joss whedon

By now, it's the "slut" heard 'round the geek world: during their press tour for Avengers: Age of Ultron, actors Jeremy Renner and Chris Evans referred to Black Widow respectively as a "slut" and a "whore." They've since apologized - well, Evans apologized, Renner offered something else. Plus, a new clip from the movie reveals a rape joke - something proud feminist Joss Whedon should know better than doing. But is the fuss about these things worthwhile? Well, yes. Words have meaning. And the words chosen by Renner, Evans, and Whedon in these situations happen to be words that demean women. When Black Widow is routinely left off of Age of Ultron merchandise, the fact that major players in the movie chose these words is extra uncomfortable.

There’s a lot to like about Avengers: Age of Ultron, but the coolest thing about it is the way it reclaims the comic book part of the phrase “comic-book movie.” Rather than using these characters to do something “edgy” or “adult” or “important,” or sanding down their quirkier edges to appeal to as broad and mainstream an audience as possible, Age of Ultron doubles down on its source material’s geeky origins.

We’re just weeks away from the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron, which means Marvel is really ramping up their promotion for the upcoming super-sequel. In addition to new featurettes, TV spots, and the debut of Vision’s very own character poster (finally), the studio continues to release images from Joss Whedon’s epic new film. Today’s batch includes a couple of set photos along with new looks at super-siblings Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

Kamala Khan is a superstar now. Introduced only a year ago by Marvel, she’s become a bona fide figurehead for the publisher. A young Muslim girl in America who develops powers and uses them to try and help people, her story has caught on with a mainstream audience and turned the Ms Marvel series into a real, actual hit, especially among the growing digital readership. What’s fascinating about the character, though, is how clearly she’s embedded into the tradition of superhero comics, and how you can draw a direct line from her back through Marvel’s history, to some of the company's most popular female superheroes. Kamala broke through at just the right moment in time, in just the right way, for the readership to embrace her, but she owes a debt to several characters that came before her.

Age of Ultron offers the most formidable and terrifying Marvel villain yet, but don’t let the seriousness of that threat fool you — the latest featurette for Avengers: Age of Ultron takes you behind the scenes of the upcoming super-sequel, and unsurprisingly, working on this movie was a whole lot of fun (but still exhausting).

The new Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer has arrived. Let me write some words about it that you're not really going to read, because why would you read me talking about the trailer when you can just watch the trailer? I have no illusions about this. It's OK, go on. Watch the trailer. Maybe later we can talk about how it made you feel.

It’s already been widely reported that Avengers: Age of Ultron will feature an origin story for Ultron that’s different from the original Marvel comics, in which Hank Pym (aka Ant-Man) was responsible for the creation of the super-villain. If you were curious about why Ant-Man won’t be in the upcoming Avengers sequel at all, director Joss Whedon has some answers.

With a movie the size of Avengers: Age of Ultron, we’ve been seeing a lot of promo art hit the ‘net in recent months. Obviously we’ve been a little more interested in new concepts, like Vision, Ultron, and the Hulkbuster Iron Man armor, and today brings even more promo art from Joss Whedon’s upcoming sequel, featuring all that and then some. And judging by some of this art, Ultron might just win his battle.

How well do you think you know Marvel's The Avengers? Did you catch the earlier appearance of that shawarma joint before the team had a celebratory chow down? Did you know the movie was initially three hours and 10 minutes? Well, we cover that and more in 'You Think You Know Movies?', an original video series from our friends at ScreenCrush that drops the knowledge on your favorite films.

Joss Whedon is tired. It’s just about halfway through the shoot for ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ in London, and Whedon doesn’t as much sit down for our interview as he does collapse into a chair. It’s a bright and sunny day in London, but he looks like he hasn’t seen the sunshine in weeks. He’s completely wiped out—”raggedy” as he puts it—by his schedule, which he describes thusly: “I do this, I go home, I rewrite, I go to sleep. I do this, I go home, I rewrite, I go to sleep.”