Mark Ruffalo: Kevin Feige almost quit Marvel over lack of inclusivity

Mark Ruffalo and Kevin Feige

Actor Mark Ruffalo has revealed that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige almost left the company in 2012 over lack of diversity and representation. Ruffalo, who has been playing the role of Bruce Banner/Hulk Marvel Cinematic Universe movies since 2012, said Feige told him about his plan to quit the job on the sets of "The Avengers" right before he went to meet his Disney superiors to urge them to consider a female-led movie.

"When we did the first 'Avengers', Kevin Feige told me, 'Listen, I might not be here tomorrow'. And he's like, 'Ike (Perlmutter, Disney's largest shareholder at that point) does not believe that anyone will go to a female-starring super movie. So if I am still here tomorrow you will know that I won that battle'," the actor said in an interview with The Independent.

Ruffalo credits Feige for bringing a major change in the superhero movie landscape. "That was the turning point for Marvel. Because Kevin wanted black superheroes, women superheroes, LGBT superheroes. He changed the whole Marvel universe.

"We now have gay superheroes, we have black superheroes, we have female superheroes " Scarlett Johansson has her movie coming out, we have 'Captain Marvel', they are doing 'She Hulk' next. No other studio is being that forwardly inclusive on that level. They have to, though. This is the f'''ing world. The culture is way ahead of the politics," he added.

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