Joss Whedon sat with Empire Online following the release of Age of Ultron. He got into details and revealed a lot from the inner workings of his second installment of the Avengers.
Now that you've probably seen the movie, you might be a bit puzzled about certain aspects. What made him concoct a romance between Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff? Why did he sacrifice Quicksilver?
Moreover, why isn't Loki in? What do the final words of Bruce Banner mean? What else did they cut, and how would the movie look like if Joss Whedon alone were to call the shots?
Hit the jump to find the answers to all these questions! However, if you haven't seen the movie, consider yourself warned: some serious spoilers lie ahead!
1. On the Hulk-Black Widow romance
I listed Banner and Romanoff's romance as one of the most shocking moments we got to see in Age of Ultron. Sure it was unexpected, but what's the story behind this surprising moment?
You might think that Joss Whedon has been devising that since the beginning of The Avengers, sending the Black Widow to recruit Bruce Banner like he did.
But think again, "˜cause here's what writer-director says about that: "I didn't. But when we shot that scene together, when she goes to recruit him, we did go, ‘They're awfully good together‘" (he refers to the scene of their first encounter).
Whedon's choice to put the Black Widow and the Hulk together seems much more legit once you hear his arguments. And the man is right.
Not combining agent Romanoff with either Hawkeye or Captain America was a good call: "The Steve thing, I'm sort of like, ‘I don't think that was ever going to happen.’ That was never their intent. ["¦] The Clint thing, I have a strong opinion about. I think they're wrong."
More about "the Clint thing": "I think it's wrong to assume a romance. It's much more not only interesting and useful but actually romantic that there are these two people who would die for each other, who are not sleeping together".
Clearly, Joss Whedon counted on the element of surprise: "for me, just to go to the sexy romance place is, I think, the obvious choice and not as interesting a message".
Plus, there is a similarity between Banner and Romanoff that supports their romantic attempt: "I felt that they both have this outsider thing. They're really the two who cannot refer to themselves as heroes, even if they are. Neither of them has powers".
No, don't jump to conclusions. Joss Whedon explains: "When the Hulk shows up, Bruce is gone. Natasha is extraordinarily well-trained, but she doesn't actually have superpowers. They're ordinary Joes in a way. Yet they've both lived completely outside of normal society for most of their adult lives, and in her case her whole life".
Some of the scenes between the Natasha and Banner were cut. But they're going to be on the DVD, as Whedon reassures us - all the more reason to buy it. Including one moment when Banner rejects Natasha in the bedroom scene, described by Whedon as "some of the most beautiful stuff and I hated to cut it".
They decided to ax that and leave the rejection to the end of the movie.
2. On the long-rumored kill of the installment
Joss Whedon was as devious as he could in respect to this particular aspect. Sure, the fact someone had to die was pretty obvious: "I know I've got this reputation, and some people were going to say, ‘There he goes, again with the killing!‘"
It was only in late March that rumors narrowed it down to Quicksilver. But before that, all theories were equally valid, including the death of Hawkeye.
Which is exactly what Joss Whedon planned.
Making the public believe Hawkeye was going to kick the bucket was Whedon's intent: "I wanted them to announce Aaron Taylor-Johnson's nine picture deal, and for them not to announce Jeremy was going to be in the next movie, and all that good stuff. ["¦] But it felt very disingenuous for me".
However, he played that card in the movie. A lot, especially in the Barton family house scene: "I would say, ‘Let's have a shot of him looking at a picture of his family!’ Then, ‘Tony should say, “One of us is definitely going to die!”‘ And I'd laugh and laugh".
As to his decision to sacrifice Quicksilver, well, Joss Whedon puts it like this: "I said to Aaron, ‘The only way you'll stay alive is if the Disney executives say, “Hey idiot, this is a franchise, and we need all these people and you're not allowed to kill them off!”".
In a way, Whedon did save Quicksilver. Of course, in the alternate ending we elaborated on here. But on the big screen, the director had his ways, unstopped by any of the Marvel higher-ups.
3. On Thor's dream
Basically, the Asgardian's vision should have been longer. Long enough to include Loki too, but not only. We explained here why Joss Whedon was pushed to ax the Loki scene.
And to think he did that after he personally sat with Tom Hiddleston to talk him into reprising his role! "And then I talked to Tom, saying, ‘Just so you know, I feel bad not telling you, and I would never pressure you, but… I really feel like it would be great if you could do this…”".
Now a new detail is spilled out:
"["¦] we had Loki in the second part of the dream, but then they were like, ‘That doesn't work, do we want to introduce Loki now, this late?’ ["¦] The dreams were not an executive favourite".
However, what's left of it is a changed version. "The original scene was that Thor went to speak to the Norn and how it would work was that he'd go in the pool and the Norn possess him, basically, and Erik Selvig asks all the questions, and the Norn, speaking through Thor, give the answers".
Joss Whedon confessed the initial version was not "visceral enough": "Then I came up with what I felt was a huge win: it's about Thor getting answers without having to answer the questions, and Chris gets to do something exciting as an actor and he's got his fucking shirt off, so everybody wins!".
Yeah, Hemsworth looking good does sell, I can tell you that!
4. On the ending
The Hulk's exit was carefully devised. "I specifically put in the line, ‘Where in the world am I not a threat?‘ I wanted to leave people with the idea that if this is the last movie, that he may have left the world behind".
And Joss Whedon adds: "Because I think there's something enormously poetic about that, but there's also something enormously misleading about that. We don't plan to make Planet Hulk, as far as I know".
Considerable thought was given to the last line of the movie. "I made sure that we never shot Chris Evans saying [the ‘assemble!’ of ‘Avengers assemble!’] I was positive that some executive was gonna go, ‘You forgot to put in the last word!’".
But Whedon, again, played against the obvious: "I was like, ‘With my dying breath…’ I don't have to say that a lot, but sometimes I'll turn to [Marvel head honcho] Kevin [Feige] and say, ‘With my dying breath…’".
And he made it: "["¦] it was in the script exactly as you see it. ‘He draws breath to say the next word. Blackout.’ So to know that we landed exactly where I wanted to go, however many stumbles along the way, was extremely gratifying".
However, a bit of frustration always makes its way through. "˜Cause after locking the film, Whedon was offered the possibility to slot Captain Marvel and Spider-Man in.
"I said, ‘It would be great if we could add a few more. If we could have a Captain Marvel there…’ And they talked about it. And Spider-Man, because Sony had approached us during the first movie about integration".
And he adds: "so I would have put both of them in, but neither of the deals were made, and then it's, ‘We're making a Captain Marvel movie, and we've got Spider-Man as a property!’ I was like, ‘I've already locked my film, you fucks. Thanks for nothing!’".
That's, at least in part, why Spider-Man and Captain Marvel didn't make it to Age of Ultron!
5. On The Vision wielding Mjolnir
The moment when The Vision lifts Thor's hammer was listed by me as one of the most shocking moments in Age of Ultron. How did Whedon come up with that?
This notion was not included in the original script. In fact, it "came from a ‘Do you know what would be cool?’ moment. It's the cheer moment of the film".
And there were plenty of previous sequences to encourage a moment like that. In Whedon's words:
"And what's great is that ["¦] we'd unknowingly set it up, just by having that [‘Who is worthy enough to Mjolnir?’] sequence, then with Quicksilver as well, trying to grab it and it throws him off. Both of those things were in the script before I came up with the idea of [the Vision lifting Mjolnir]".
So, there you have it: all the secrets behind Age of Ultron! Are they as revealing to you as they are for me? Have your say below, and stay tuned, we'll bring you the hottest scoop on all things Avengers!
