Joss Whedon chats about Agent Coulson, the mortality of Marvel characters, and revisiting The Avengers.
NewsThis story contains spoilers for The Avengers, and Agents Of SHIELD.
One of the big shock moments of Joss Whedon's 2012 Avengers movie was the death of the beloved Agent Coulson, played by Clark Gregg. It was a dark moment that felt like it really counted for a lot in the Marvel cinematic universe. Which is why it felt like a little bit of a cheat when the character was resurrected - with Gregg playing him - for the Agents Of SHIELD TV show.
In a new interview with Mental Floss, Joss Whedon admits that he shares a little bit of the frustration over the fact that Coulson returned.
"The Coulson thing was, I think, a little anomalous just because that really came from the television division, which is sort of considered to be its own subsection of the Marvel universe. As far as the fiction of the movies, Coulson is dead," Whedon affirmed.
But he added that "I have to say, watching the first [Avengers movie] with my kids - I had not watched the first one since it came out - and then watching it with my kids and watching Coulson die but [thinking], 'Yeah, but I know that he kind of isn’t,' it did take some of the punch out of it for me. Of course, I spent a lot of time making sure he didn’t. And at the time it seemed inoffensive, as long as it wasn’t referenced in the second movie, which it isn’t."
He admitted that "it’s difficult because you’re living in franchise world - not just Marvel, but in most big films - where you can’t kill anyone, or anybody significant."
In the full interview - which you can read here - Whedon also admitted that his favorite Marvel movie to date (besides his own!) is the original Iron Man. "But they all have a place in my heart. Except Iron Man 2; it doesn’t have a place in my heart".
Avengers: Age Of Ultron is released on May 1.
