Last summer, Joss Whedon gave an interview to Digital Spy in which he reiterated some of the same comments he’s been making for years: sexism and misogyny are rampant in Hollywood, and old white guys with money don’t think women can headline superhero films. Of course, in the months since then, Marvel and DC have both announced female-led superhero films (Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman), Marvel has one female-led series on TV and another in development, and Lucy and the latest Hunger Games posted huge numbers. So Whedon decided to elaborate on his comments in a new interview with Buzzfeed, and while he admits, “I just thought, I sounded very harsh,” he doesn’t actually walk it back at all. And, in a new bit of information, he says that he’d like to be done with this whole Marvel thing and get back to creating original universes.
Whedon says that he’s enjoyed his time in the Marvel sandbox, but that he’s kind of over the whole other-peoples’-properties thing:
“By the same token, the biggest thing for me is that I need to do something that I create myself. It’s been way too long since I created a universe. The last thing I did before The Avengers was [directing an episode of] Glee, and in between I did Much Ado About Nothing. So I haven’t created my own universe for over five years. That feels wrong. You know, my own universe might be a book of haiku. I’m not necessarily saying I’ve got a grand scheme.”
Whedon also touches on the success of Guardians Of The Galaxy, how much he dug Lucy, and the female superheroes he loved as a kid. (Spoiler: pretty much all X-Men.) Of course, his best line is still a dig at the entrenched sexism of the industry: “Let’s put it this way: If a raccoon can carry a movie, then they believe maybe even a woman can.”