Three weeks ago, long before Thor: Ragnarok made its theatrical debut overseas, Mark Ruffalo accidentally leaked the film’s opening ten minutes via Instagram Live and, in one fell swoop, almost sent the Internet into a tailspin.
Turns out Ruffalo was blissfully unaware of the blunder, and it was only when his phone was bombarded with messages that he began to realize the gravity of his mistake. That’s something the actor touched on during his recent appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where the Phase One Avenger labeled the gaffe as “a grandpa move.”
So I went backstage, and I was doing the Instagram Live. It was fun and games and everyone loved it, and then I was doing the audience. And then they said, ‘Return to your seat, we’re going to start the movie.’ So I pushed the button, what you think is going to stop it. But then there’s another button to stop it…The first button just tells you to push the second button to stop it…So I ended up shoving it in my pocket and sitting down and watching the movie. Well, it was live…It’s broadcasting the movie basically free to millions and millions of hopefully paying viewers.
Mark Ruffalo isn’t one to take himself too seriously, though we imagine Marvel’s bigwigs weren’t too pleased with the blunder. Of course, because his phone was still in his pocket at the time, Ruffalo only unknowingly captured Thor: Ragnarok‘s audio for the first ten minutes, so let’s just say that it could’ve been much worse.
The actor continued:
My phone was blowing up. People were texting me. And I must have gotten 50 texts in 10 minutes…So I’m sitting there enjoying the movie with my family, and a woman came up and she poked me on the shoulder. And I turned and said, ‘Yeah, what, what?’ And she said, ‘You’re phone is on! You’re Instagramming live this whole show! You’ve been Instagramming live for 10 minutes! Turn it off!’
Thanks to its release in North America, Thor: Ragnarok is expected to clear $400 million by Sunday, and if it’s more coverage you’re after, look no further than our review. Providing you’ve already seen Taika Waititi’s threequel, we also have an in-depth analysis designed to uncover all of the many Easter eggs scattered throughout Ragnarok.