10 Simple Ways Joss Whedon Could Screw Up Avengers: Age Of Ultron

4. Another Round Of Explosions And Destruction-Porn

Escalation is an inevitable part of tentpole action movies, but this is not necessarily a good thing. The Avengers was a stupendous concerto of destruction, where the damage matched the scale of the threat. I mean, it was an alien invasion €“ the $160 billion in damage kind of made sense. But this doesn't mean Avengers 2 should have a bigger price tag in terms of damage. Actually, one of the most annoying parts of comic book fare as of late is the fact that the assumption is 'bigger must be better'. But one need only look to Man of Steel to see that is not the case at all. I mean, let's be honest, seeing Superman destroy several cities over the course of his various fist fights in that movie was not a good thing. It was just way too over the top. But it was also the product of escalation. The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers the year before each saw a city in ruin as a result of war €“ so naturally Man of Steel needed to top that, right? Yeah, that logic is ridiculous €“ that's the logic of Michael Bay, Paul WS Anderson et al. But unfortunately it's also become the logic at the heart of blockbuster action. Slow motion destruction porn is a tempting mistress for the comic book movie, especially for Age of Ultron in lieu of its predecessor, but like General Ackbar's iconic statement of the obvious: it's a trap! The mantra for Avengers 2 needs to be plot over explosions, character over destruction and spectacle over spectacular action. I mean, at the end of the day that's what set Phase One aside from the Transformers series.