Mark Ruffalo Says When Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man Died It Broke Him

Iron Man’s death in Avengers: Endgame was a huge moment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only did it truly signal the end of an era, it was also a devastating scene with Robert Downey Jr. performance proving to be both powerful and heartbreaking. But it wasn’t just fans who were broken by the death of the hero that started it all. Hulk star Mark Ruffalo says that broke him, too.

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.”

Of course, Ruffalo joked that he didn’t even know right away that Iron Man would die.

“We thought he was getting married,” Ruffalo teased. “That’s what was in my script.”

Talk of the legendary fake scripts aside, Ruffalo also explained during the appearance that when it came to his own superhero portrayal in the film, the merging of Bruce Banner with Hulk is something that had been in the works for a while before actually happening in Endgame.

“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.”

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, 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.