Mark Ruffalo didn't warn Chris Evans about She-Hulk revealing Captain America's virginity status

Sydney Bucksbaum
·5 min read
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Mark Ruffalo didn't warn Chris Evans about She-Hulk revealing Captain America's virginity status
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Warning: This article contains spoilers for the series premiere of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

Jennifer Walters is the hero we all deserve, because in the very first episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, she finally gets to the bottom of one of Marvel's biggest mysteries: Did Captain America die a virgin?

Throughout the series premiere of the Disney+ show (now streaming), there's a running gag in which Jen (Tatiana Maslany) vents at length to anyone who'll listen about her theory that the first Avenger, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), died a virgin. She even has a detailed timeline of evidence she's collected through her own research.

On its own, it's a brilliantly meta bit that calls out the legions of fans who debated that very topic for years (before Avengers: Endgame revealed that Steve ended up with Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter, thanks to some time travel). But She-Hulk goes a step further and actually gives us the real answer in a hilarious end-credits scene where Jen is drunkenly ranting (once again) to her cousin Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), about how Cap didn't deserve to die a virgin — especially with "that ass." An annoyed Bruce decides to put an end to her rambling by disclosing a shocking piece of information he's been sitting on for years: "Steve Rogers is not a virgin. He lost his virginity to a girl in 1943 on the USO tour."

Chris Evans in 'Captain America: The First Avenger'
Chris Evans in 'Captain America: The First Avenger'

Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios Chris Evans in 'Captain America: The First Avenger'

Of course, Jen then reveals she was faking being drunk to manipulate Bruce into telling her the truth, and now it's too late for him to take it back. She loudly cheers, "Captain America fu—!" as the scene abruptly cuts, and now that piece of very vital information is cemented in the Marvel Cinematic Universe forever.

But it turns out no one warned Captain America himself that a very personal piece of his history was about to be broadcast to the world. "I laughed my ass off," Ruffalo tells EW. "I'm like, 'Does someone need to talk to Captain America about this?' I haven't. I was afraid he was going to have it cut. Too late now, buddy. The cat's out of the bag."

Evans knows now, as evidenced by his tweet Thursday consisting of a bunch of crying/laughing emojis and one zipped-lips emoji. Captain America still isn't one to kiss and tell, but at least we have Jen and Bruce!

Ruffalo praises She-Hulk: Attorney at Law for really going there — not just with Cap's virginity status, but also with how the show portrays the daily life of a superhero in ways the movies never could. "That's all the human stuff that we don't get to [usually see]," he says. "What's great about this show is that we get to see them as just human beings and what their lives are and what those histories are. It's really different in that way, and it's funny because we're seeing this single girl in her 30s, and when [head writer] Jessica Gao said, 'I love how horny-forward the show is,' I was like, 'I'm going to use that.'"

As She-Hulk continues, viewers can expect to see more hilarious, meta, and, yes, horny moments like this. "The horniness! That stuff is my favorite," Maslany says with a laugh. She loved how Jen is obsessed with Captain America's virginity because "it's the human side of him, the real side, the thing that she would [relate to]."

But the actress admits she had no idea this was something Marvel fans have been wondering for years, adding, "I love that that's how everybody's thinking. In that vein of that question, there's a lot more Easter eggs like that throughout the season. There's something later that's a really great moment with a cameo that I won't say what happens, but it's basically like a walk of shame that's really funny."

Tatiana Maslany on 'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'
Tatiana Maslany on 'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'

Marvel Studios Tatiana Maslany on 'She-Hulk: Attorney at Law'

And if any fans are wondering how credible Bruce's intel is, the debate can be put to rest: This is officially the true story of how Captain America lost his virginity. "We didn't set out thinking that we were going to be able to answer it," Gao tells EW. "It used to just be a running joke, that it's going to be a lifelong obsession for Jen, that this is the one thing that keeps her awake at night. It actually used to be in the show a lot more, where in every episode there would be some little reminder, like you'd see that her search history was this, and she was always in asides talking to other characters where everybody's reaction was like, 'She's talking about this again.'"

But then Gao got the definitive answer — and permission to use it — from Marvel's mastermind. "It was actually Kevin Feige who said, 'I know the answer. I can tell you. We can do the answer,'" Gao recalls. "And I was like, 'You have the answer, and we can tell everyone?' And he was like, 'Yeah.' So this is Marvel canon. This is straight from Kevin Feige."

New episodes of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law debut Thursdays on DIsney+.

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