Someone who is stuck in the moment of promoting their own film or TV show is often a very different person than they are years down the line at which point corporate interests no longer prevent them from sharing their honest opinion. For example, if you ever watch the DVD special features for Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan the Leonard Nimoy in the archival interview from 1982 has far more charitable things to say about the filmās development process than the Leonard Nimoy of 2002 featured in the special retrospective made for the DVD. I thought something similar might be happening when I saw the recent headlines that Joss Whedon was saying some surprisingly frank things about the consistently beleaguered Agents of SHIELD, a show he co-created before handing it off to his brother (Jed), sister-in-law (Maurissa Tancharoen) and Jeffrey Bell. I wondered if I would be able to pull a Daily Show and find some old quotes in which the Whedon of 2013 (when the show debuted) appears to contradict the Whedon of 2015. After all, Whedon is a man on his way out of Marvel at this point. On top of that, making Age of Ultron just about killed him. So, this is a sleep-deprived, soon-to-be-unemployed man finally peeling back the curtain, right? Marvel Studios vs. Marvel Television. Fight! Fight! Fight! Right?
Letās find out:
The Joss Whedon of 2015
Revealed that there is a slight disconnect between Marvelās film and TV divisions (IGN):
āI think actually the movie people were a little bit cross about the TV show. They were sort of like āWell you can have this but not this. And this but not that.ā Itās complicated enough as it is without me adding another layer of complication. We also created a TV show called S.H.I.E.L.D. right before they made a movie where they destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. So everybodyās having a GREAT time!ā
Claims that as far as the films are concerned Agent Coulson is still dead (MentalFloss, BuzzFeed):
“The Coulson thing was, I think, a little anomalous just because that really came from the television division, which is sort of considered to be its own subsection of the Marvel universe. As far as the fiction of the movies, Coulson is dead. But I have to say, watching the first one with my kidsāI had not watched the first one since it came outāand then watching it with my kids and watching Coulson die but [thinking], āYeah, but I know that he kind of isnāt,ā it did take some of the punch out of it for me. Of course, I spent a lot of time making sure he didnāt. And at the time it seemed inoffensive, as long as it wasnāt referenced in the second movie, which it isnāt [ā¦] As far as Iām concerned, in [Age of Ultron], Coulsonās dead. If you come back in the sequel and say Coulsonās alive, itās like putting f***ing John Gielgud in the sequel to āArthur.ā It mattered that heās gone. Itās a different world now. And you have to run with that.”
The Joss Whedon of 2013

Sold Agents of SHIELD as being about the Rosencrantzes and Guildensterns of the Marvel universe (EW):
“Anybody whoās ever seen one of my shows knows I love the ensembles; I love the peripheral characters. This is basically a TV series of āThe Zeppoā [an episode of Buffy], which was a very deliberate deconstruction of a Buffy episode in order to star the person who mattered the least. The people who are ignored are the people Iāve been writing as my heroes from day one. With S.H.I.E.L.D., the idea of [Clark Greggās Agent Coulson] as the long-suffering bureaucrat who deals with Tony Starkās insufferability is delightful and hits the core of something Iām also writing about all the timeāthe little guy versus the big faceless organization. Now, somebody might point out, āBut isnāt S.H.I.E.L.D. a big faceless organization?ā It absolutely is, and thatās something weāre going to deal with in the series. But whatās really interesting to me is thereās a world of super-heroes and superstars, theyāre celebrities, and thatās a complicated worldāparticularly complicated for people who donāt have the superpowers, the disenfranchised. Now, obviously thereās going to be high jinks and hilarity and sex and gadgets and all the things that made people buy the comics. But thatās what the show really is about to me, and thatās what Clark Gregg embodies: the Everyman.”
Appeared to dismiss a question about how much Marvel was limiting what they could use in the show (EW):
“Marvel is the least restrictive studio environment Iāve ever experienced, across the board. I probably wouldnāt be back if that wasnāt the case. It is genuinely a mom-and-pop mega-store.”
And explained that Agent Coulson wouldnāt cameo or even be referenced in Avenger 2, which he was still writing at the time (EW):
“Yeah. I donāt have timeāJesus. I mean, again. The draft is a million pages long [ā¦] Itās north of 150, and itās not gonna be. Thereās a point at which Iām not holding back; Iām going to put in everything I like. Then thereās a point where itās: āOkay, what do I like best.ā”
Eh. This more seems like itās two years down the road and several Marvel Cinematic Universe movies later (Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy), and Whedon now has the wisdom of hindsight as well as freedom from worrying about spoiling SHIELDās Hydra-sized season 1 twist. The main revelation from all of this is probably that Marvel Studios and Marvel Television are not quite the harmonious unit we might have guessed.
Source: IGN, MentalFloss, BuzzFeed, EW
Oh please…they make more out of his remarks than there ever were to them. I doubt that there is more to it than you can expect when different parties have to match up their visions with the ideas of others.
That’s actually exactly what I was trying to prove. A lot of people are trying to turn Whedon ‘ s recent comments into some kind of controversy. So, I wanted to see if what he is saying now is really massively different than what he said when shield premiered.
Oh, okay…good that not everyone is loosing their minds over nothing.
This comment isn’t directly related. Your post reminds me of James Cameron’s annoyance at Alien 3 for killing off his precious creations, Hicks and Newt. However, he acknowledged that since he didn’t direct Alien 3, it’s out of his hands.
Den of Geek actually took a deep dive into Alien 3’s weird development and production history, discovering, “The conclusion of a common theme through the Alien 3 drafts we currently know about: all of them try to find some way of getting rid of Newt, either by packing her off to Earth or simply leaving her out altogether.” Most of them killed Hicks as well.
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/alien-3/33600/alien-3-the-story-ideas-that-never-made-it-to-the-screen
So, Cameron’s babies were always being rushed out the door during that production, no matter who ended up directing or writing. If I was in Cameron’s position, I probably would have felt the same way.