MCU: 10 Fascinating Facts Behind Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)

9. Joss Whedon Did NOT Enjoy Making It

Somewhat notoriously, Joss Whedon really did not have the best time making Age Of Ultron. He called it "the hardest work I've ever done" and sees it as a failure:

“When I watch it, I just see ‘flaw, flaw, flaw, compromise, laziness, mistake. The reason I set out to make another film is because I wanted to make one that was better, and I wanted to up my game as a shooter and work harder on every aspect of it and sort of give myself up to it in a way that’s hard for me, because I have a family. I started as a writer in low-budget TV, and there was always this element of, ‘This is good enough.’ And with this movie, I never wanted to say, ‘This is good enough.’”

His first cut came in at nearly three and a half hours before he and Kevin Feige worked together to get it down to 142 minutes. It came at a cost though, and Whedon had to compromise on things he wanted to include. “With so much at stake, there’s gonna be friction. It’s the Marvel way to sort of question everything. Sometimes, that’s amazing. And sometimes that’s amazing [said with a growl].”

Ultimately, when he's talked about the movie, it seems to be with a sense of sadness, though he does take one major positive from it:

“I tried and I had a terrible time... Is it perfect? It is not. Is it me? It’s so baldly, nakedly me. To do something that is as personal as this movie is — on that budget, for a studio that needs a summer tentpole — is an extraordinary privilege.”