The Directors Guild of America in Hollywood was host tonight to a special screening of Marvel’s The Avengers with writer/director Joss Whedon in attendance. During a post-screening Q&A, Whedon spoke at length about the comic book ensemble, revealing which characters didn’t make the final cut and hinting at what changes fans can expect in the 2015 sequel.
“There was a little bit of time where we thought we might not actually get Scarlett [Johansson],” he explains. “There was a very Waspy draft that I wrote. But it was way too Waspy. I was like, ‘She’s adorable! I’m just going to watch her!'”
Janet Van Dyne wasn’t the only character that didn’t make the final cut, however. Whedon says that his original vision called for a second villain beyond Tom Hiddleston’s Loki.
“I’m not going to tell you [who it is],” he says, “because that person might crop up another time. But I definitely felt like, ‘I’ve got Earth’s mightiest heroes. I’ve got four of the biggest, baddest, toughest guys out there and I’ve got one effete British character actor.’ They believed very strongly that they didn’t want to add any more mythology, I think was the thing.”
Although Whedon stayed relatively quiet about the upcoming sequel, he did offer the tease that he thinks swapping out Avengers is an important quality of the comics themselves.
“I used to read ‘The Avengers’ and part of the ethos of the team was that it changed their lineup every month,” he continues. “Their 150th issue was just a bunch of faces. ‘Who will be in the team now?!’ We had the first issue as a poster in the offices. Now that I’m working on the sequel I said, ‘Let’s put the second issue up there! Let’s change it up a little bit!’ The second issue is ‘Introducing Giant-Man! And this character! They were already changing it up after one issue. That’s what they always do.”
What that means for the sequel remains to be seen, but Marvel’s The Avengers 2 is slated to hit theaters on May 1, 2015 and Whedon will also be writing and directing the pilot episode of “Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D.”, rumored to begin on ABC in the fall of 2013.
(Photo Credit: Brian To / WENN.com)
