In a 2017 interview with Good Morning America, Mark Ruffalo famously blurted out that “everybody dies” at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. The moment has gone down in MCU history as one of the key examples of Ruffalo living up to his reputation as a notorious blabbermouth. But for what it’s worth, it sounds like co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo did what they could to prevent the Hulk actor from spoiling the conclusion of last year’s release.
In a recent interview with Yahoo, Ruffalo recalled how he filmed two different endings for Infinity War, one of which saw him fall victim to Thanos’ genocidal snap:
“I didn’t know until I saw the movie. For one take, I did disappear, and then the other one I didn’t.”
Since the script for Avengers: Endgame was written before production began on Infinity War, and the two movies were shot back to back, it seems highly unlikely that the Russo Brothers were still on the fence about whether or not to kill off Bruce Banner. After all, Infinity War makes the very deliberate choice to spare all of the Phase 1 Avengers, allowing them to be the focus of Endgame. We can therefore assume that Ruffalo’s death scene was a spoiler-proofing measure, not that it stopped him from spilling the beans.
In any case, when the actor finally watched Infinity War, he was surprised to find that he’d been spared the fate of many of his peers.
“I was pretty sure it was gonna be me,” Ruffalo admitted. “It’s like Survivor. It’s like, who’s gonna get kicked off the island? And I probably should’ve. … It’s like Project Runway for leakers.”
After Hulk sat out most of Avengers: Infinity War, you can imagine the disappointment of fans if he’d also been absent for the sequel. As it stands, Bruce still has some issues to work through with his green alter ego, but we’ll find out if the pair can come to an agreement when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on April 26th.
