Joss Whedon's epic venture Avengers: Age of Ultron has exceeded fans expectations - mine, without a shadow of a doubt. But it seems this was a sort of game ender for his work with Marvel.
Remember when he said Age of Ultron was a nightmare? Well, new details have emerged now: it's not just the variety and the number of characters that made Age of Ultron "the hardest juggling act" he ever pulled!
Differences, of course, occurred between him and the studio. When speaking about the creative process behind Age of Ultron, Joss Whedon said the following: "Marvel likes to change things up even more than I do".
What does that mean? Well, a hint was dropped in that very interview: "Hawkeye has a dark secret that makes him removed from the rest of the group. Finding out what that is is the fulcrum of the movie".
Let's elaborate!
Joss Whedon's kept Hawkeye's collateral story for a price
Jeremy Renner and Joss Whedon
Indeed, in Joss Whedon's opinion, Hawkeye's collateral story, the farm story - listed by us as one of the most unexpected moments in Age of Ultron - was central to the sequel. But it was not so well received by the studio.
The Atlantic quotes Joss Whedon from the Empire Film Podcast in this respect. In director's words, "With the cave, it really turned into: They pointed a gun to the farm's head. They said, "˜Give us the cave or we'll take out the farm.'".
In so many words, Joss Whedon had a different vision on how the farm scene should have gone. But the studio insisted on Thor's departure, to occasion a separate soul searching and to introduce his long-debated dream with the cave scene.
Which, for that matter, generated further disagreement between writer-director and the studio, as we pointed out here: they changed the original set, turned the imagery into a more visceral one, chopped the vision and ruled Loki out.
Joss Whedon got to keep his farm story, turning Hawkeye into the central character he was rumored to be before the release of Age of Ultron, but for a price: he lost Loki in post-production ("˜cause some shooting was done, as revealed here).
Now, what do you think, guys? Was Whedon right to insist on keeping the farm story? Did his compromise pay off? Was he right to choose Hawkeye over Loki? Have your say below and stay tuned! We'll bring you the hottest scoop on all things Marvel!
