The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a well-oiled machine at this point, constantly releasing new content in theaters and streaming with a Disney+ subscription. Fan who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order will recall how thrilling it was when the first big crossover happened in Joss Whedon's The Avengers. Mark Ruffalo recently shared his young daughter's intense reaction to watching him turn into The Hulk for the first time. And the story is pretty damn delightful.
Ruffalo has had a long tenure as Bruce Banner, including the upcoming Marvel movie Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But The Avengers was his first credit, replacing Edward Norton as Banner. While speaking with GQ about his career, he revealed how his young daughter reacted to seeing her father Hulk Out on the big screen. As he told it:
I didn’t see [the movie] till the premiere, and my daughter, who was probably like five, was down the row from me. And I was watching me explode into the Hulk, and she just looked on at me, and she burst into tears screaming. She ran up [and] jumped into my arms.
Honestly, can you blame her? The sequence where Hulk chases Black Widow around is legit terrifying, with director Joss Whedon leaning into his horror history. And one can only imagine how strange it would be to see your loving father turn into a monster on the big screen!
Ruffalo is a father of two, and didn't get the chance to see his scenes in The Avengers before the premiere. And as such, he wasn't prepared for just how scary that he'd ultimately be while raging through the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier.
In the end this would only be a drop in the bucket regarding how many times Ruffalo would end up playing Bruce Banner/ The Hulk throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Still, it was terrifying for his daughter to see him transform into the big green guy, as he went on to share:
She’s like, ‘Why you wanna hurt the nice lady, papa?! Don’t be the green man! Don’t be the green man!’
In the end she would not get her wish, as Ruffalo would go on to play Hulk in a number of other MCU movies, including Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok, Endgame, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Although for the latter two titles he was Smart Hulk, which is a far less terrifying version of the hero. But since Ruffalo's daughter has grown up through the years, I'd imagine that she's gotten used to seeing the green CGI version of the 13 Going on 30 actor.
What we know about Spider-Man: Brand New Day is limited, but the inclusion of Mark Ruffalo's Bruce Banner is thrilling. For his part, the actor played coy about his role, presumably to try and avoid spoilers making it way online. After all, Ruffalo famously spoiled Infinity War's ending, and accidentally let his phone live stream in the midst of the Rangarok premiere.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will hit theaters on July 31st as part of the 2026 movie release list. Hopefully we get an idea of how Hulk will factor into the story sooner rather than later.
