While "Iron Man," "Thor," and "Captain America: The First Avenger" were all considered solid successes, it wasn't until "The Avengers" that the Marvel Cinematic Universe became the world-dominating blockbuster behemoth that we know today. Following the massive success of the superhero crossover, each Marvel standalone sequel saw dramatically increased grosses at the box office. Perhaps even more importantly, the MCU was willing to take more creative risks which led to arguably the best two films in the series in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Guardians of the Galaxy."
When you look at the heights of the MCU today and its impact on Hollywood, much of it comes back to one man: Joss Whedon. He's the one who pulled off "The Avengers" and steered Marvel into the bankable Phase Two. So, after all that, why he is now separating himself from all things Marvel?
"I've gone off the reservation for a while," Whedon said during a recent Q&A (via ComicBook.com). "It was five years that I was working on either Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D...That was an enormous gift they gave me; they handed me several hundreds of millions of dollars and said 'do what you do,' which is very rare and I was very lucky. At the same time, it's important for me not just to have my own thing and do something smaller, but to also create a new challenge for myself because I will start to repeat myself."
Whedon's extensive involvement in the MCU must have taken its toll; it can't be easy to captain several franchises for a multi-billion dollar company. While he might not have directed any films outside of the "Avengers" series, he describes his involvement with Phase Two as a "showrunner," offering creative guidelines to keep the continuity straight. That's enough to make anyone's head spin. Whedon has even said on multiple occasions that the process of making "Avengers: Age of Ultron" broke him, a fact likely compounded by the somewhat underwhelming final product. It's no secret that Marvel doesn't offer a ton of creative freedom to its directors as the studio attempts to keep every single strand tightly connected.
Given all that, we can't help but agree that Whedon has earned the opportunity to work on something smaller and more personal. No one has forgotten the sheer awesomeness of "Firefly" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The world of entertainment will be a better place if he can re-create that same magic with his next project.
Check out the full Q&A session with Whedon below:
