Before I get started, I want to apologize to Joss Whedon for that headline. It’s eye-catching because I want people to read this article, but I know that you hate when this topic is brought up so often, so I wanted to say sorry up front and I mean that sincerely.

Now that I got that out of the way, after Agent Phil Coulson’s death in ‘The Avengers’ (even though he’s coming back to life in ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ next month), you have to wonder if the fan favorite director has any plans of killing off any more of our favorite characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After all, he’s certainly got a hefty track record of leaving the likes of Wash, Tara, Fred, and Tara in his wake. So what’s in store for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’?

In the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, Whedon dons the cover of the magazine and participated in an exclusive interview where he talked about all things Marvel. When asked point blank about killing characters in the future, he had this to say:

“I’d have to have a really good reason, a really great sequence for [Marvel executives] to go, ‘We’ll cut off a potential franchise, that’s fine!’ They know, as any good studio does, that without some stakes, some real danger, how involved can we get? We don’t just rule it out across the board, but neither is the mission statement ‘Who can we kill?’ We try to build the story organically and go, ‘How hard can we make it on these people?’”

Joss Whedon taking aim at the Avenging Archer?

When you think about it, the filmmaker does always have a good reason for terminating a character from a show or movie. There’s always a larger purpose in the story for these deaths. So if Whedon decides that it’s a character’s time to perish, then it’s for the best. But like he says, he has to worry about franchises and all that with these characters, so things should be a little different for him.

Now, if a character were to be offed in the sequel to ‘The Avengers’, chances are that it would be someone who doesn’t have their own franchise like Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Nick Fury. Maybe even Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch could be at danger. However, if I were to take an educated guess, I’d say Clint Barton would be the one to get the ax if it were to happen. Not only has the character been known to die a few times, but also there were rumors that actor Jeremy Renner has been unhappy with how his role has progressed, so that sounds like a prime candidate for elimination if there was to be one.

What do you think, True Believers? If Joss Whedon were to kill off a character in ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’, who do you think will bite the bullet? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments below.

‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’ assembles in theaters on May 1, 2015.

Source: Cinemablend