Mark Ruffalo has said that Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige nearly stepped down from his role within the production company due to the studios having a serious lack of diversity.
It's been a hot topic of discussion for the past number of years - and one which has certainly been on the mouths of comic book fans and cinemagoers - why does it have to be so white? Certainly, the movement which occurred after Marvel's first batch of superhero movies made the studios realise that audiences weren't as interested as we used to be in seeing strong, heterosexual, white, males take over our screens as much as we used to.
We wanted more - much more. Diversity in who we saw on screen saving lives was the number one goal for fans. We wanted female superheroes; superheroes from other countries around the world; and people who are part of the LGBTQ community. And it turns out, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige thought exactly the same.
According to The Incredible Hulk, Mark Ruffalo, Feige told the actor on the set of 'The Avengers' that he "might not be" around for much longer. Spoiler alert - he changed the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it.
Speaking to The Independent, Ruffalo said that when he met Feige, he was on the verge of quitting. He said: "When we did the first Avengers, Kevin Feige told me, 'Listen, I might not be here tomorrow'. And he's like, 'Ike [Perlmutter, Disney's largest shareholder at the time] does not believe that anyone will go to a female-starring superhero movie. So if I am still here tomorrow, you will know that I won that battle.
"Kevin wanted black superheroes, women superheroes, LGBT superheroes. He changed the whole Marvel universe.
"We now have a gay superhero on the way, we have black superheroes, we have female superheroes – Scarlett Johansson has her movie coming out, we have 'Captain Marvel', they are doing 'She-Hulk' next.
"No other studio is being that inclusive on that level," Ruffalo concluded. "They have to, though. This is the f***ing world."
So it seems that we owe Feige a lot of thanks for pushing for more diversity on our screens, and changed the way that Disney previously thought. Just this year alone, we are eagerly awaiting the 'Black Widow' standalone movie (which is arriving better late than never), while we also have 'The Eternals' to look forward to. The movie, starring Angelina Jolie and Kumail Nanjiani, will feature the universe's first same-sex superhero couple.
