Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr., who played Bruce Banner and Tony Stark over multiple films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, shared their memories of the technobabble that they had to learn as the “Science Bros” of the Avengers.
Ruffalo and Downey interviewed each other for Variety‘s Actors on Actors series, touching on the time they spent together as core members of Marvel Studios‘ wide-reaching film franchise. “Well, I mean, in the Marvel days, everything might change or we’re talking to a tennis ball,” Downey noted. Because both were playing characters who were renowned for their scientific genius in addition to their superhero credentials, they had some challenging dialogue along with the hurdles of working with CGI. Downey continued, “You and I, the science bros, we would’ve these long passages about absolute gobbledygook…” prompting Ruffalo to laughingly reply, “…Bullshit.”
Downey and Ruffalo as the Avengers’ genius scientists
Although Downey’s “genius billionaire playboy philanthropist” character Tony was introduced in the MCU’s first film, 2008’s Iron Man, Ruffalo took on the role of Banner/The Hulk for the first time in 2012’s The Avengers, and it was there that the two characters met. They formed an instant connection thanks to their shared interest in advanced science, and remained friends and teammates until Downey retired from the role with Tony’s death in Avengers: Endgame.
Downey went on to explain why he took his lines seriously even when they confused him, saying, “But still it’s important to us because we know it’s important the characters.”
“Yeah, but, we didn’t know what that was, what that meant,” Ruffalo said, and Downey agreed, “Yeah, it’d be really hard to dig in. I mean, we would just drive each other insane on set going, why can’t I retain this? But again, we know when it’s time to tighten things up a little bit.”
All of the Avengers movies and additional MCU appearances from Downey and Ruffalo can be streamed now on Disney+.
