Marvel's She-Hulk: Mark Ruffalo Didn't Tell Tatiana Maslany How to Hulk
Warning: this story contains spoilers for She-Hulk Episode 1, "A Normal Amount of Rage." There was no Hulk-splaining on the set of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The first episode of the Marvel Studios series reveals the superhero origin story of attorney Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), who transforms into a green 6-foot-7-inch hulk after a freak accident exposes her to the gamma-laced blood of cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). On a Mexico beach where the scientist spent the Blip integrating the Hulk-Banner identities to become Smug Smart Hulk, her Avenger cousin teaches Jen how to Hulk — advice that longtime Marvel star Ruffalo didn't impart on Maslany.
"He's so much about empowering other people's processes. He would never tell me how to be a Hulk or anything, but we did swap stories and ideas around it, and sort of our own experiences," Maslany told RottenTomatoes. "I think we do come to it from a different perspective, which is very helpful in the sense that so do Bruce and Jen, but I have such a deep respect for him and such a love for him. We both like to play, so we get that brother-sister banter thing that happens while also getting to be in mo-cap suits."
The Orphan Black star added: "It was really fun. It was special."
Ruffalo joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2012's The Avengers, replacing The Incredible Hulk's Edward Norton as the fugitive scientist whose anger turns him into a big, green, smashing machine. She-Hulk marks Ruffalo's ninth turn as the character, who last appeared in 2019's Avengers: Endgame before making a cameo in human form in a post-credits scene ending last year's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
In a separate interview with ScreenRant, Maslany marveled at Ruffalo's ability to bring new dimensions to a character he's portrayed for a decade.
"I feel like what surprised me the most —but also didn't, just because I know he's such an incredible actor — was how much he comes to set with this sense of, 'Everything is new.' He just always seems to be exploring and experiencing it for the first time," she said. "There's never this sense of like, 'Yeah, yeah. I've been doing this for 10 years, and I'm phoning it in.' He's absolutely present. He's always stretching that character, and he's always listening. And he really creates this sense on set with other actors, and with the crew and everybody, of total play and spontaneity."
Starring Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk, Jameela Jamil as Titania, Ginger Gonzaga as Nikki Ramos, Josh Segarra as Augustus "Pug" Pugliese, Jon Bass as Todd, Renée Elise Goldsberry as Mallory Book, Tim Roth as the Abomination, and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Smart Hulk, new episodes of Marvel Studios' She-Hulk: Attorney at Law are streaming Thursdays on Disney+.