Joss Whedon Talks ‘The Avengers’ Deleted Scenes, Says He Was Trying To Make A War Movie

Anyone with even a modicum of interest in putting comic books to film in a true and worthwhile way probably has breathed a few sighs of relief over the past few weeks. First, when “The Avengers” mastermind Joss Whedon was announced as taking the director’s seat on that film’s sequel, then when he was pretty much anointed the king of Marveland as they put the post-“The Avengers” film and television landscape in his hands, and then finally just this past week it was announced Whedon would be heading up a series for ABC based on the high-flying “S.H.I.E.L.D.” organization. So yeah, it’s a pretty good time to see the panels of your favorite comic come to life.

Well as you may also remember, a few deleted scenes made some waves on the net this week ahead of “The Avengers” release on September 25th, with a pretty neat little extended sequence for Captain America showing up – but most notably an alternate opening that echoed the sort of modern disasters our world has unfortunately become accompanied to. Whedon was recently approached and asked why the scenes didn’t make the cut, to which he was pretty candid about.

“Two factors. One: The movie was three hours long. Two: Audiences didn’t respond to it as well in the movie as I think they would as a DVD extra. Most of them didn’t know who this character was or what the context was, and they were like, 'Uhhh, I don’t know why I’m supposed to be personally involved in this character I don’t know.' The rollout to the Avengers getting to Loki was so gradual that people were getting restless. I thought Cobie [Smulders] nailed it, and the reason I thought it was necessary is because I was trying to make a war movie and I wanted to give context that something bad had happened in the past," he told Vulture. "In a war movie, you don’t know who’s going to live or die, but you do know that this war happened and that [the characters] are going to be in a dire circumstance, and I wanted to create that atmosphere.”

Seems pretty understandable and a cool, much darker approach to take with a four quadrant superhero blockbuster. Whedon also has other interesting bits to add, including some specifics on his overall deal with Marvel that is set to stretch to 2015, saying “It is unbelievably daunting, especially because I don’t want to lose sight of all the other things I have on my docket and in my heart. So, it’s going to be an insane few years, but I feel ready for that. It’s an unholy amount of productivity, but as long as I give it all I can, it’s a good thing," he said. "What’s great is that the deal with Marvel is nonspecific, so I will give all I can, but the moment I can’t, I just walk away. The moment I say, 'You know, I’d like to help more on this project, but I need this time for The Avengers,' there’s no obligation. It’s not like, 'You must spend this amount of time on this movie.' It’s as much as it needs to be.”

As we said, “The Avengers” will hit DVD/Blu-ray on September 25th, but we’re sure you already know that. Other than that, we anxiously anticipate seeing what Whedon does next.