The Real Reason Mark Ruffalo Filmed 5 Different Endings To Avengers: Endgame

Everyone knows the lengths to which Marvel Studios and Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo have gone to maintain a certain level of mystery around the super-sized superhero movie and prevent any unwanted leaks from flooding the fandom. We've heard talk of calculated misdirection, sneaky editing of trailers to include and exclude certain footage, and crafting purposefully confusing days on set — but now were learning another technique the Endgame team implemented to protect the film and keep everyone in the dark until the movie's premiere. 

Bruce Banner actor Mark Ruffalo recently revealed that he shot five different endings for Avengers: Endgame — and for a pretty hilarious reason. 

Chatting with E! News alongside his Avengers: Endgame co-stars Chris Evans and Karen Gillan, Ruffalo admitted that he has absolutely no idea how Endgame truly ends or what really happens in the movie... because he never got a complete script. 

"I don't know what's gonna happen. I shot, like, five different endings to this movie," Ruffalo stated. "I didn't even get a whole script to this movie. And I don't know why."

He added that the version of the Endgame script he did receive "had dummy scenes in it," one of which included Evans' Captain America tying the knot. "He gets married in this!" Ruffalo said, pointing at Evans. 

While Ruffalo may not have known why Marvel fooled him with fake Endgame endings or withheld the full script from him, Evans detailed the real reason why: Ruffalo simply can't be trusted with spoilers.

"Mark's a real liability," Evans laughed. "They have to throw Mark off the scent."

Flabbergasted, Ruffalo asked Evans why the House of Heroes would knowingly steer him in the wrong direction. Evans explained that it's because he isn't trustworthy. 

"Because you have zero cred. You have earned no trust in the Marvel universe. You, like, leak like a bodily function," joked Evans, to which Ruffalo quipped back, "Like I need a diaper?" 

This sent Evans and Gillan into a fit of giggles, understandably so, but soon after the laughter came a real truth. The majority of the Avengers: Endgame cast was given the same treatment as Ruffalo: they shot the film with semi-done scripts. When Ruffalo mentioned that he didn't receive a complete script, Gillan said, "A lot of us didn't."

One such member of the Endgame crew that wasn't entrusted with the full story? The notorious spoiler-spiller Tom Holland, who knows even less about what goes down in Endgame than Ruffalo. The Hulk star at least had mock-up scenes to read and fake endings to film, but Holland wasn't awarded such a luxury. Director Joe Russo previously explained that the Spider-Man actor only had access to his lines and nothing else — for the very same reason Ruffalo was kept uninformed and made to shoot a bunch of different conclusions. 

"Tom Holland does not get the script. Tom Holland gets his lines and that's it," said Russo. "He doesn't even know who he's acting opposite of ... we use, like, very vague terms to describe to him what is happening in the scene, because he has a very difficult time keeping his mouth shut."

The filmmaker also revealed the reasoning behind giving actors faux scripts with scenes that aren't actually in the film: "We can't trust anybody — least of all Tom Holland! — with the truth. It's a burden to bear for them. It's probably easier to have read a fake script and a fake ending because they don't have the pressure of knowing what happens in the movie and then they have to hide it."

In defense of Marvel and the Russo brothers, Ruffalo hasn't exactly been the best gatekeeper of the studio's secrets, having accidentally let slip information that was meant to be guarded as if his life depended on it. In the past, Ruffalo unintentionally live-streamed to his Instagram followers the first 20 minutes of Thor: Ragnarok during the film's Los Angeles world premiere back in 2017. And who can forget the time Ruffalo completely spoiled the ending of Avengers: Infinity War when he told ABC's Good Morning America that "everybody dies" in the film? 

One of the worst examples of Ruffalo's proclivity for detail-divulging came in October of 2018, when the actor reportedly spoiled the title of Avengers: Endgame while sitting down for an interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. At that time, the name of the film hadn't yet been revealed, as it was a spoiler for Avengers: Infinity War. Ruffalo apparently got a little too lax during his chat with Fallon, and accidentally said the title out loud. The footage thankfully never made it to air — but Ruffalo exposed his misstep when he tweeted to Fallon asking if he could please cut out the clip of him spilling the title of the fourth Avengers film. 

".@JimmyFallon, I trust that you will cut my spoiler slip on the show tonight. That was 'off the record' homey," Ruffalo wrote in a tweet to Fallon, which Ruffalo may have actually intended to send in a direct message instead of a public post. "Please don't get me in trouble with Marvel (Barry) again. DM me back. M."

It was only a matter of minutes before the Russos caught wind of Ruffalo's error and subsequent attempt to correct it. In response to Ruffalo's tweet to Fallon, the Russo brothers wrote from their joint account, "Mark, you're fired." The directing duo kept the joke up for quite a while, insisting that Ruffalo was no longer a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a result of his blunder. 

Ruffalo's loose lips have earned him a somewhat of a dodgy reputation amongst his fellow Marvel stars. Don Cheadle, who plays War Machine, once said that Ruffalo "runs his mouth a lot," and that he tries not to be paired with Ruffalo because of the actor's bad habit of leaking secrets and seemingly not understanding that there are "penalties to pay" for spoiling things. "Why do I need that hassle, right?" Cheadle said during a past appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. "I don't need to be sitting next to him when he blows the whole reveal of the movie."

Of course, the Russo brothers and Ruffalo's MCU co-stars don't actually have disdain for him because of his past faults. The jabs and the false firings are all in good fun, Ruffalo is still part of the Marvel family, and everyone seems to really enjoy his company both on and off screen. 

Still, make no mistake about it: Marvel is serious about shielding secrets — now more so than ever, as Avengers: Endgame is said to have "even more spoilers" than Avengers: Infinity War. As the film approaches its April 26 launch date, the studio is going to crack down on potential spoiler-sharers. So remember, kids, keep those lips buttoned until everyone has a chance to see Endgame, or else face the wrath of Thanos.