Question: When Mark Ruffalo played Bruce Banner, was it well-received by critics and audiences?
About the article "The Avengers (2012 film)", section "Critical reaction".

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Ruffalo had minor roles in films like "The Dentist" (1996), the low-key crime comedy "Safe Men" (1998) and Ang Lee's Civil War Western "Ride with the Devil" (1999).
Through a chance meeting with writer Kenneth Lonergan, Ruffalo began collaborating with Lonergan and appeared in several of his plays, including the original cast of "This is Our Youth" (1998), which led to Ruffalo's role as Laura Linney's troubled, aimless drifter brother Terry in Lonergan's acclaimed, Academy Award-nominated 2000 film "You Can Count on Me".
He received favorable reviews for his performance in this film, often earning comparisons to the young Marlon Brando, and won awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and Montreal World Film Festival.
This led to other significant roles, including the films "XX/XY" (2002), Isabel Coixet's "My Life Without Me" with Sarah Polley (2003), Jane Campion's "In the Cut" with Meg Ryan (2003), Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), and "We Don't Live Here Anymore" (2004), which is based upon two short stories written by Andre Dubus.
He appeared opposite Tom Cruise as a narcotics detective in Michael Mann's acclaimed crime-thriller "Collateral" (2004).
More recently, Ruffalo has appeared as a romantic lead in "chick flicks" such as "View From the Top" (2002), "13 Going on 30" (2004), "Just Like Heaven" (2005) and "Rumor Has It" (2005).
In 2006, Ruffalo starred in Clifford Odets's "Awake and Sing!"
at the Belasco Theatre in New York, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.
In March 2007, he appeared in "Zodiac" as SFPD homicide inspector Dave Toschi, who ran the investigation to find and apprehend the Zodiac killer from 1969 through most of the 1970s.
In 2007, Ruffalo played divorced lawyer Dwight Arno, who accidentally kills a child and speeds away, in Terry George's film "Reservation Road", based on the novel by John Burnham Schwartz.
In 2008, Ruffalo starred as a con man in "The Brothers Bloom" with Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz.
Also in 2008, he starred along with Julianne Moore in "Blindness".
2008 also saw Ruffalo in Brian Goodman's "What Doesn't Kill You" with Ethan Hawke and Amanda Peet, which was shown at the Toronto Film Festival.
In 2009, he played a brief role in the film "Where The Wild Things Are" as Max's mother's boyfriend.
In 2010, he costarred in the Martin Scorsese thriller "Shutter Island" as U.S.
Marshal Chuck Aule, the partner of Leonardo DiCaprio's character Teddy Daniels.
In 2010, he starred in Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are All Right", with Annette Bening and Julianne Moore.
Ruffalo stated in an interview that he approached Cholodenko after watching "High Art" and said he would love to work with her.
Years later, she called Ruffalo and said she wrote a script, and had him in mind for the part.
The performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.
He is set to star in "Second Coming", a low-budget indie film.
According to Production Weekly, it is being produced by Richard N. Gladstein, Laura Bickford, and Ludovic Dardenay.
The movie will also star Marion Cotillard, Ethan Hawke, Anjelica Huston, and Thandie Newton, and it will be the directorial debut of Nenad Cicin-Sain.
On July 23, 2010, it was announced that Ruffalo would star in the 2012 superhero film "The Avengers", the sixth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, replacing Edward Norton in the role of Bruce Banner / the Hulk.
Ruffalo received critical acclaim for his performance and will reprise the role in any future film adaptations of the character produced by Marvel Studios.
Ruffalo also made an uncredited cameo appearance as Bruce Banner in "Iron Man 3", making him the first actor to reprise the role in a live-action movie.
He will reprise the role again in "" in 2015. 
  Edward Norton portrays Bruce Banner in "The Incredible Hulk" (2008), with Lou Ferrigno providing the voice of the Hulk.
Norton did not return to the role in "The Avengers" (2012), being replaced by Mark Ruffalo.
Ruffalo, along with a mix of Ferrigno and others, provided the voice of the Hulk, with the single line solely Ruffalo.
Ruffalo reprised the role of Banner as a cameo in "Iron Man 3" (2013).
Ruffalo is set to portray the character again in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015).  
Critical reaction.
Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter" gave a positive review of the film, remarking, "It's clamorous, the save-the-world story is one everyone's seen time and again, and the characters have been around for more than half a century in 500 comic book issues.
But Whedon and his cohorts have managed to stir all the personalities and ingredients together so that the resulting dish, however familiar, is irresistibly tasty again."
To "Rolling Stone" journalist Peter Travers, the film epitomized an exceptional blockbuster.
"It's also the blockbuster," Travers said, "I saw in my head when I imagined a movie that brought together the idols of the Marvel world in one shiny, stupendously exciting package.
It's "Transformers" with a brain, a heart and a working sense of humor."
