own story with Hulk as the lead. I think, again, he's better when part of an ensemble, so doing Planet Hulk as a buddy movie within Ragnarok seems like a smarter way to have gone.