Joss Whedon accomplished several things with The Avengers, and creating an awesome Hulk is certainly near the top of that list. Though the giant green rage monster has been the subject of two feature films, audiences failed to fully connect with the character until he teamed up with the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. The Hulk stole the show in The Avengers, but has unfortunately remained absent in Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Thankfully, the character will be making his triumphant return in next year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Mark Ruffalo will once again be donning a dorky motion capture suit to bring him to life.
In order to perfect his performance, the actor has turned to a true master of the craft: Andy Serkis. Serkis is the man behind some of the most incredibly accomplished motion-capture characters in film history, from Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films to Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and its upcoming sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. He also played King Kong in the 2005 film, portrayed Captain Haddock in Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin, and consulted on the upcoming Godzilla movie.
Ruffalo announced the news himself via Twitter, after being asked if he could reveal anything about the Hulk in the upcoming Avengers sequel.
“Well, I have been working with the great @AndySerkis on the big green boy and he is going to be even better.”
As someone who was thoroughly impressed with the work Ruffalo has already done with the Hulk so far, I’m excited to see what kind of tips he gets from Serkis for Avengers: Age of Ultron. There truly is no one better to consult about bringing motion-captured characters to life, so Ruffalo is definitely in good hands here.