At the IRON MAN 3 premiere last night, director Joss Whedon fielded a barrage of questions, mostly regarding THE AVENGERS 2, which he fielded with same ease as he always does, dropping some hints as to where he is in the process and a tease about a brother-sister duo making their debut in the film. Whedon is cornered with the questions every time he steps on a red carpet and I’m amazed how level-headed he remains without losing his shit, but he seems to have found his chi when it comes to repetitive questions. Here’s a few highlights:
On the pressure of topping THE AVENGERS:
“I try not to think of it as topping it. I try to think of this as its own movie. Sometime yeah, I feel pressure and by the way, Shane (Black) not helping, Iron Man 3 not helping, because I saw this and man he really got it right. But when you’re in the story and you’re dealing with these characters that you love, that everybody loves, when you’ve got the new characters sliding in next to them it’s very exciting. Then I don’t feel pressure, it’s like I’m reading my favorite comic.”
On where he’s at in the production process for THE AVENGERS 2:
“I have actually finished a draft, we’re in a very good place. It’s going really well, eventually somebody will explain to me that it’s not. But I’ve been writing, meeting with actors, and we’re starting to storyboard and all the preliminary processes. This is the part where it’s all still fun. It’s an evolution, and that goes on all through shooting and it never stops. I’ve done enough shows and movies to be comfortable with that. You do come to a point where we all agree
On the status of the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show:
“Well there’s no update in terms of they haven’t said ‘Go and make many of these for it shall be on the air.’ We’ve finished the pilot, Agent Coulson is in it, and we will explain why in the pilot. It is wonderful and he is phenomenal in it. We should find out in the very near future whether or not everyone else gets to enjoy it as much as we already have.”
On a “brother-sister duo” being in the script, which he seems very excited about:
“I’ve got these two characters, two of my favorite characters from the comic book, a brother-sister act. They’re in the movie.”
Who could those characters be? Well, the most likely pair are Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, two characters who share property rights with FOX. Although they’ve spent quite a bit of time on THE AVENGERS team, their origin is more X-MEN in nature as they are *SPOILER ALERT* the children of Magneto. It’s an interesting connection and if Whedon is using them, I wonder just how far he can go in explaining their powers in the film as they are both mutants. Interesting stuff.
THE AVENGERS 2 is set for May 1, 2015. I guess I’ll go see it.