Marvel’s Mark Ruffalo Wishes Banner and Black Widow Had Given It More of a College Try

Mark Ruffalo is currently in Chicago for C2E2 and he’s revealed a lot of exciting information during his panel. ComicBook.com’s Jenna Anderson was in attendance for the event and learned Ruffalo is not only in talks to be a part of Disney+’s upcoming series, She-Hulk, but the actor would also like to make a movie about the creation of Professor Hulk. During the panel, moderator Clare Kramer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) opened up questions to the audience. One young individual wondered what one thing Ruffalo would change about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Before answering, Ruffalo asked the kid his answer, and he said Tony’s death. Ruffalo joked that it could always be reversed with time travel and said he didn’t think he could come up with a better answer than the loss of Iron Man. However, he took a shot and decided he would want to see more of the romantic relationship between his character and Scarlett Johansson‘s Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow.

During Avengers: Age of Ultron, a romance began to blossom between the two characters but never came to fruition after Banner turned into the Hulk again and left the planet for two years. By the time Nat and Bruce met again in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, they were dealing with the threat of Thanos. While they had some mild flirtation in their latest movie, she died getting the soul stone before they ever discussed their romantic history. “I think I guess I would have liked to have seen Black Widow and Banner give it more of a college try. That stuff is really good,” Ruffalo shared.

While Ruffalo’s on-screen romance didn’t seem to lead anywhere, he did reveal during the interview that the plans to turn him into Professor Hulk were a long time coming. “A few years ago we sat down and kind of plotted out what the Banner/Hulk/Professor arc would be and we pretty much stuck to it starting with Age of Ultron and then ending with Endgame,” Ruffalo explained. “It was fun… I’ve been lucky because the arc of Banner and Hulk over all the films has been pretty different. I’ve gotten to play three characters now. I’ve kept it interesting for myself as an ADHD casualty. It’s pretty much exactly how we planned it to be. It’s been a lot of fun to do it, and melding two characters together seemed to be the kind of final installment of the Banner/Hulk relationship. They made peace with each other.”

Would you have liked to have seen more romance between Nat and Bruce? Tell us in the comments!

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1st, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in the Fall, The Eternals on November 6th, WandaVision in December, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.