The Avengers 2: No Hank Pym, Ant-Man, Vision, Thanos in 'The Avengers: Age of Ultron' Says Writer, Director Joss Whedon [SPOILERS]

The Avengers: Age of Ultron writer and director Joss Whedon recently sat down with Total Film magazine and offered some insight into the highly anticipated 2015 superhero sequel.

Whedon confirmed that Dr. Hank Pym/Ant-Man, the Vision and Thanos would not appear in The Avengers 2. Here are some highlights from the interview, according to ComicBookMovie.com:

On how closely the movie would align with the Age of Ultron comic book series:

"It's not based on the series. Honestly, we went through a lot of titles - Underoos Of Ultron. None of them landed...Underoos would've been better because of the alliteration. But Age of Ultron really stuck. We were like, 'It's a book, but we're still going to use it'."

On if Dr. Hank Pym/Ant-Man or The Vision would appear in the movie:

"We're not going to see Pym and all the accouterments. Ultron is more central to the Avengers as they are. But we will explore the idea of lineage, because he was created by us and we've got to own that... Then we have the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver and I think that's plenty, because Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch did not begin their time as friends of the Avengers, so there's going to be a lot of, well, conflict." 

On if Thanos, who appeared in the post-credits scene of The Avengers, would appear in the film:

"We have to stay grounded. It's part of what makes the Marvel universe click - their relationship to the real world. It's science-fiction, and Thanos is not out of the mix, but Thanos was never meant to be the next villain. He's always been the overlord of villainy & darkness."

On the possibility of a crossover with the X-Men (Fox) or Spider-Man (Sony) franchises:

"That's not the plan. It would be cool but I think right now I already have a ton of very talented actors in my movie playing a ton of characters, and I'm about to add a few more. So I'm not like, 'How can we get more licensed characters because I want to kill myself and make a nine-hour movie.'"

The Avengers: Age of Ultron is scheduled for release in 2015.