There are two things Mark Ruffalo is well known for when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first is, of course, playing Bruce Banner, a.k.a. The Hulk, having taken over the role from Edward Norton starting with 2012’s The Avengers. The second is the actor’s habit of accidentally spoiling plot details surrounding the superhero movie. For example, remember that time he nearly let slip how Avengers: Infinity War ended, something that shocked his interview partner Don Cheadle? Even just last year, Ruffalo let slip that he’s heard Tatiana Maslany’s She-Hulk will appear in an Avengers movie next.
But perhaps the biggest example of Ruffalo’s spoilery nature came in late 2017 with the release of Thor: Ragnarok, although in this instance, it wasn’t a result of his loose tongue, but rather a technological issue. So let’s go over the story of how Ruffalo inadvertently spoiled Ragnarok, and why Chris Hemsworth, who’s been playing the MCU’s God of Thunder since 2011, wasn’t mad about it.
How Mark Ruffalo Spoiled Thor: Ragnarok
Thor: Ragnarok was released to the public on November 3, 2017, close to two and a half years after Hulk was last seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and a year after Thor cameoed in Doctor Strange, although that scene was just recycling footage shot for Ragnarok. However, as with any major motion picture, there was a world premiere held for Ragnarok first, which took place at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Naturally Mark Ruffalo attended this event, and because he was one of the few people allowed to keep his phone, he live-streamed himself on Instagram prior to the movie playing to hype fans up for the Marvel movie.
Ruffalo thought he’d turned off his phone before Ragnarok started, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, though no one tuning in to the livestream saw anything since the phone was back in his pocket, they did hear pieces of the movie’s first 10 minutes. The Instagram Live video was eventually taken down, roughly 2,500 people hearing Ragnarok’s opening scenes, and no doubt the audio was also ripped prior to the video’s removal and passed around online.
A few weeks after this snafu, Ruffalo explained on Late Night with Stephen Colbert that his extended Ragnarok livestream happened because he pressed the wrong button on Instagram. What he thought was supposed to end the video was actually just telling him to press another button to end it. He didn’t understand this, so the phone just sat in his pocket still broadcasting until a woman who worked for Disney came up to him during the movie and informed him about what he’d been accidentally doing. The Hulk actor also noticed that he’d gotten about 50 texts within the span of 10 minutes from people trying to alert him about what was happening.
While Mark Ruffalo initially thought he’d be fired because of this Thor: Ragnarok premiere incident, it worked out for him in the end. In 2020, Ruffalo shared that while Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was angry about what happened at first, when they next crossed paths, the executive hugged him and stated that the accidental livestream “got more press” than the Ragnarok premiere itself. In Feige’s eyes, Ruffalo’s mistake turned out to be a “genius” move.
Why Chris Hemsworth Isn’t Mad About Mark Ruffalo Spoiling Thor: Ragnarok
Kevin Feige wasn’t the only one unbothered by what went down. During the promotional circuit for Avengers: Endgame, Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth attended a roundtable EW interview with Feige, Robert Downey Jr. Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner. During the chat, Ruffalo was asked what was the biggest MCU-related thing he’d spoiled up to that point, which led to the following exchange between him, Hemsworth and Feige:
Kevin Feige: "I saw people running up and down the aisle and was like, ‘What are they doing?’ They went up to Mark, and I was like, ‘OK.’ Makes sense."
Mark Ruffalo: "That was the one that got me the call from the up high."
Chris Hemsworth: "Whoa, whoa, whoa wait. There was a lot of beautiful strategy there. Because everyone laughed so hard during that [livestream], you can hear it, that’s all you can hear is laughing. Then they went, ‘It must be good.’"
Ruffalo: "Well it sort of turned around on me, because when I came to work on Monday, everyone ran up to me. I thought they were coming to scream at me. ‘Barry [Curtis]?’ And he threw his arms around me and was like, ‘That was genius!’ We got more press than we could possibly have paid for."
For those unaware, Barry Curtis is the head of Marvel Studios who’s also appeared in Captain Marvel and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. Had Mark Ruffalo truly been in trouble, he would have had to answer to Curtis, but thankfully it didn’t turn out that way. And as Chris Hemsworth explained, barely any of the dialogue in Thor: Ragnarok was heard on the livestream because the audience was laughing. So rather than any plot details making their way out into the wild, all Ruffalo really did was drum up some extra press for Ragnarok.
In the end, Thor: Ragnarok earned a lot of positive critical reception and still stands as the highest-grossing Thor movie with its $865 million worldwide haul. Did Ruffalo’s livestream play an integral role in getting more people to see the superhero blockbuster in theaters? There’s no way to know for sure, but clearly Chris Hemsworth and Kevin Feige were pleased with how it all turned out.
As things currently stand, neither Mark Ruffalo nor Chris Hemsworth have any MCU appearances lined up, with the former last being seen in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and the latter starring in Thor: Love and Thunder. Once their futures in the franchise have been cleared up, we’ll let you know. Until then, stream their previous film and TV appearances with your Disney+ subscription, or look through the upcoming Marvel movies and upcoming Marvel TV shows guides to learn what the MCU has slated for the next several years.
