We’ve heard for some time that Joss Whedon would be stepping away from the Marvel Cinematic Universe after completing his work on ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron.’ It seemed pretty apparent since he’s started talking about some stuff like Phil Coulson’s resurrection and Edgar Wright’s ‘Ant-Man’ script recently, but things were made pretty official when the Russo brothers were announced as the directors of ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ but many assumed that Whedon would stick around in some capacity like an executive producer or a consultant. While that may still hold true, it sounds like the fan favorite filmmaker isn’t looking to step into that role any time soon.
While promoting his upcoming major Marvel blockbuster, Whedon spoke to Flickering Myth about his future with the House of Ideas. Though he mentions potentially staying close, he also indicates a period of separation for a while so that he can recharge his batteries:
“I don’t think I’ll ever get that far away from it. I plan a rest – a longer rest – perhaps an eternal rest. I have no immediate plans.”
Despite this long rest, I don’t think Whedon will ever not be a fan of these characters and this universe created for them on the big screen. Even though he won’t be one of the guiding forces behind it, it sounds like he has confidence in Kevin Feige and the rest of the crew guiding the MCU into Phase Three and beyond:
“[Kevin Feige is] not interested in making a formula; he’s interested in creating a universe. How long will he do it for? Erm, until he dies? He’s interested in creating new versions of the superhero movies – something that doesn’t fall into a pattern. So it’s going to be around for quite a while.”
These quotes basically jive with Whedon’s previous statements that saw him speak of the difficulty of creating movies like this and the desire to work on some original stories for a change. After all, the last original thing that he directed was an episode of ‘Glee’ in 2010. Once he gets some well-deserved sleep after the release of ‘Age of Ultron,’ I’m sure that we’ll have a better idea of what we’ll be seeing from Joss Whedon in the future.
