Back when we were still referring to Avengers: Endgame as “Avengers 4,” Mark Ruffalo appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he seemingly dropped the official title for the Avengers: Infinity War sequel. And while it quickly became clear that the so-called spoiler wasn’t legit, the actor’s slip-up was still enough for directors Anthony and Joe Russo to take to social media with the message, “Mark, you’re fired.”
In the months since, the fake firing of Ruffalo has become a running joke, with the Russo Brothers insisting on multiple occasions since that the Bruce Banner actor is still out of a job. But when Ruffalo saw his face on the new Endgame poster that came out this morning, the star took to Instagram to share his relief, writing:
“So I wasn’t fired???”
Ruffalo may not be fired, but so far, we haven’t seen a whole lot of Bruce Banner in Endgame’s promotional footage. Hulk, meanwhile, has been completely absent from both trailers and last month’s TV spot, raising the question of what exactly Marvel Studios is trying to hide.
For a while now, it’s been a popular prediction that Bruce will assume the Professor Hulk persona, which is essentially a blend of the character’s two sides. This would certainly make for a fitting resolution to his inner conflict, and a promotional image released last month showing Hulk with an unusually human face seemed to add a lot of fuel to the theory.
Regardless, though Hulk will surely be returning to the fray in next month’s film, we’ve yet to see any indication that Ruffalo has any future MCU projects lined up beyond Marvel’s Phase 3, suggesting that Avengers: Endgame might well serve as Bruce’s swan song. We can hopefully expect some clarification on the character’s future, or lack thereof, when the film hits theaters on April 26th.
