AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON - Joss Whedon Discloses Post-Production Issues


So maybe it's not all love-y dove-y when working with Marvel Studios. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON writer/director Joss Whedon has opened up and disclosed some of the issues he had with studio executives while in post-production for the sequel.

You would think after helming the No. 3 movie of all-time, Whedon would have a lot of say with the sequel. He probably did have some freedom but as it in during any film project, the studio executives will intervene.

Obviously SPOILERS are ahead for AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. [Quotes are via THR and IndieWire.]

Whedon on going back-and-forth with Marvel Studios about the Scarlet Witch dream scenes, the cave sequence and the farm:

“The dreams were not an executive favorite — the dreams, the farmhouse, these were things I fought to keep. With the cave, it really turned into: they pointed a gun at the farm’s head and said, ‘Give us the cave, or we’ll take out the farm,’ — in a civilized way. I respect these guys, they’re artists, but that’s when it got really, really unpleasant.”

On just giving in to the studio executive's requests during post-production:

“I was so beaten down at that point that I was like, ‘Sure, OK — what movie is this?’ And the editors were like, ‘No. You have to show the [events in the cave]. You can’t just say it… I do feel they threw out the baby with the pond water.”

On wanting Captain Marvel and Spider-Man as 'New Avengers' at the end of the sequel, being told no and then being told the studio was making those films after it was too late to include them:

"I wanted all those people, but I said, ‘It would be great if we could add a few more [heroes], if we could have a Captain Marvel there, now that you’ve made a deal,’ and they talked about it. And I was like, ‘And Spider-Man, we could do that too, ’cause Sony had approached us during the first movie about a little integration. So I would have put both of [those heroes] in, but neither of the deals were made. 
"'We’re making a Captain Marvel movie and we’ve got Spider-Man as a property,’ and I’m like, ‘I’ve already locked my film you f**kers! Thanks for nothing.”

On having Loki cut from the final edit of the movie:

"I really wanted to have Loki in it but I understood the decision. 
“He’s so important to the mythos, and they’re like, ‘We can’t get Tom. We can’t make a deal,”Whedon recounts. “‘You can have Idris!’ I was like, ‘Oh, I love Idris! This is great!’ And then I talked to Tom and said… ‘I would never pressure you, but I really feel like it would be great if you could do this, and he was like, ‘Sure.’ And they’re like, ‘But we already have Idris!’ And again, I had no problem there. Everybody’s in! We had Loki in the second part of [Thor’s] dream and [Marvel] was like, ‘Well that doesn’t work and we don’t want to introduce Loki’ this late.’”

On fighting for the death of Quicksilver and actually getting his way:

“It’s disingenuous to make, as I refer to it, a war movie and say there is no price. In this movie we’re saying, ‘prove to me that you guys are heroes.’ And [Quicksilver] is the guy who is the least… the most arrogant, the most annoying — if you watch the DVD extras, an incredible p**sy hound — and Hawkeye genuinely hates him and that’s the guy who saves him. I knew that it would be resonant and it would make everything work and matter more. I said [to Johnson], ‘The only thing that would keep you alive is if the Disney executives say, ‘Idiot, it’s a franchise and we need all these people and you’re not allowed to kill them.’”


After reading all of this it kind of makes sense why Whedon said he's done with Marvel Studios films after AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. Not only has he committed over five years of his life to the studio but it sounds like he's just burnt out from dealing with studio executives. However, Whedon has said nothing but wonderful things about the people he's worked with at Marvel Studios so don't look at all of this as being a bigger issue than it is, between the two. 

Studios spend millions on films and since they pay the bills, they do become more involved — especially Marvel Studios who needs to maintain a cohesive Marvel Cinematic Universe — in the process and in post-production. It's just the way Hollywood works when it comes to huge blockbuster movies.