The Avengers Assemble on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Published at
ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — On Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night, Jimmy welcomed Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, and Scarlett Johansson, the stars of the May 1 Marvel Studio film Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The stars took part in an A-List game of “telephone” that opened the show, before participating in a group interview, in which Johansson jokingly claimed to have done all of her own motorcycle stunts, even though she was with child at the time they filmed. “Are you crazy?!” she laughed. “I was pregnant!”
The actress also lamented wearing a skin-tight “catsuit when you’re humongous.” It all seemed better than Ruffalo’s “man-canceling” leotard, which was used to help transform him via computer magic into The Hulk. Why man-canceling? “It makes you look small everywhere you want to look big, and big everywhere you want to look small,” he explained.
The cast also chatted with fans on Kimmel’s “Wall of America” video screen.
One of those fans who popped up with a question was Clark Gregg, who starred with the cast in the original Avengers, and has appeared in virtually every Marvel movie. As far as moviegoers know, however, the Avengers still think his character, Phil Coulson, is dead — though he’s alive and well on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — and it seemed his absence made the stars’ hearts grow fonder. They went bananas when they saw him on the screen. “Get the f*** over here!” a stunned Ruffalo mouthed, making room on the couch next to him for Gregg to sit. “Where are you?!” Johansson asked. For his part, Downey screamed “Yes!” and fist-pumped.
Gregg explained, “Big fan, big fan…I just wondered if any of you would consider working on the small screen. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but it’s the golden age of television.” Kimmel asked the stars if they’d appear on S.H.I.E.L.D., and after an awkward pause, Evans sarcastically blurted out, “Sure!” and after some cross-talk, Downey jokingly jabbed, “You wouldn’t want to be blown off your small screen.” Ruffalo told Gregg he’s more than eager: “Quit blowing us off!” Dr. Bruce Banner/The Hulk enthused.
The gang was also split into two teams for “Avengers Family Feud.” Captain America himself, Chris Evans, led Ruffalo and Renner. Downey opposed, joined by Johansson and Hemsworth. After some apparently tequila-based confusion, Downey’s team took the victory — and a tandem bike built and decorated for three superheros.
Appropriate for an episode plugging a Marvel movie, the Kimmel episode even featured an after-credits scene. Kimmel, seemingly sitting in his living room, watched the show end, and said, “What? No after-credits scene?!”
The camera pulled back to reveal Ant-Man star Paul Rudd was watching with him, wearing an Ant-Man shirt. “That blows,” the actor deadpanned, before they started trashing the room.
The action didn’t end for the stars, however, who decamped from Kimmel’s studio and walked across the street to the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the movie’s world premiere. The scope of the movie was stunning for both series newcomers Elizabeth Olsen, who plays Scarlet Witch, and Paul Bettany, who finally got to suit up as the cybernetic hero Vision after being heard as the voice of JARVIS in the Iron Man movies and the original Avengers. “I’ve never seen sets like this,” the actor explained, “and I’ve never seen film sets destroyed in the same way that I’ve seen film sets destroyed on this film.”
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.