Justin Chang of "Variety" wrote, "Like a superior, state-of-the-art model built from reconstituted parts, Joss Whedon's buoyant, witty and robustly entertaining superhero smash-up is escapism of a sophisticated order, boasting a tonal assurance and rich reserves of humor that offset the potentially lumbering and unavoidably formulaic aspects of this 143-minute team-origin story."
Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" complimented the film's frenetic pace, while Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" commented that it "provides its fans with exactly what they desire.
Whether it is exactly what they deserve is arguable".
Conversely, A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" believed that "while "The Avengers" is hardly worth raging about, its failures are significant and dispiriting.
The light, amusing bits cannot overcome the grinding, hectic emptiness, the bloated cynicism that is less a shortcoming of this particular film than a feature of the genre.
"The performances of several cast members was a frequent topic in the critiques.
In particular, Mark Ruffalo's portrayal of Dr. Bruce Banner/the Hulk was well-received by commentators.
Joe Neumaier opined that his performance was superior to the rest of the cast; "Ruffalo is the revelation, turning Banner into a wry reservoir of calm ready to become a volcano."
Similarly, "The New Yorker" Anthony Lane proclaimed Ruffalo's acting to be one of the film's highlights—alongside Downey.
"The Village Voice" Karina Longworth concluded: "Ruffalo successfully refreshes the Hulk myth, playing Banner as an adorably bashful nerd-genius who, in contrast to the preening hunks on the team, knows better than to draw attention to himself."
Travers asserted that the actor resonated a "scruffy warmth and humor" vibe, while Turan felt that he surpassed predecessors Edward Norton and Eric Bana in playing the character.
Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that "the smartest thing the filmmakers did was to get Mark Ruffalo to play Bruce Banner as a man so sensitive that he's at war, every moment, with himself.
(The film finally solves the Hulk problem: He's a lot more fun in small doses.
)"Referring to Downey, Joe Morgenstein of "The Wall Street Journal"—despite complimenting Downey's performance—favored his work in "Iron Man" over his acting in "The Avengers": "His Iron Man is certainly a team player, but Mr. Downey comes to the party with two insuperable superpowers: a character of established sophistication—the industrialist/inventor Tony Stark, a sharp-tongued man of the world—and his own quicksilver presence that finds its finest expression in self-irony."
Neumaier praised Evans, stating that he accurately conveyed his character's internal conflicts.
Commentators appreciated the character development and dialogue.
Associated Press reviewer Christy Lemire wrote that the script "sparkles as brightly as the special effects; these people may be wearing ridiculous costumes but they're well fleshed-out underneath."
Scott suggested that certain parts of the film permeated a charm that he felt was similar to the western film "Rio Bravo" (1959).
Longworth felt that while Whedon's script demonstrated the backstory of the characters, the film does not explore it "in a substantive way".
Mark Alan Ruffalo (born November 22, 1967) is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter.
He is known for portraying the Marvel Comics character, Bruce Banner / The Hulk in "The Avengers" (2012).
Other notable films in which he has starred are "You Can Count on Me" (2000), "Collateral" (2004), "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), "Just Like Heaven" (2005), "Zodiac" (2007), "Shutter Island" (2010), and "Now You See Me" (2013).
For his role in "The Kids Are All Right" (2010), he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Since 2010, he has become a supporter of the creation of 100% clean energy (including a campaign to "Put Solar On It"), based on a belief that fracking was "destroying" his community in upstate New York. 
The Incredible Hulk is a 2008 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character the Hulk, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Universal Pictures.
It is the second installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The film was directed by Louis Leterrier, written by Zak Penn and Edward Harrison, and stars Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, Tim Blake Nelson, Ty Burrell and William Hurt.
This film establishes a new backstory where Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk as an unwitting pawn in a military scheme to reinvigorate the supersoldier program through gamma radiation.
On the run, he attempts to cure himself of the Hulk before he is captured by General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, but his worst fears are realized when power-hungry soldier Emil Blonsky becomes a similar but more bestial creature.
Marvel Studios reacquired the rights to the character after the mixed reception to the 2003 film "Hulk", and Penn began work on a loose sequel that would be much closer to the comics and the television series.
Norton rewrote the script after he signed on to star, clarifying the film's new backstory.
Leterrier redesigned Roth's character, called the Abomination in the comics, from the comics' reptilian humanoid into a monster with bony protrusions.
Filming mostly took place in Toronto, Ontario in 2007, where the production attempted to be environmentally friendly.
The film was No.
1 at its box office release—out grossing its predecessor—grossing over $260 million in worldwide, as well as No.
1 for the DVD release.
Norton was initially intended to again portray Bruce Banner in "The Avengers" and other future installments featuring the character, but after talks broke down, he was replaced by Mark Ruffalo, who has signed on to reprise the role in all future sequels.
However, despite the positive reception towards Ruffalo's portrayal of the character in "The Avengers", Marvel chose to put off a possible sequel until at least 2016.