Mark Ruffalo has recounted how he joined The Avengers cast to play Bruce Banner/Hulk and the perplexing way Marvel confirmed he had gotten the role.
Ruffalo revisited the story behind his Hulk casting during an interview for Abrams Books' The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, recalling how The Avengers writer/director Joss Whedon helped convince him to sign on. "Joss said, 'Well, I'm not supposed to do this ... but I'll give you half the script and all the Banner/Hulk scenes I've written,'" said Ruffalo.
"I loved what he did with it," Ruffalo added. "I loved the humor. Banner's introduction was amazing. I felt like it was a fresh take on this character we hadn't seen that I could fit nicely into. So I said, 'Let's do it.'"
Upon closing his deal for The Avengers, Ruffalo received a, to put it simply, mysterious message from his agent. "I got a call saying, 'Wake up tomorrow at four o'clock in the morning. Look out your window. If there's a limo there, you're doing the part. If not, go back to bed.'" Sure enough, when Ruffalo woke up the next morning at four a.m., there was a limo outside his home. "I was happy. And I was scared to death," he noted.
As it turned out, the limo was there to take him to the plane that would fly him to San Diego. There, he would appear on-stage in Hall H at the 2010 International Comic-Con to confirm his casting and promote the film with his fellow Avengers cast members.
The Avengers went on to become a massive critical and box office success, with Ruffalo reprising his role in the sequels Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Infinity War (2018), and Endgame (2019), in addition to teaming up with the God of Thunder for 2017's Thor: Ragnarok. However, due to Marvel Studios' deal with Universal for the Hulk rights, Ruffalo has yet to star in a non-ensemble film or TV show featuring the character.
Ruffalo is reprising his role as Bruce Banner/Hulk for the She-Hulk series, with Tatiana Maslany starring as Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk. The show premieres on Disney+ in 2022.
Source: The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe