Okay, so Mark Ruffalo just went on record to say he has NOT been fired by Disney, despite what literally everyone on social media has been saying for weeks. While promoting his new movie Crime 101 with Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry, reporters straight up asked him if Disney gave him the boot, and his response? “Not that I know of!” Like, he was smiling and joking about it, and Chris Hemsworth jumped in to call the whole thing “nonsense.” So yeah, the Hulk is still employed by Marvel Studios, and all those viral posts claiming otherwise were complete BS.
Here’s what actually happened: Ruffalo went OFF at the Golden Globes in January, calling President Trump “the worst human being” and describing ICE agents as “literal stormtroopers” after the death of Renee Nicole Good. He did not hold back. He called Trump a convicted felon, a convicted rapist, and basically said we’re all in trouble if we’re relying on his morality to lead the country. Strong words, especially at a major Hollywood event with cameras everywhere.
And within HOURS, social media exploded with claims that Disney fired him. People were sharing posts, videos were going viral, Marvel fans were freaking out thinking we were losing our Hulk over some political comments. Except here’s the problem: literally none of it was true. Not a single credible source confirmed it. No official statement from Disney. No coverage from Variety or The Hollywood Reporter or Deadline. Nothing. Just a bunch of people on the internet saying it happened and everyone else believing it.
The wild part? Some of these “Mark Ruffalo fired” posts actually trace back to a 2018 JOKE. Remember when Ruffalo accidentally spoiled the Endgame title on The Tonight Show and the Russo Brothers jokingly tweeted “Mark, you’re fired”? That was a BIT. A comedy segment. But screenshots of that old tweet started circulating again without context, and people who didn’t know the backstory took it seriously. So now we’ve got old jokes mixed with current political rumors creating this perfect storm of fake news.
We need to talk about why these rumors spread so fast and why SO many people believed them without checking if they were actually true. Because honestly, this whole situation says a lot about how misinformation works in 2026, and spoiler alert: it’s not great.
Why Everyone Believed the Firing Rumors
The main reason people bought into this so quickly? Gina Carano. Disney absolutely DID fire her from The Mandalorian back in 2021 over controversial social media posts, specifically one where she compared being a Republican to Jews during the Holocaust. Lucasfilm called her posts “abhorrent and unacceptable,” dropped her from the show, and her agency cut ties with her too. So Disney has proven they’ll fire people over political statements.
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That precedent is exactly why the Ruffalo firing rumors seemed believable. If they did it to Carano, why wouldn’t they do it to Ruffalo after his Trump comments? The logic made sense to a lot of people, even though the situations are actually pretty different when you look at the details.
Conservative critics who’ve wanted Ruffalo canceled for years saw the Golden Globes speech as the perfect opportunity to claim victory. They started spreading firing rumors whether they were true or not because it fit the narrative they wanted. Meanwhile, progressive supporters worried Disney actually might fire him to avoid controversy with the current administration. So you had people from both sides amplifying these claims for completely different reasons.
The fact that Disney didn’t immediately come out and deny the rumors also made things worse. Companies can’t respond to every piece of internet nonsense, but their silence let these false claims circulate and gain legitimacy through repetition. For people who don’t follow entertainment news closely, the lack of denial looked like confirmation.
The Hulk’s Actual MCU Status Made Things Confusing
Here’s where things get legitimately messy and probably fed into the firing rumors. Ruffalo confirmed to Empire that he will NOT appear in Avengers: Doomsday. That’s the next big Avengers movie, and one of the original core Avengers isn’t going to be in it. Meanwhile, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Robert Downey Jr. are all coming back to the MCU in some form.
So people heard “Ruffalo not in the next Avengers movie,” saw the Golden Globes backlash, and connected dots that don’t actually connect. His absence from Doomsday is a creative decision, not a punishment. Marvel rotates characters in and out of ensemble films all the time based on what the story needs. Not every Avenger appears in every Avengers movie.
But the timing made it look suspicious to people who wanted to believe Disney was punishing him. And honestly, we get why that confusion happened. When you’ve got a major MCU character sitting out the next big team-up movie right after political controversy, it’s natural to wonder if there’s a connection even if there isn’t one.
The good news? Ruffalo IS confirmed for Spider-Man: Brand New Day coming out July 31 with Tom Holland, Jon Bernthal, and Sadie Sink. So he’s not gone from Marvel, just not in that one specific Avengers film. And based on his comments during the Crime 101 press tour, it sounds like he’s involved in other Marvel projects we don’t know about yet.
What Ruffalo Actually Said
When reporters asked him point blank if Disney fired him, Ruffalo’s response was perfect. He said “Not that I know of” with this big smile, then added that people keep asking him if he got fired and he’s like nope! He said he has a good relationship with Disney and he’ll stick around “as long as they’ll have me.”
Then he got a little mysterious and said there might be things he’s already doing that he can’t talk about yet, followed by “I’m around, let me just say that.” So it sounds like he’s got Marvel projects lined up beyond what’s been officially announced, which definitely doesn’t sound like someone who got fired.
Chris Hemsworth backing him up by calling the rumors “nonsense” is important too. Thor would know if the Hulk was getting kicked out of the MCU, right? Having another MCU actor directly contradict the firing claims adds credibility to Ruffalo’s denial beyond just his own word.
The whole vibe of the interview was relaxed and joking, not defensive or damage-control-y. If there was actually drama with Disney, you’d probably sense tension or careful PR-speak. Instead it was just Ruffalo being like “yeah, people keep asking me this, it’s not true, moving on.”
Why Ruffalo Is Different From Gina Carano
Even though both situations involve Disney and political statements, they’re actually pretty different when you break them down. Carano had a pattern of controversial posts over months. She mocked mask mandates during COVID, spread election fraud claims, and then did the Holocaust comparison that was the final straw. It was ongoing behavior that built up until Disney decided she didn’t align with company values anymore.
Ruffalo’s been politically outspoken for YEARS throughout his entire time with Marvel. He’s never hidden his progressive views, and Disney has kept casting him in major MCU projects anyway. His Golden Globes speech wasn’t some shocking departure from his usual behavior. It was just Mark Ruffalo being Mark Ruffalo, which Disney has been totally fine with for over a decade.
Also, the content matters. Carano was spreading COVID misinformation and comparing herself to Holocaust victims, which crosses lines beyond just political disagreement. Ruffalo criticized the current president and immigration enforcement, which is standard political commentary that tons of celebrities do. It’s provocative, sure, but it’s not in the same category as what got Carano fired.
The entertainment industry is generally progressive, and criticizing Trump is not exactly a career-ending move in Hollywood. If Disney fired everyone who called Trump names, they’d lose half their talent roster. The idea that Ruffalo’s comments would specifically get him canned just doesn’t match how the industry actually works.
The Misinformation Problem Is Real
This whole situation is a perfect example of how fake news spreads in 2026. Someone makes a claim on social media, it aligns with what people already believe or want to believe, and suddenly it’s being shared thousands of times with everyone treating it as confirmed fact. Nobody bothers to check if there’s an actual source. Nobody notices that legitimate entertainment news outlets aren’t reporting it. It just becomes “true” through repetition.
The old Russo Brothers joke getting recycled and misinterpreted made things even worse. People see a screenshot that says “Mark, you’re fired” from an official Marvel director account and assume it’s current news without checking the date or context. That’s how misinformation works – taking real things out of context and presenting them as something they’re not.
Social media platforms make this problem worse because dramatic claims get way more engagement than boring corrections. A post saying “DISNEY FIRES MARK RUFFALO” is going to get shared and commented on way more than a post saying “actually that’s not true, here’s why.” So the lie spreads faster and farther than the truth, and by the time corrections come out, half the people who saw the original claim never see the debunking.
We all need to be better about this. Before sharing something that seems shocking or outrageous, take literally 30 seconds to check if it’s from a credible source. If major MCU casting news was real, Variety would be reporting it. If they’re not, maybe question whether some random Twitter account actually has insider information.
What This Means Moving Forward
Mark Ruffalo is still the Hulk. He’s still working with Marvel. He still has upcoming projects including Spider-Man: Brand New Day and possibly more that haven’t been announced. His relationship with Disney is apparently fine despite what the internet tried to convince us.
The firing rumors were fake from the start, built on a combination of political wishful thinking, old jokes taken out of context, confusion about unrelated creative decisions, and generally how easy it is to spread false information online. Ruffalo himself has now directly confirmed they’re BS, Hemsworth backed him up, and there’s still zero credible reporting suggesting any employment issues.
For people who were genuinely worried about losing Ruffalo from the MCU over political speech, you can relax. For people who wanted him fired and were celebrating what they thought was Disney taking action, sorry to disappoint but it didn’t happen. For everyone else who was just confused about what was real, hopefully this clears things up.
The bigger lesson here is about media literacy and checking sources before believing dramatic claims. This won’t be the last time fake news spreads about a celebrity or major entertainment property. Learning to spot misinformation and verify claims before sharing them is a skill we all need to develop, because clearly a lot of people haven’t figured that out yet.
Ruffalo’s not going anywhere unless he decides to leave, and right now that doesn’t seem to be happening. The Hulk will continue smashing in the MCU, and Mark Ruffalo will continue saying whatever he wants politically because that’s what he’s always done and Disney has been fine with it.
Did you believe the firing rumors when they first started spreading? Be honest! Drop a comment and let us know if you fell for it or if you immediately knew it was fake news. We’re all trying to navigate this information landscape together, and there’s no shame in admitting you got fooled by something that seemed plausible. The important thing is learning to question things and check sources before believing everything we see online!
