Marvel Studios
I remember prior to the release of Avengers: Endgame, I was wildly confident that Captain America was going to be the major Marvel Cinematic Universe character to pay the ultimate price in the battle for the fate of the universe against the purple ball-chinian Thanos.
As is the case with most things in this life, I was wrong, as it was the death of Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man — essentially the founding father of the now billion-dollar-movie-printing franchise — that Marvel Studios decided would be the narrative knockout at the end of the decade-long saga.
In fact, I couldn’t have been more wrong about Steve Rodgers — dude literally ended up living happily ever after. That has nothing to do with Iron Man, Mark Ruffalo, or anything to do with this article, I just wanted to further illustrate my bad take. Sometimes you gotta own it.
Anyway, Disney obviously knew what they were doing as the I Am Iron Man *snap* ultimately ended up becoming iconic and yada yada yada. It goes without saying those guys know what they’re doing.
The scene didn’t such hit home with fans, though, as Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo recently relived how he felt when he found out about Downey Jr’s exit from the MCU.
During an appearance at C2E2 2020 in Chicago this weekend, Ruffalo was asked who he thought delivered the best superhero performance and after a bit of joking by the moderator (Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Clare Kramer), Ruffalo admitted that for him, Downey Jr. is his hero and noted that the death of Iron Man broke him, too.
“Robert. Robert’s my hero. His Iron Man is like definitive and he started all this,” Ruffalo said. “I always marvel at him when I’m working with him, so… I’ mean, he’s done it the longest and done it with the most class and grace and generosity so yeah, I’d say Robert and when he died, that broke me.” [via ComicBook]
Ruffalo is a busy man these days. Not only did he recently star in the critically-acclaimed film Dark Waters, but he’s starring in the upcoming HBO limited series I Know This Much Is True and is in talks to appear, once again, as Bruce Banner, this time in the upcoming Disney+ series She-Hulk.
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Eric is a New York City-based writer who still isn’t quite sure how he’s allowed to have this much fun for a living and will tell anyone who listens that Gotham City is canonically in New Jersey. Follow him on Twitter @eric_ital for movie and soccer takes or contact him eric@brobible.com