Whedon Gives ‘Age of Ultron’ Insights

Joss Whedon

In the age of secrecy we live in, when it comes to blockbuster films, it’s nice to see directors not be scared to offer some information about what they’re working on. Joss Whedon recently chatted with Empire Online, and opened up a bit about how things are going with The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Amongst the topics covered are what he’s enjoying most about his new big villain, what he thought the first film lacked, and how shooting in the UK is expanding the visual landscape for his next Marvel epic.

So, what makes Ultron such a unique villain? Whedon explains, “He’s not a creature of logic – he’s a robot who’s genuinely disturbed. We’re finding out what makes him menacing and at the same time endearing and funny and strange and unexpected, and everything a robot never is.” The Ultron depicted in this sequel will have a pathological hatred of humanity, which sounds about right, considering what we know about the character from the comic books. For the MCU version, he’s also going to have some severe “daddy issues” aimed at his creator, Mr. Tony Stark.

But Ultron won’t be alone on the heel side of things. We know Baron von Strucker will factor into this one, and that Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch will also be depicted as baddies as well- at least for a portion of the film. So should we be worried about Too Many Villains Syndrome? We’ve all seen it before- a movie like Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 comes along and is over-stuffed and under-cooked, with too many villains and the narrative suffers. According to Whedon, though, we have nothing to be worried about. On the contrary, as a fellow fanboy, he’s seen how that can hurt a movie.

“I fiercely dislike the idea of just throwing in more people for the sake of doing that,” he says. “But last time I had all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes versus one British character actor, and I needed more conflict.” In that one quote, he simultaneously soothes our fears about the villains, and acknowledges a weakness from his uber-successful first Avengers film.

And what about shooting in Britain? Whedon thinks it’s giving this film a totally different feel and look. “The number of different looks and textures and moods we’re getting from the British locations is stupid awesome because this, palette-wise, is very different,” enthused the director. “I’m trying to make a different film. Because why would you make one movie twice? That seems weird.”

So there’s the latest from Whedon on his hotly-anticipated production.

What do you think?

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