Avengers: Engame Stars Mark Ruffalo and Don Cheadle Bonded Over Motion Capture Suits

For a lot of actors, there's isn't anything quite as cool as playing a beloved superhero on the [...]

By Charlie Ridgely

For a lot of actors, there's isn't anything quite as cool as playing a beloved superhero on the big screen, bringing to life a character that millions of fans have fallen in love with over the years. Folks like Robert Downey Jr., Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, Brie Larson, and many others have completely made these heroes their own, and they all seem to enjoy their jobs to no end. However, not every superhero role is totally glamorous. Just ask Avengers: Endgame stars Mark Ruffalo and Don Cheadle, who don't get to don the same flashy costumes as their on-screen counterparts.

While both actors have talked openly about loving their roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they've had a different experience on set than that of Downey or Chris Evans. Cheadle portrays the often-suited War Machine, while Ruffalo spends most of his time as the Hulk, rather than the human Bruce Banner. These roles have required both of them to wear the motion-capture suits for their work in the Marvel films, an embarrassing experience that the duo has bonded over throughout their MCU tenure.

"Mark and I get to share that misery," Cheadle told Variety in a recent interview.. "Everyone else is walking around in their cool clothes. Mark and I are walking around in these unitards with symbols and dots and balls attached all over them. Mark has it worse than anyone because he has to wear that rig over his face."

"Both of us are walking around in these suits and we just look at each other — we wanted to be actors, right?" he added.

The motion-capture attire consists of skin-tight suits with small spheres stuck all over them. In Ruffalo's case, there is also a mount on his shoulders that films his facial reactions, in order to transform him into the Hulk in post-production. This is a lot of work for any actor, but Ruffalo apparently insisted on portraying every aspect of the Hulk ahead of his role in Thor: Ragnarok.

"He has very strong opinions about what Hulk would say and how he would say it," said Ragnarok director Taika Waititi. "People assume, 'Oh, well it's a CGI character. Why would an actor do the movements?' But he insisted on doing all the work in motion capture. All of that stuff is him, dressed in those ridiculous pajamas that you have to wear with ping-pong balls on his head."

Ruffalo and Cheadle both have substantial roles in last year's Avengers: Endgame, which is currently streaming on Disney+. There's currently no word on when either of them might appear again in the MCU.

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