Mark Ruffalo Will Play Ryan Reynolds’ Father

Ryan Reynolds is going back to the Netflix well one more time and word now is that Mark Ruffalo (of The Avengers fame) has signed on to play Reynolds father.

By Rick Gonzales | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Ryan Reynolds and Mark Ruffalo

Ryan Reynolds is going back to the Netflix well one more time and word now is that Mark Ruffalo (of The Avengers fame) has signed on to play Reynolds father. Now before you get all flustered with how the 53-year old Mark Ruffalo can play the 44-year old Reynolds’ father, let us lay some facts down.

The Ryan Reynolds Netflix movie is called The Adam Project. The movie reunites Reynolds with his Free Guy director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum franchise, Cheaper by the Dozen). The Adam Project tells the story of Adam Reed, a 13-year old who is grieving the death of his father one year earlier. One night, Adam goes into his garage to find a wounded pilot there. The pilot (Reynolds) is an older version of Adam who has traveled back in time, risking everything, to return on a secret mission. Older Adam must enlist his younger self for the mission and go on an adventure in the past to find their father, set wrongs right, and hopefully save the world from the big bad villain. The villain, in this instance, is Catherine Keener (Sicario: Day of the Soldado, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and she definitely has some diabolical plans.

So time travel is the explanation for how Mark Ruffalo can play Ryan Reynolds’ father. The younger Adam is played by newcomer Walker Scobell. The movie also features Alex Mallari Jr. (Dark Matter, Working Moms).

ryan reynolds
Ryan Reynolds

The recent additions of Mark Ruffalo and Keener came on the heels of Netflix announcing that Jennifer Garner and Zoe Saldana were joining the cast. Garner will play Reynolds’ mother and Saldana will portray Reynolds’ wife, who also happens to be a fighter pilot.

The Netflix movie was initially set up at Paramount eight years ago and actually had Tom Cruise attached to star in it. The script has gone through several rewrites as Mark Levin, Jennifer Flackett, and TS Nowlin took a shot at it and now sees Jonathan Tropper with the latest revision which Mark Ruffalo is in.

With Netflix clearly fawning over Ryan Reynolds, and why not the Deadpool actor is box-office bonanza, the streaming service didn’t hesitate to take on The Adam Project once Reynolds signed on. Netflix first had Reynolds in the Michael Bay action crime flick 6 Underground and now the streaming giant has Red Notice on deck. Red Notice stars Reynolds but also has brought in two more big-screen heavyweights, Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot.

sherlock holmes

There is no official word yet as to when The Adam Project will start production as Ryan Reynolds is not only high in demand, he is also quite busy. With Red Notice and Free Guy coming soon, Reynolds also has the sequels The Croods: A New Age and The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard ready to go. He is working on a remake of Clue, based on the board game, and a new take on A Christmas Carol. Of course, there is always Deadpool 3, which looks like it will finally be happening.

Are we ready for a Ryan Reynolds overload and more importantly, are we ready to see Mark Ruffalo play Reynolds’ father?