Mark Ruffalo’s kind of like a lovable pet dog with an unfortunate habit of shitting on the rug. You want to get mad at him, but he’s just so damn sweet and likeable that you really can’t. That’s the situation Marvel Studios and the Russo Brothers are in, with the actor’s reputation as a one-man spoiler machine causing big problems for their carefully laid marketing plans for Avengers 4. This led to the Infinity War directors jokingly sacking him via Twitter after he supposedly spoiled the title of the film on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
But it didn’t end there. Joe and Anthony recently posted a cryptic tweet celebrating the fact that the pic had wrapped production, to which Ruffalo lightheartedly pointed out the hypocrisy of the directors being allowed to spoil stuff while he isn’t. The Russo Brothers got back to him pretty quickly on this and simply told him that he was still fired.
Now, the joke continues, as Joe held a Q&A session at his new bar earlier today and aside from dropping some juicy Avengers 4 info, he also commented on the Ruffalo situation. When a fan asked him how they’ve kept both him and Tom Holland from spoiling the film, his bartender said, “Didn’t you fire Mark Ruffalo?” The director quickly responded by saying, “Yes, we fired [him]. Mark’s fired.”
Again, this is all in jest – at least, we hope it is – but it’s pretty funny to watch unfold regardless. And though the spoiler on Fallon was ultimately bleeped out, Marvel fans have since learned that Ruffalo referred to Avengers 4 as The Last Avenger. The legitimacy of this ‘spoiler,’ however, remains up for debate, as the title Avengers: Annihilation seems a lot more likely.
In any case, we’ll hopefully get some concrete answers sooner rather than later now that we’re into November. After all, the first trailer for Avengers 4 is supposed to drop this month, though with Joe Russo casting doubt on that earlier this morning during the same Q&A, now we’re not so sure.