You Broke My Heart: Joss Whedon Talks Avengers 2 Inspiration

There’s been a lot of news about Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man recently (including the recent revelation that, in the face of the delay of Batman Vs. Superman until 2016, Ant-Man’s release has been moved up two weeks to take Batman Vs. Superman’s original July 17, 2015 date), to the point where it might be easy to forget that, about two months before that movie’s release, we’ll be getting Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Which means that Age of Ultron is firmly into pre-production, and director Joss Whedon is beginning to talk about what we can expect in the movie. Not in the sense of any actual spoiled plot points or anything – Whedon is a professional, after all, and even rank amateurs know better than to say something that would set Kevin Feige gnawing on their doorknobs and hissing for revenge – but more in the sense of story and plot structure and inspiration.

But Whedon, being no fool, explained his general inspirations to a French publication, probably knowing that they would roll over and surrender the instant Avi Arad hurled himself out of a tree at them, screeching like a rabid were-wombat.

Which, honestly, would be overkill in this case. Because Whedon’s great revelation is that he’s modeling Avengers: Age of Ultron after another classic sequel.

No, not The Empire Strikes Back; Whedon hates that (maybe there’s a little rank amateur still left in the man). I’m talking The Godfather: Part 2.

When asked if the events of the upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier would have a major effect on the plot of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Whedon replied:

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. […] 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 [from Part 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. Obviously I’m talking about one of the greatest films ever made (The Godfather: Part II)… I hope mine will be good, but that is my guiding star.

Now, I recognize that Whedon’s only talking about structure and tone here, but I kinda want an Avengers movie in the tone of The Godfather: Part II. I can see Captain America kissing Tony Stark on the cheek and saying, “I know it was you, Tony… you broke my heart.” Tony and Banner in the lab, with Banner asking, “Why are the curtains open?” before a hail of purple arrows blasts through the window. Black Widow giving an interview in an airport about how she’s a retired businesswoman trying to return to her home country of Russia before Winter Soldier blows her away at point blank range. Coulson in a boat with Nick Fury, saying a Hail Mary…

Just a second: I think I hear someone gnawing on my doorknob…

(via JoBlo)