(PEOPLE SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
- There you go. - Thank you.
Ah. Those the right ones?
JOSS WHEDON: This was really an attempt to show
that these guys are good guys who are misguided, um,
and show that he's a bit of a ladies' man.
Also to establish these people,
um, all of whom we would see again,
um...
...in Sokovia getting a dress from Paris?
...to make Sokovia known to us as a space,
because the first movie ended in New York, in Manhattan,
which even if you've never been there,
you know because it's been in movies.
And to give Sokovia some kind of meaning and weight,
it seemed necessary to give the people there some life.
But, um, in the efficiency of the storytelling of...
And again, keeping the mystery of who these people are
until they tell their story, ultimately trumped all of that.
The man says you need to come to the church.
What man?
The Iron Man.
ULTRON: (ON RECORDING) No, not yet.
Not this...
WHEDON: So, this whole sequence is a longer version of them finding Klaue.
This was a reshoot that I insisted upon.
I felt that Banner had fallen out of the scientific aspect of the story,
the Ultron of it. Just sort of been sidebarred.
And I also felt that every question about Ultron
needed to be answered with one answer,
which was maybe he's not insane.
So that was something I was sorry to lose.
I think it ultimately, uh, fell out, partially because
of Mark's not- ideal, uh, reshoot wig,
um, since he was filming, um, I think, Now You See Me again.
Um, and, for me, it would have stopped a lot of questions from being asked.
Ultimately, I don't know if those questions were asked.
I thought we were fairly clear,
but I did like positing the idea that, um,
you know, the world had made him nuts and not a glitch.
He could be pulling planes down from the sky.
What if he's just doing what he's supposed to?
If I thought Ultron were bringing peace...
This was, um, you know, again,
hitting the theme that Cap has no place if he's not fighting.
BARTON: Don't worry about the wolf, leave the nightlight off.
That's a negative. I answer to you.
Yes, ma'am.
This, as I had mentioned, is when we were leaning more heavily
into the mystery of what's up with Barton, um,
that people were starting to notice it.
(SIGHS)
Ooh, notice-y.
We're getting access denied on all basic...
This was another thing I was sorry to lose,
mostly because that woman behind Rhodey is Paula, the script supervisor,
um, and I felt she deserved her big starring moment.
No, mostly because, again, I wanted to say,
"Why isn't War Machine helping them right now?"
To show, you know, that he's military and that he's...
And to say that nuclear codes are actually being attacked.
Um, and I thought all of that information was useful
and fairly painless to get at.
Um, it's not an explosive bit and then...
But it seemed to do more good than harm.
Ultron killed Strucker.
And he did a Banksy at the crime scene...
Banksy is... That was one of Robert's, thrown out on the day.
ROMANOFF: He's showing us his hand. This isn't his pattern.
Why send a message when you've just given a speech?
Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss.
The basic idea was that everybody's doing something...
Yeah.
...and we see what it is.
And that's good?
WHEDON: So, part of me doesn't want to say anything,
um, just because I like watching these guys at work.
And part of it's been said in the commentary.
(WATER RUNNING)
(DOOR OPENS)
This scene is ultimately very different
despite being the exact same scene.
Uh, there's a few changes from... These are all early cuts.
The difference really is in how it resolves,
and what that means to them as characters.
And as you'll see, when, uh...
Um, it gets to the part that doesn't exist any more,
they both make decisions in a moment that are, uh...
You assume that I have to stay?
That are very hard for them.
This is part of the idea that the dreams were there to tear them apart,
to turn him into his worst idea of a Hulk,
so that he'd wanna turn tail and run.
And to make her realise that she didn't wanna be an Avenger any more,
partially because that would make it so much more interesting
when she is literally the only one who stays with Cap,
uh, the only one of the originals who stays on the team.
...that was your job.
What are you doing?
I'm running with it.
With you.
If running is the plan.
As far as you want.
Are you out of your mind?
