Why Joss Whedon Is No Longer Involved With The Marvel Cinematic Universe

After writing and directing 2012’s The Avengers for Marvel Studios, Joss Whedon’s role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was extended to him being a creative consultant for the entirety of their Phase Two projects, as well as writing & directing 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. However, since then Whedon has chosen to take a step back and focus on his own projects.

But is Joss Whedon involved with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in any capacity moving forward? While doing a recent Q&A at the Oxford Union, Whedon commented on the matter as well as a few other subjects.

“No. You know I was their sort of conciliary for a while… We do not discuss our thing… [audience laughter] But, I sort of had my finger in all of the films in the second phase, but then I just had to concentrate only on Ultron, and sort of know when it was done I was just going to stop. So I made a completely clean break – not because we had a falling out – just because I was like, “I can’t…” If I was still there going, “Well, here are my thoughts on this film,” I’d be there every day. I wouldn’t do anything else because there are a lot of films, and it is a lot of fun. It’s very seductive. When you can put your little fairy dust on things and just improve them slighty, and they actually listen to you… I was a script doctor for a long time, and the part where they listen to you was very rare; so it was very important for my own self to go “we can still be friends,” but…”

Last year, Joss Whedon made headlines regarding comments he made regarding “regretting” the resurrection of Agent Phil Coulson on Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the character being dead as far as the films are concerned. It seems that Whedon may not have explained his comments properly at that time and chose to elaborate on why we didn’t see Clark Gregg making an appearance in Age Of Ultron.

“You know who loved hearing that was Clark Gregg [audience laughter]. He was super thrilled. I do think that there is an element for somebody who consumes all the Marvel product that it might take the punch out, but generally I feel like the SHIELD audience and The Avengers audiences are not actually the same group, necessarily. No, I don’t regret bringing back Phil Coulson because he’s Clark Gregg, and he’s so bad ass.

That was an aspect of it that became a headline in the internet, because that’s what they do. It was sort of, “Oh, that’s the meanest thing he’s said, let’s use that.” You have to go, “Well, okay, if you take it back in TV, does it take it back in film?” That was the the thing, because it came from, “Why wasn’t he in the second film?” I’m like, “Because I have time to explain that [sarcasm].” It’s like, “In addition to introducing nineteen new characters, this [snaps finger] guy’s alive again .” I couldn’t do that, so… It’s an aspect of it, but it’s a small one. It’s not how I feel about it.”

So, it sounds like there might have been some actual consideration about the character popping up at some point but it just came down to not having enough time to pull it off in a proper manner. What are your thoughts on Joss Whedon no longer acting as a consultant? Do you hope to see Coulson pop up in the future films? Let us know what you think about Whedon’s comments in the section below.

Source: Via Cosmic Book News