If there’s one thing that Joss Whedon proved with The Avengers – well, besides that all us geeks worshipping at his feet all these years were actually right – it’s that a comic book movie could be just that: a movie that plays out like a comic book. But according to the ginger haired writer-director the sequel will be taking its inspiration from the most un-comic book-ish of places.
Speaking to French site Allocine (via Guardian), Whedon revealed that for the upcoming The Avengers: Age of Ultron, he’s been referring back to the second installment of Francis Ford Coppola’s mobster saga, The Godfather.
“The model I’m always trying to build from, or my guiding star, is The Godfather: Part II, where a ton has happened in between and it’s a very different movie [fromPart I], but you don’t need any information. It’s there in the film about what’s happened since, what’s different, and why is this a different film; why is it a different kind of structure, and why is it darker. It’s all there, you’re in the vernacular of the first movie and you’re just ready to pick up in this new place, and hopefully that’s what will happen with my movie.”
As to those missing events, you may think that those plot points will be addressed in the various solo hero movies that have been and will be released in the years between the first and second film, but that may not necessarily be the case.
“The events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier will definitely affect the world of Avengers 2. But at the end of the day, I have to make my movie assuming that people will only have seen the first one, or possibly not even seen the first one. I can’t assume that everybody went to see Thor: The Dark World, Captain America and Iron Man 3 in between. I have to go from one movie to the next and be true to what’s happened [in the previous movies], but not be slavish to it.”
What I’m getting from this is that while The Avengers definitely was the endgame of several plot elements to be found in the film’s preceding it, The Avengers: Age of Ultron will be more of its own animal. I’m sure the Infinity Gems will be playing some part though, but I’m guessing that it will be very minor and will feed more into what Marvel’s plans in the long run are for Thanos.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron will see the heroic team of Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) return to action, and along with new sibling recruits Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) will take on the titular robotic Ultron (James Spader), when the sequel is released on May 1, 2015.
Last Updated: January 30, 2014
