Mark Ruffalo Tells Hot Ones It 'Was Easy' to Pop Channing Tatum's Eardrum: 'He'd Beaten the S--t Out of Me'

The Marvel star also opened up about the time he almost gave up on acting as a career following what was, according to legend, 800 rejections in a row. He revealed his rock bottom moment, and the incident and person who turned it back around for him.

The moment came when he considered walking away and joined his dad on a job site, seeing guys sand blasting. Watching that, Mark joked that he thought, "These hands are too soft!" But it was his mom who really made the difference.

He didn't tell her he was considering giving up on his dream, but she somehow got wind of it anyway. "She said to me, 'If you quit acting, I will never speak to you again. I will be so angry and upset with you.,'" Ruffalo recalled. "I never heard my mom talk like that." It was enough to get him back out there.

Ruffalo also talks about how meticulous David Fincher was as a director, recalling one time when he and Jake Gyllenhaal were on Take 63 of a simple walk-and-talk scene and the director walked into the scene to move a background player two inches before calling for another.

One question that seemed to catch him off guard was when Evans asked him to confirm Channing Tatum's story about him literally popping his eardrum during filming of their 2014 flick, Foxcatcher. "He did ask me to slap the s--t out of him," Ruffalo confirmed.

He went on to note that "it was easy to do because he'd beaten the s--t out of me so many times. It was like four months of wrestling, of learning how to wrestle together."

"He like has 30 pounds on me, so when it came time to smack the s--t out of him, I, like, came from Alabama.'" At this, Ruffalo reached his arm way behind him, suggesting he put some momentum behind it.

Tatum shared the story of his popped eardrum back at Cannes the year their film premiered, per EW, where he said that the injury did fully heal. He also said he was "pretty sure I broke my hand" during the training, so maybe the slap was the least of his concerns.

When Evans asked for a pro and a con of rooming with Joaquin Phoenix during filming on their 2007 project Reservation Road, Ruffalo didn't have anything negative to say, painting a picture of an extremely courteous roommate who -- even better! -- is "a great cook."

"He turned me on to vegan cuisine and so he would cook all the time and he was a great roommate," Ruffalo said. "He was a roommate who'd be out and you'd get a text, 'You need anything? Need me to pick up anything?' The place is clean, all the dishes were washed, he's got a great sense of humor. He was super thoughtful."

Ruffalo was foolishly feeling way too confident along his hot wings journey, though, which could be why he took down the entire wing soaked in Da' Bomb sauce, appropriately labeled "Beyond Insanity." He immediately regretted his decision.

The actor then wrapped his time on the show with sound advice for any artist including taking time to develop your own individuality and why it's so important to avoid debt even while scrabbling for scraps.