Jeremy Renner Says Mark Ruffalo Chickened Out On Getting Matching Avengers Tattoos

The Six Original Avengers

A few weeks ago, we learned that most of the actors playing the six original Avengers -- Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, and Chris Evans all got a custom-designed and matching Avengers tattoo to commemorate their years together in the Marvel universe. Conspicuously missing from the event was Mark Ruffalo, and Jeremy Renner recently revealed that his Avengers pal actually chickened out of getting the ink. He definitely didn't Hulk out on this occasion.

Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ahead of the premiere of his new movie Tag, Jeremy Renner revealed that the new tattoo represents the original Avengers, with an arrow for Hawkeye and various other symbols intertwined. Symbols for all the original six Avengers are in the tattoo, but not all six Avengers actually ended up getting the tattoo. Per Jeremy Renner:

Ruffalo's the only one that kind of chickened out at the last minute. I'm not sure why. He just didn't want to do it. So, we're like, 'Well get some like henna, get something. It's not really about the tattoo. It's about the celebration of our friendship that's bonded us over the last decade.'

What eventually happened was that Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans got their tattoos in New York, and the other three Avengers actors who participated got tattoos in Los Angeles with tattoo artist Joshua Lord. Mark Ruffalo "chickened out," as Renner put it, although his symbol still appears in the tattoo's design.

Later, Jeremy Renner said that while Mark Ruffalo was busy backing out of the tattoo option, he decided to joke around about the Hulk actor and the other previous iterations of Bruce Banner in the Marvel universe.

So, we're on this group text, all the Avengers, right? So, everyone's just chiming in, 'We're having a problem with Ruffalo.' So, I'm like, 'Guys, I have Eric Bana's number. Let me give him a call. The original Hulk. Exactly, or Ed Norton, I've got his number, I'll call him and see if he wants to get in on it.'

While Jeremy Renner was happy to joke about kicking Mark Ruffalo out of the original Avengers club, he was dead serious a few seconds later when he also revealed that the tattoo artist had himself and the other Avengers tattoo the same symbol on his body.

To check out more from the tattooing experience, you can take a look at The Tonight Show appearance, below.

The Avengers will reunite once more in Avengers 4, and hopefully we'll be able to switch to an official title related to that movie soon. In the meantime, Jeremy Renner found enough to film the comedy Tag around his Marvel schedule, and that flick hits theaters this weekend.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.