10 Huge What Ifs That Could Have Changed The MCU Forever
5. What If Joss Whedon Hadn't Jumped Ship?
After shepherding The Avengers to widespread critical acclaim and one of the biggest box office hauls in history, Joss Whedon firmly announced himself as the MCU's golden boy. This led to an exclusive three-year deal with the studio, where he held a huge amount of creative influence over Phase Two.
Whedon polished some of Thor: The Dark World's dialogue, directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier's mid-credits scene and even encouraged James Gunn to make his early draft of the Guardians of the Galaxy script a whole lot weirder.
Despite holding a level of control that no filmmaker had ever been awarded as part of the MCU before, Whedon still walked away after finding himself caving in to the studio's demands more often than he would have liked when making Age of Ultron.
Had he enjoyed his experience enough to stick around after the Avengers sequel, then it wouldn't just be the MCU that could look markedly different today. No director before or since has even come close to the level of autonomy that the Firefly creator had as part of his contract with Marvel, as they reverted to their preference towards candidates that can fit their style to the material instead of the other way around.
And then there's Justice Leauge, with Whedon's contributions to the DCEU's troubled team-up epic directly leading to the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign that rolled on for over two and a half years before it was finally confirmed as a reality.
Had Whedon not abandoned the Marvel Cinematic Universe when his stock was at an all-time high, it could have had a seismic impact on both of Hollywood's premiere shared comic book franchises.