Joss Whedon is responsible for some extremely amazing projects within the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. From television to movies, the American screenwriter held multiple creative positions, helping bring the MCU as we know it now to life. However, just before he bid goodbye to Marvel for good, he helped make one of the best television shows ever made for the studio, aka Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
And this angered the studio which wanted the writer-filmmaker to work on Avengers 2. This was also just before the time Whedon left the studio after his alleged clashes with the studio due to creative differences on Avengers: Age of Ultron.
When Joss Whedon Angered Marvel By Creating A TV Show
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Marvel’s recent book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios has been the pot of revelations and lists in detail what went behind the making of the now-billion-dollar franchise. It reveals that just after The Avengers was released, ABC and Marvel Television roped in Joss Whedon, without the presence of Marvel Studios, to make what would later be regarded as Marvel’s best television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Whedon at that point was already in talks with Marvel Studios to negotiate a three-year deal as a writer-director for the subsequent Avengers sequel and being an advisor for Phase 2 and after. Nonetheless, he still went on and signed that contract for the movies as well as the show.
And off he went to develop the pilot with his brother and sister-in-law and even directed the first episode, and the show was finally in the works. However, this reportedly angered Marvel Studios for they wanted him to focus on Avengers: Age of Ultron as Whedon himself stated in the book,
“[Marvel Studios] didn’t actually want me to make [the show]. It’s like, ‘Uh, Joss, we really wanted you to do Avengers 2. Instead you created a TV show, you moron.’ ‘I thought you wanted me to!’ ‘No, we just wanted you to make a movie.’ ‘Oh. My bad.'”
However, things soon got complicated for the show.
Joss Whedon Stepped Away When Things Got Complicated For Agents of S.H.I.EL.D.
After Marvel Television and ABC gave the green light to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Creative Committee wanted the show to be in line with the happenings of the movies. While this was a major headache for the showrunners, things were beginning to sail okay for a while until they weren’t. Things became further complicated when Joss Whedon was busy working on Phase Two as well (via MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios).
“There was a period where it got . . . complicated. A lot of people who aren’t connected with the show were like, ‘Oh, yeah, you have to have this guest star, and you have to work around this.’ Sometimes it makes your head spin. I mean, it’s hard enough when they’re like, ‘And by the way, in Iron Man 4, he’s going to be played by Linda Hunt as a human spider. And you’re like, ‘Oh, OK! I guess I’ll have to work that in.'”
And hence after the first season, he stepped away from the show, until his final goodbye to Marvel after Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. can be streamed on Disney+.
