Despite being a very financially successful film, Avengers: Age Of Ultron was not without its share of criticism. Many vocal fans denounced director Joss Whedon's choice to romantically pair Black Widow and Bruce Banner, despite his reasons making a lot of narrative sense. While at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, both Whedon and 'Hulk' actor Mark Ruffalo were asked what their favorite scenes from the Avengers films were, with both insisting that they loved the unrequited romance between the two characters. However, Whedon revealed that during the editing process, Marvel intervened and asked him to cut out a specific sequence near the end of the film so that they could prolong the potential romance between these two characters.
As Whedon explained: "The word came down to cut out the ending. Which I understood. They were like, ‘Don't resolve this, leave it in the air, and then we'll solve it later.’ And I understood it, and agree with what they wanted. But I also underestimated, a) the ripple effect, and b) just the fact that it was really wonderful. It plays better if it finishes, it plays better within the movie. There are things later on where [Scarlett Johansson] was playing the kind of fatalistic cool that actually didn’t make sense without the resolve having already happened."
In the final cut of the film, we see the Hulk leaving the team, alone in a cloaked Quinjet. Banner's whereabouts are currently unknown. It's interesting to see that Marvel wanted to keep the romance up in the air for the time being. Would you have preferred a resolution to the romance in the film, or would you like to see how Marvel plans to explore it in future installments? Sound off below!
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