Joss Whedon Explains Why He Isn't Writing or Directing The Avengers 3 and 4

Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, the directors of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, will helm The Avengers: Infinity War Parts I and II, also known as The Avengers 3 and 4.

This means that the acclaimed Joss Whedon, the writer and director of The Avengers and The Avengers: Age of Ultron, will not be back for those two movies. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he explains why.

“Every movie I have ever made has been an ensemble piece of increasingly enormous proportions,” Whedon told EW alongside Marvel Studios President of Production Kevin Feige. “That many balls in the air, it’s only going to get bigger with Infinity War. I’m not going to be able to give it what I would need to. It’s a young man’s game.”

While doing an impression of Al Pacino in The Godfather, Kevin Feige said to Whedon, “Just when you think you’re out, you get pulled back in.” Whedon promptly pointed at Feige and joked, “That’s the other reason I’m not making a third one.”

Entertainment Weekly reports that Ultron's first form in the movie will be one of Tony Stark's destroyed Iron Legion robots, but the A.I. has by this point "been consuming every element of human knowledge, and has reached the conclusion that the thing most threatening the planet is humanity in general—and the Avengers in particular. He’s ranting, confused. Ultron mentions being unsure where he is, and says he had to escape. But doing that meant 'killing the other guy.'"

The "other guy" is J.A.R.V.I.S., something the team soon realizes (after Ultron escapes) when Tony tellst he team that his personal A.I. should have been there to keep a program like Ultron in check. When Iron Man tries to bring up a hologram of J.A.R.V.I.S., all the team sees is "an incoherent image of violence that looks like a digital massacre."

The site previously reported that Tony Stark apparently targets Hydra leader Baron Von Strucker for certain reasons.

"Von Strucker was working on a lot of stuff, including robotics," Marvel Studios President and producer Kevin Feige tells Entertainment Weekly. "Tony realizes, '[Those robotics] might be able to help me get over the hump of some of the AI stuff I’ve been working on.'"

Ultron is apparently born out of the technology of these two men, and he "shreds" JARVIS when he comes alive.

What do you make of Whedon's remarks? Let us know in the comments section.