'Avengers: Age of Ultron' Director Joss Whedon Talks Character Death VIDEO
Joss Whedon has a habit of killing off some of his most beloved characters and the director is now teasing fans with the idea of a possible character demise in his Avengers sequel.
Although Marvel's Phase Two culminating film is not due out until 2015, rumors regarding The Avengers: Age of Ultron have been flying since the credits rolled on its predecessor last year.
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It was that very same movie which saw the death of SHIELD's Agent Coulson, a devastating blow that Whedon has rectified by resurrecting Clark Gregg's character for ABC's Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.
So, will Whedon really move to kill off another one of the film's regulars?
"I'm always joking about that. Um...maybe?" Whedon recently told Entertainment Weekly. "But 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?"
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It's true that superhero flicks rely so heavily on putting their characters in life or death situations that it would take away a large amount of suspense if they didn't have to deal with mortality at some level. This applies particularly to the Avengers since they are not all virtually indestructible.
What We Know So Far About The Avengers: Age of Ultron
"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?' You go to the movies to see people you love suffer-that's why you go to the movies," Whedon said of his decision process regarding character death, according to Entertainment Weekly.
It remains to be seen if all the Avengers make it out of the next film alive.
