Mark Ruffalo over Avengers: Age of Ultron

De mensen van Empire kregen de kans om Mark Ruffalo te spreken op de set van Avengers: Age of Ultron. Ze hadden een inhoudelijke discussie over het personage van Ruffalo, en welke kant hij op gaat in de komende films. Ruffalo vertelde:

“I think he’s definitely matured a little bit since the last one. He’s become more acclimated to this thing and to being part of the team. I think he feels more a part of them all. But in this particular take on it, it’s a much more character-driven version of The Avengers than the first one. It gets a little deeper into each character. S.H.I.E.L.D. is not happening anymore, so there’s not that much time spent with the S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff.”

Ruffalo gaf toe:

“Hulk is the kind of wild card. He’s the loose cannon of the group. He’s more like an atom bomb. You could guess where he’s going to go but he could go either way. I think that there is, obviously, the day when everyone expects it to go wrong and that day comes. And they’re ready. And Bruce designed the contingency plan. As much as you feel Bruce has some mastery over it – certainly, with ‘I’m always angry’ and he can turn into it at will – I still feel that there’s some part of him that doesn’t completely trust it and doesn’t completely trust himself.”

Alhoewel het personage altijd al een “Jekyl & Hyde”-achtige strijd in zich gehad heeft, willen Ruffalo en schrijver/regisseur Joss Whedon deze kant verder ontdekken in Avengers: Age of Ultron:

“There’s a battle going on between these two opposing egos that live inside him. He’s definitely worried that the day is going to come when the Hulk gets the best of him, and maybe won’t release him, maybe won’t give him back. The Hulk knows this too. There’s a moment in here where he, begrudgingly, decides to go back to Banner. Who knows where these things will go, but as Bruce is able to impress his will on the Hulk, going into The Hulk and being inside the Hulk when he’s raging, The Hulk’s will is also growing and able to impress upon Bruce. That makes for some wild things. We’re laying the groundwork for that here. It’ll be interesting to see if that ends up being what would be the next Hulk movie.”

Over een nieuwe Hulk film zei Ruffalo:

“It’s a tough nut to crack. Traditionally you’re watching a guy who doesn’t want to do the very thing that you want him to do. It’s hard to take for two hours. I don’t know how many times you can use that same framing for it, but now he’s maturing and there’s a cool dynamic growing between Banner and The Hulk. And the CGI is so much better. The stuff we can do now, you can do a real performance. I’ve been working with Andy Serkis [at his Imaginarium studio] and he has it set up where you go in there and you just start working on a character. It is so exciting to me, because I can do whatever I can imagine, with a team of people of course.”

Het idee dat Banner semi-permanent Hulk wordt is al vaker verkent in de comics. De eerste keer was in een uitgave in januari 1991, waarin alle intelligentie van Banner werd samengevoegd met het lichaam van de Hulk in een incarnatie genaamd ”The Professor”.

The Avengers, een buitengewoon team van superhelden bestaande uit Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Black Widow, Thor, Hawkeye en Captain America komen opnieuw samen om de strijd aan te binden tegen Ultron, een intelligente robot. Ultron is een creatie van Tony Stark, die deze zelfbewuste robot samen met een legioen drones ontworpen heeft om het werk van de Avengers te vergemakkelijken. Wanneer Ultron echter het idee heeft dat de mens de grootste bedreiging voor vrede en geluk vormt lopen de zaken uit de hand.

De nieuwe superheldenfilm wordt geschreven en geregisseerd door Joss Whedon. De ensemblecast bestaat uit Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader en Samuel L. Jackson.

Avengers: Age of Ultron draait vanaf 23 april 2015 in de Nederlandse bioscoop.