With Iron Man 3 kicking off Phase Two of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe in the next couple of weeks, Joss Whedon looks towards its closing chapter. The director really made a name for himself last year with his box office record smashing The Avengers and in an interview with Total Film, he has some thoughts about the pressures of “topping the previous effort”.
“The only pressure is the pressure that is there every time I do a new project” he said. “Is it going to be good? It is going to be different? Is there even a reason to make another one? Is there a reason for this to be my next thing? Can I pull it off? I am not going to try and match the box office of the first one because that would be bonkers…”
When you make a movie that brings a certain level of success including critical and fan praise, there is the thought you can take it easy for the next instalment as the audience is already there. However, Whedon does’t think so.
“Yes, there is a certain level of safety – because now people know about The Avengers and they like the characters so it probably won’t completely crash and burn,” he continues. “But you don’t want to just get by and do something that is merely OK. If I am going to dedicate three years of my short life to this then I want to do something that I have never done before. So I think of The Avengers 2 as a glorious challenge – it is a sequel, yes, but how can it be different? Of course, the pressure that I don’t feel, my body internalises. It happens all the time. I was comfortable making the first Avengers, but I didn’t sleep during it.”
While it’s unconfirmed, we can assume that the cast of The Avengers 2 will feature Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. The film will be released on May 1st, 2015.
Originally published April 15, 2013. Updated April 10, 2018.
