The Avengers Assemble to Dub 2012 Film in the Lakota Language

Avengers, assemble! 

For the first time in years, the original Avengers reunited for a celebratory cause. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes joined together to record and dub Marvel Studios’ The Avengers in the Native American Lakota language, streaming now on Disney+. 

As part of the project, Marvel has released a new behind-the-scenes video, giving a peek into the recording process. The video shows how the original Avengers cast — including Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson — reunited to rerecord their original lines in Lakota.   

The Lakota Project was born out of an effort to help reintroduce and promote the Lakota language. Ruffalo had previously collaborated with the Lakota community on past projects, and he and the other Avengers were eager to get involved with the new dub.   

“Just getting everyone together on the same page was probably the most difficult thing,” Ruffalo explains in the video. “But everyone really was into it. 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.” 

The Lakota Project took over 15 months and involved 62 Lakota-Dakota language speakers, as well as the original Avengers team. 

“You have the most famous film franchise in the world and some of the most famous actors, celebrities, and characters speaking our Lakota language that was once banned,” Lakota dub executive producer Ray Taken Alive says. “So, a really beautiful thing from the project is that our language doesn’t have to hide anymore.” 

Marvel Studios’ The Avengers is now available to stream in Lakota on Disney+.