WTF Joss Whedon?

https://lebeauleblog.com/2021/02/13/wtf-joss-whedon/

But Avengers: Age of Ultron was something of a disappointment. It made boatloads of money of course, but fans were left scratching their heads. Whedon talked openly about conflicts with Marvel over what scenes to include and which to cut. Marvel wanted the scene with Thor’s vision to set up future movies. Whedon demanded that each character have a dream sequence and that the Avengers spend some time at Hawkeye’s farm.

Amazingly, no one at Marvel thought to object to Whedon’s take on Black Widow. This was especially disappointing as Whedon had rescued the character in the previous movie. When Black Widow was introduced in Iron Man 2, she was a sexy superspy dressed in form-fitting leather. Emphasis on the sexy. Whedon gave Natasha agency and complexity in the first Avengers movie proving once again to fans that he could be trusted to write interesting heroines.

But in Age of Ultron, Natasha is saddled with a shoe-horned romance with Bruce Banner. She became beauty to his beast. Natasha’s role was to calm down the rampaging Hulk. She’s the only Avenger to be captured by Ultron for some reason. But what really got fans upset was a scene in which Natasha lamented her inability to procreate.

What now? A woman without a functional womb is a monster?

Citing creative difference, Marvel and Whedon largely parted ways although Whedon continued to produce Agents of SHIELD. And for quite a while, Whedon was mysteriously unproductive. His next big gig came when he was asked to step in and finish up Justice League when Zach Snyder left the movie to deal with a personal tragedy (or was possibly fired).