Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo Tease Reason for Hulk VS. Hulkbuster Battle

Since ABC aired their Marvel documentary earlier this year, we’ve known that Tony Stark, with the help of his Hulkbuster armor, would be taking on the Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The concept art above does little justice to how the actual showdown is shaping up so far — we got a glimpse of it in the Comic-Con footage. The extended Comic-Con preview confirmed that the Hulkbuster armor, like in the comics, encases Stark’s regular Iron Man armor. The studio put the Hulkbuster arm on display at their convention floor booth.

The big question is though, why are Iron Man and Hulk fighting at all? The last couple of times we saw the two heroes, their bromance was in full bloom. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner literally rode off into the sunset together at the end of The Avengers, and at the end of Iron Man 3, Banner was on hand to attempt to help Stark deal with his PTSD. In an interview with EW, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo gave an update on the “Science Bros” and their relationship, and teased a possible reason for the upcoming superhero showdown.

Downey Jr. told EW:

"Stark has set Banner up to be able to continue his good works in Stark Tower [and] Tony has a project of his own. So, it's one of those things where it's like your second development team 'Hey, how is it going over there, that looks really nice and green; can I talk to you about this other idea I have.’ And it winds up not being such a good idea. 
"Bruce is dubious as to the moral psychology of this project idea of Tony's. And It's nice because it sets up a little bit of tension between us." 

Rufallo added:

“That pays off later. It sort of blows up.”

It’d be easy to assume that they are referring to the Hulk vs Hulkbuster battle, but they could very well be talking about some other non-superpowered/armorless confrontation. You can watch the full interview below and judge their answers for yourself, but we’d also like to offer a couple of insights. In the Comic-Con footage we were shown, there was a quick shot of Chris Hemsworth's Thor under some kind of spell, grabbing Tony Stark by the throat and lifting him up. Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch is likely the person behind this, as it has been stated before that she and Quicksilver begin the film as antagonists. Scarlet’s ability to bend reality could be the cause for both Thor and Hulk going after Stark. Since Banner seemed quite in control of the monster inside him during the battle of New York, that seems a more likely scenario for the Hulk and Iron Man face-off. We'll know for sure when the movie hits theaters May 1st, 2015... or when they spoil it in a TV spot or trailer months before its release.

EW talks to Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. about their characters' close relationship.

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