I want you to understand that, um,
what we're talking about...
The objections that people have had to this pairing, I've discussed,
but, I think, um, part of the issue
is them not having seen this scene through.
Um, and I like where that led us.
I liked the fact that it was still open to question,
and that ultimately it's the Hulk who makes the final decision,
that Banner and the Hulk have resolved themselves enough
that the Hulk makes what is a very cogent and intelligent
and, in a way, heroic decision.
And that she herself makes a decision,
um, you know, when she pushes him down a well
in order to bring the Hulk out of him,
that she, you know, after...
You know, wanting to be with someone, decides,
"No, I need to be a hero,
"so I'm gonna do something sneaky the way Black Widow would,
"to do something heroic the way Black Widow would,"
and gives up, uh, you know, the dream of being a regular person.
And all of that wouldn't have the same register
if this scene had played through, but at the same time,
from this moment, um, the stakes get a little higher.
And morally, he basically tells her that she is a monster.
...monster on the team?
He basically says, um,
"You are not in the same place as me morally, and that's...
"it's never gonna work because of that."
Um...
It's such a slap.
And the dead?
They're dead.
Not to me.
The line she has at the bar earlier, "Never say never,"
um, is partially there because of this.
The callback when he says, "Never."
And then, of course, I just love the end of this.
Wow...
I guess I better clean up then.
The water's cold.
No shit.
- SELVIG: I'll see you tonight. - I'll see you then.
8:00, don't be late this time.
WHEDON: Ah, the tale of Thor and the cave.
This is an interesting one
because it really is a whole other story that never got told.
I need your help.
It's nice to be needed.
The idea of contacting the Norn.
Basically, um, I needed Thor to go and figure out
what was going on in the broader sense.
At one point, he had come in
trying to stop the Vision from being built,
and, uh, because he had not understood what he'd learned,
and Chris kindly said,
"Can he understand what he learned?" (CHUCKLES)
I'm like, "Yes, that makes sense, actually.
"If he comes in, we think he's gonna stop them,
"and then he helps the Vision, that's actually more useful."
But then I took it a step further and did something
that I actually thought was going to be very useful,
though it is not in the film.
And that is, um, the idea of contacting the Norn...
Those are to invoke them.
It will take time and concentration.
You think they'll talk to you?
No. They'll talk to you.
Now, the Norns expect a sacrifice for this privilege, they feed on life.
You're the sacrifice?
The idea that he, uh, has to go in the water,
be possessed by the Norn,
and possibly sacrifice himself in order to get the answers,
uh, was devised, amazingly enough, not to get,
uh, Chris shirtless in the water,
but, um, to do something else,
something that I was actually very proud of.
Um...
I loved calling that thing back, and what Chris did there.
We had them at a library,
and then we tried to think of glorified versions of being at a library,
and none of them were very exciting.
And meanwhile, people were off in South Korea
saving people and having huge adventures,
and, um, Thor was rocking the Dewey Decimal System.
So that wasn't great.
Um, so the idea that he was possessed by the Norn
meant that I could play a scene
where he is asking questions and getting answers,
and he never has to ask a question.
He never has to be the supplicant.
He himself can be the dangerous, interesting, knowledgeable creature,
um, and it's justified story-wise.
The problem was that people didn't
respond to it well in any of the screenings,
either because they didn't understand it,
or, I think, possibly because a scene like this
would work perfectly in a Thor film,
but in a more grounded Avengers film,
um, it's a little harder to swallow.
I think we could perhaps have made it play for people,
but it always sort of came in last in testing,
and that made people too frightened to try.
And so we came up with a different scheme.
Chris really threw himself into this, and not just at the gym.
He really gave everything to this performance.
And obviously, we never got to add effects
or play with his voice as much as we'd like, um,
and I think that sort of hurt it, too.
But, um, he did a beautiful job.
And I loved the structure of it and I was sorry to see it go.
Thor?
(BREATHLESSLY) They don't see what's coming.