When it came time for Marvel to realize the full potential of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2012’s “The Avengers,” they couldn’t have chosen a better director than Joss Whedon. Whedon’s deep knowledge of comic book storylines — he had previously helped Marvel launch their “Astonishing X-Men” series and had successfully turned “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” into a minor institution at Dark Horse Comics — gave the studio the street cred needed to reassure fans that the ambitious crossover event was in good hands. And despite departing the studio on somewhat bad terms after 2015’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” Whedon apparently still feels loyal to Kevin Feige, even going so far as to call him about upcoming projects.
In an interview today, Feige shared that he had actually received a phone call from Whedon before the director finalized his involvement in the upcoming “Batgirl” movie at Warner Bros. According to Feige:
He called. A couple months ago, which he didn’t have to do and was super cool of him and super nice of him… And we couldn’t be more supportive. We want to see a Joss Whedon Batgirl film be awesome.
This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone familiar with Whedon’s exodus from Marvel. While Whedon was fairly candid about the frustrations of working within the limitations of the studio — he’s referred to some of the past creative battles over ‘Ultron’ as “fairly unpleasant” — the director has always respected the direction in which the Marvel Cinematic Universe was headed. “[Feige’s] not interested in making a formula,” Whedon told press back in 2015. “… He’s interested in creating new versions of the superhero movies — something that doesn’t fall into a pattern. So it’s going to be around for quite a while.” As it turns out, Whedon gets to continue making superhero movies his way and Marvel gets to continue their vision for the franchise. Sometimes people really can remain friends after a breakup. [ComicBook.com via The Hollywood Reporter]