“It’s a daunting language,” says Mark Ruffalo, “but once you start to get there, it feels really good.”
Published on July 8, 2024 02:34PM EDT Avengers, assemble! No, Marvel Studios’ original superhero team hasn’t reunited on screen — yet. But Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, and newly-minted Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. recently got together to dub the original Avengers movie into the Lakota language.
“This project came out of my relationship with the Lakota people,” Ruffalo says in a new video about the project. “I’d been hearing about the work they’ve been doing to revitalize the language. There’s not a lot of people left who speak it.”
Lakota advisor Chuck Archambault elaborates on the goal: “Our idea is to put the language back in the homes of our people — to be able to have them bond in such a way where they’re having fun watching a movie, and be totally integrated with the language of our people.”
This is not the first time an MCU project has been dubbed in a Native American language. The recent miniseries Echo, which stars Menominee actor Alaqua Cox in the title role as deaf Choctaw vigilante Maya Lopez, came ready with a Choctaw language dub available for viewers.
But the remarkable thing about the new Lakota dub of The Avengers is that it was done by the original actors themselves. In the video, you can see clips of Downey and Johansson re-recording their lines in Lakota, and celebrating when they nail the pronunciation.
“Everyone really was into it,” Ruffalo says. “It’s a daunting language: There are sounds that we just don’t have in our language that they have in theirs. But once you start to get there, it feels really good.”
In one of the video’s behind-the-scenes moments from the recording sessions, you can hear Downey remark, “dude, that is so slick. What a beautiful language.”
Watch the full video above. You can now watch The Avengers with the Lakota dub on Disney+.
Disney+ and Marvel have unveiled a new featurette highlighting the extraordinary efforts behind a recent and unique addition to the streaming platform: a Lakota language dub of the 2012 blockbuster, The Avengers.
This special project sees the original cast, including Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, and Robert Downey Jr., returning to reprise their roles in the once-banned language. Marvel’s official description celebrates this reunion of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, not for a cosmic battle, but for a significant cultural endeavor known as The Lakota Project. The Avengers cast has come together to re-record their iconic lines in Lakota, a native language with a rich history. The description continues with the following:
“Mark Ruffalo and members of the initiative sit down with us to share the story of this amazing reunion and its very special cause. From the recording studio to the big screen, we explore this important cinematic milestone and celebrate the release that took over 15 months, 62 Lakota-Dakota language speakers, and the original Avengers team to come together and Assemble!”
This initiative was reportedly spearheaded by Mark Ruffalo, who produced the 2022 documentary Lakota Nation Vs. United States. The documentary chronicles the Lakota people’s long-standing struggle to reclaim their identity and land after the U.S. government seized the Black Hills in 1876. Ruffalo collaborated with organizers and filmmakers at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, spanning North and South Dakota, to bring this project to life.
The Avengers cast worked closely with Lakota actors who voiced the supporting characters, ensuring the authenticity of the language and their performances. This project not only celebrates the Lakota language but also provides valuable experience for the Standing Rock community in collaborating with a major studio, paving the way for more Lakota soundtracks in the future.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
