Joss Whedon explains, "The films they have released are extremely informative, useful, and fun. But Thor and Captain America were not even close to being finished when they first came to me, and I just felt like,
“When we put the word out that we were looking for directors, Joss Whedon came in and was very interested,” recalls Marvel’s The Avengers producer Kevin Feige. “I have known Joss since 2001, and I told him that one of the most important things with The Avengers is it needs to stand alone and you need to structure it in a way so that people can watch the film without having seen any of the other Marvel films and get the story start to finish.”
The producer continues, “The genius of Joss Whedon is that he can take these huge elements and find the balance, so the characters are never lost to the spectacle and visual effects. We wanted the film to have amazing sets and incredible action, but we did not want the tone and humor to be trumped by the spectacular images on the screen. What’s always been the most exciting to see is Tony Stark and Steve Rogers together and how Tony reacts to Thor and seeing Nick Fury on his own turf for the first time. We wanted those relationship dynamics to be the real heart of the film, and Joss was someone we felt could delve into the character development just as much as he could with the action in the film.”
"Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America don't seem like they could co-exist, and ultimately that is what intrigued me and made me go, 'This can be done and this should be done,'" says Joss Whedon.
Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Serenity) explains what piqued his interest: “I am a fan of what Marvel has established. The films they have released are extremely informative, useful, and fun. But Thor and Captain America were not even close to being finished when they first came to me, and I just felt like, ‘Okay, you have all these moving parts, but how can you possibly bring them together?’”
“Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, and Captain America don’t seem like they could co-exist, and ultimately that is what intrigued me and made me go, ‘This can be done and this should be done,’” Joss continues. “These people don’t belong together and wouldn’t get along, and as soon as that dynamic came into focus, I realized that I actually have something to say about these people.”
"I
“We have been able to attract uniquely talented directors as well as the best film technicians from top to bottom, which has resulted in mega-event movies with compelling storylines and characters that audiences enjoy watching,” Kevin Feige says. “We were able to pull this off again with The Avengers by landing Joss Whedon, who is incredibly talented, and could not only direct the film but also develop a compelling story and screenplay.”
Actor Robert Downey Jr., who plays Tony Stark/Iron Man says, “Aside from casting, what Marvel does best is pick the right directors, and it’s always an exciting announcement. Writing the script for The Avengers is much more precise because it’s a more complex piece of machinery, where you’re trying to interface eight characters and have them all make sense, all have arcs and get their day in the sun.”
“I’ve been able to spend time with all of the cast members while I was writing the screenplay, so they knew I was building their character from the ground up for them,” Joss Whedon explains. “As we progressed, I would go to them and say, ‘Here are my ideas and this is how I think you should play it. Is there something in particular you want to avoid? Something you feel the character needs? Wants?’ Every cast member had their input, to the degree that they wanted, so the script is very much a collaboration from the ground up, and I think it helped set the tone right away. My motto has always been, ‘I know exactly what I want, and if you tell me what you want, we can usually do both.’”
"Marvel had a very clear idea of what they wanted in the screenplay and the structure in which it played out," Joss Whedon says.
For the filmmakers, developing the screenplay brought on a new challenge as they would have to rely more heavily on the Marvel cinematic universe than the Marvel Comic universe which consisted of 500 Avengers issues over the last 48 years.
“It was a unique challenge in figuring out what material to adapt into the screenplay for The Avengers,” explains executive producer Jeremy Latcham. “For all of the previous films, we could look at the comics for a jumping off point, but with The Avengers we said, ‘Let’s see what we’ve established in our previous films.’ It’s really about, ‘How do we play off this cinematic universe that we’ve established? How do we give fans of the movies what they want while still honoring and giving fans of the comics what they want as well?’”
“Marvel had a very clear idea of what they wanted in the screenplay and the structure in which it played out,” says Joss Whedon. “That was really great for me because it gave me something to build off of, and the only thing I was interested in building was ‘how do we get there?’”
"When I finished writing the script, it really felt like an original story," says director Whedon. "You get to see how these characters come together to form The Avengers despite themselves and all of the forces trying to prevent it from happening."
The director continues, “With spectacle, I believe you have to create it yourself so it fits into the framework. I don’t think you can just drop it in as you need it. I love creating action, and I love being very specific about it. The start of the process for me is, ‘who are these people and how is it that they are dysfunctional?’ How hard is it for them to be with each other and how much does that save them from themselves?’”
“The tones of all of our films are very different, but they all have those classic Marvel elements: wish fulfillment, action, adventure, and escalated stakes,” says Kevin Feige. “What I really loved about Joss Whedon’s script was all of these colorful personalities interacting together. As impressive as some of the spectacle moments are, it’s those interplay moments in the script that will resonate with audiences because sometimes they’ll all agree with each other and other times they’ll disagree and not play so friendly in the sandbox.”
“When I finished writing the script, it really felt like an original story,” says director Whedon. “You get to see how these characters come together to form The Avengers despite themselves and all of the forces trying to prevent it from happening. Even with so many characters in the story, they all have their moments and scenes in which they get to shine.”
