10 Times Marvel Sabotaged The MCU
6. The Relative Failure Of Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Calling a film that made over $1.4 billion at the box office a disappointment is absurd, but such is the world the Avengers sequel exists in. Age of Ultron exists as the awkward middle entry in the crossover films and this stems from its myriad of behind the scenes issues.
Similar to Iron Man 2, Age of Ultron was bogged by unnecessary setup for future instalments at the expense of the story being told at the moment and the emotional beats that came with it. For example, Thor's cave bath would have made more sense in Whedon's original plan and the scenes featuring the Avengers' nightmares and Hawkeye's personal life would have had more weight behind them.
Unfortunately, the studio opted to trim these scenes, and that meant that the film felt disjointed and emotionally inert in some parts. The back and forth between studio and director was too much for the latter, and he walked away from big-budget filmmaking until his work on... Justice League.
Whedon's own faults in crafting the story were evident (the tonal dissonance for starters) but they were not as detrimental as the studio's own inexplicable mandates.