Though principal photography on The Avengers: Age of Ultron doesn't start until early next month, there were action photography sequences filmed in South Africa last month which appeared to involve the Incredible Hulk on an apparent rampage in Johannesburg. When Vulture asked if the jade giant's mild-mannered alter-ego, Bruce Banner, was on the set, actor Mark Ruffalo said, "The Twitter-verse is all alive with that [question]!" He continued, "I actually already shot a lot of that stuff, we did it on motion capture, so we did a lot of that on a stage. So they’re doing all the [background] plates for that now in South Africa, and then I start work in mid-April."
When asked about reuniting with The Avengers, namely Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Jr., Ruffalo said "they’re going to shoot a lot of closeups [of her]," and that he's "guessing" we'll see more "Science Bros" Bruce Banner/Tony Stark scenes in Age of Ultron. In regards to the consistent rumors that Banner will have a love interest in the 2015 sequel, Mark Ruffalo only grinned and modestly said, "That may or may not be true." Anyhow, it's interesting that Ruffalo has already completed some motion capture work as the Incredible Hulk. Perhaps an early look the Goliath will be featured in tonight's Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe special on ABC. What do you think?
The Avengers: Age of Ultron stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Cobie Smulders, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, with Paul Bettany, Samuel L. Jackson, and James Spader. The film is set for release on May 1, 2015.