Joss Whedon’s witty script for Avengers Assemble was one of the highlights of that film, in combination with a willingness to let Robert Downey Jr. and co go off the page when needed. So we’re definitely enthused to learn, first from Scarlett Johansson and now Mark “Bruce Banner” Ruffalo, that the sequel’s screenplay is shaping up to improve on the original.
"I would say that it's better, it's cooler, it's more awesomer," Ruffalo tells MTV in a video that is richer in enthusiasm than grammar, and which is also annoyingly geo-locked to the US. "It's a little bit darker, but also really has Joss Whedon's incredibly, witty and sly sense of humour."
Given how difficult Marvel had found cracking the Hulk in the past, Whedon’s blend of Bruce Banner’s scruffy, genius awkwardness and the big green guy’s sheer power was something of a revelation, not to mention pure entertainment in the “fight” between Hulk and Loki. So can we expect more of the same (albeit *sans *Sir Thomas of Hiddleston)? “Bruce Banner gets to do such great stuff," confirms Ruffalo. If he’s happy, we’re happy - and we imagine that there is a whole internet tribe hoping that "Science Bros" play a key role.
Whedon is preparing to start shooting The Avengers: Age Of Ultron in the UK soon, with Ruffalo, Johansson, Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson and Jeremy Renner. They will be joined by the villainous likes of Ultron (James Spader), the recently announced Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and the troublesome Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). The film is out on May 1, 2015.