‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ Left Joss Whedon Exhausted, Miserable

Joss Whedon, the director of Marvel’s The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, spoke out today about his experience with Marvel, including the criticism he and Age of Ultron suffered after film’s release. Speaking candidly during a panel at the Tribeca Film Festival, Joss Whedon opened up about what it was like directing Age of Ultron and what it was like weathering the storm of criticism from fans disappointed or underwhelmed by the Marvel film.

Whedon, who has since cut ties with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directed the studio’s first big team film, The Avengers, which was met with widespread critical acclaim and performed spectacularly at the box office. But unlike the first film, Age of Ultron was met with a tepid response from fans and critics, barely meeting box office expectations and leaving some fans disappointed. reports Entertainment Weekly.

“I got to make, for the second time, an absurdly personal movie in which I got to talk about how I felt about humanity and what I mean in very esoteric and bizarre ways for hundreds of millions of dollars. The fact that I come off of it feeling like a miserable failure is bonkers, but not in a cute way. I took my first vacation ever after that movie,” said Joss Whedon during a panel at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Joss Whedon Looks At Avengers: Age Of Ultron Differently Now https://t.co/x0r3WztnS2

— Bleeding Cool (@bleedingcool) April 19, 2016

Joss Whedon said Age of Ultron — directing it and experiencing the backlash — left him feeling like a “miserable failure.” The process of making the film left him exhausted not only because of a minor dispute with Marvel Studios over the final cut shown in the theatrical release of Age of Ultron, but also because it was such a huge undertaking.

“People just ran with that, it isn’t fair to the movie and to the studio and to myself. It was not the right move because I am very proud of it, the things that are wrong about it frustrate me enormously,” said Joss Whedon according to USA Today.

According to Whedon, Age of Ultron wasn’t up to his own expectations. Despite fans slamming Marvel for the film’s lackluster performance at the box office, he says that’s not fair, as Ultron’s shortcomings aren’t all Marvel’s fault.

“Ultron, I’m very proud of, there are things that did not meet my expectations of myself, and I was so beaten down by the process. Some of that was conflict with Marvel with is inevitable but a lot of that was about my own work,” said Joss Whedon.

Mark Ruffalo, who was also present on the panel at Tribeca, told the audience that he tried to persuade Joss Whedon to take the helm for the next few Avengers movies even after the less-than-stellar reception that Age of Ultron received among fans and critics. Ruffalo said he begged Whedon to take on the next two Avengers movies, but after the exhausting experience of directing Age of Ultron and weathering the PR storm afterward, Whedon says he was just too tired and vowed never to make another Marvel movie.

Mark Ruffalo, who played Bruce Banner in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, was reportedly reluctant to sign on as the Hulk in the first Avengers film, a fact which Whedon reminded him about during the panel at Tribeca. Ruffalo would jokingly tell Whedon after every take that it wasn’t too late to re-cast the role of Bruce Banner.

“It’s not too late to recast, I know you have Joaquin Phoenix on speed dial,” Mark Ruffalo would tell Joss Whedon during the shooting of the first Avengers film.

[Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival]