***SPOILERS*** Avengers: Age of Ultron

[gunnar hendershow]

I generally watch things with a bit of a feminist perspective and I was happy that not once during Ultron did I go "wow that's really sexist."

Damsel in distress only works if she gets captured because she's "just a helpless woman" not because she was moments before risking her life to save a city.

[Benjamin]

Yeah, there was nothing damsel in distress about it. She fucking flew out of a flying trailer into a plane for fuck's sake. That's how she got captured. She was not some innocent bystander (like the 30 or 40 times bad guys did it in the Spider-Man movies).

[GoGo Yubari]

she also MacGyvered some bullshit to let her teammates know where she was, too. I don't think Ultron used her as well as, say, Winter Soldier did but maaaan.

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

Another thing...Widow and Hawkeye are literally the only two humans on a team full of beings with super powers and she routinely defeats aliens with "super powers" of being really good at fighting.

But she falls in love or has a few moments of vulnerability and suddenly she's one step away from being a Stepford Wife.

[Summers]

Hawkeye had to be saved by Quicksilver.

Joss Whedon is sexist and hates men.

[Benjamin]

Ahahaha, I think Conan accidentally spoilt Quicksilver's death when he was interviewing Renner. They had the most awkward stare at each other and then Conan quickly covered up.

[Benjamin]

Whedon says he didn't want the cave scene included, but Marvel studio execs force him to keep it in: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/joss-whedon-avengers-age-ultron-793502

He also wanted Spider-Man and Captain Marvel in at the end (I'm guessing it's the New Avengers scene), so there could be a chance both of them are in Civil War?

[Pizza]

It's really weird that people are going after Whedon when Jeremy Renner is right there and is actually being a shitty sexist asshole.

[DMN in the House]

It's really weird that people are going after Whedon when Jeremy Renner is right there and is actually being a shitty sexist asshole.

Haven't heard anything about this, and I hope it's something getting blown out of proportion or something because I like him as an actor, especially as Hawkeye...

As for the stuff with Black Widow, not sure how she came off as a 'damsel in distress', other than she was the one that got captured. Really, I don't see how it could have been anyone else, given that it's really only a choice between her and Hawkeye as the rest of the team would use their powers to escape, and Hawkeye has to be around because of his farm. Yet, she still had agency in her own escape and didn't just sit around and wait.

I guess some people will just complain about anything, but are women not allowed to become romantically involved, or to EVER be captured? I understand that Damsel in Distress is a problematic and overused trope, I just don't think this was a particularly problematic use of it.

[MalaCloudy Black]

It happened a few days before the Age of Ultron premiere. He called Black Widow a slut. I think it was him and Chris Evans, and it was brought up on Conan when Jeremy Renner was the guest.

[Pizza]

Yeah. Evans apologized and was cool about the situation. Renner gave the "sorry if you're offended" non-apology and doubled down on calling her a slut on Conan.

The complaints against Whedon are batshit ridiculous. He's one of the good ones.

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

I just found out that David Hasselhoff played Nick Fury in a TV movie and I have no clue why but I love that

[Hellraiser]

The 90s were a horrible decade for comic book adaptations...

[The DBZemon King]

Complaining that Black Widow was captured is sexist makes no sense when you consider that's pretty much what happened to Hawkeye and it was Black Widow who "saved" him by hitting him upside the skull really hard.

[Lint]

Love Cinemasins, love the reviews they do, and brings up a few good points in this. Yea, as awesome as Avengers: Age of Ultron was, their comparison of "Its like having your favorite meal, at your favorite restaurant, for the second time" is pretty good. The reaction to the first Avengers movie was "HOLY SHIT I CAN'T BELIEVE THEIR DOING THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!" This time was "HOLY SHIT I CAN'T BELIEVE THEIR DOING THIS!!!!!!!!!!!! again"

Also, why did Tony NOT take out the Hulkbuster armor during the final fight? You have this armor, made to combat The Hulk (one of the strongest beings in the universe), and during a battle with a global AI with practically unlimited resources, it never occurs "Maybe I should take that out again..."

[Benjamin]

Probably because unlike his regular suit, Veronica doesn't have lethal capabilities and isn't meant to be used for as long a period of time as his regular suit.

[Hellraiser]

Also, why did Tony NOT take out the Hulkbuster armor during the final fight? You have this armor, made to combat The Hulk (one of the strongest beings in the universe), and during a battle with a global AI with practically unlimited resources, it never occurs "Maybe I should take that out again..."

The same reason he decided not to use his army of AI-controlled Iron Man suits until the very end of Iron Man 3 instead of when the Mandarin was trying to kill him and his girlfriend with a small fleet of helicopter gunships I guess...

[Ace]

I'd say its more Veronica is less-mobile and less suited to a long-term battle, like the one against Ultron. Hulkbuster was made exclusively for fighting Hulk, and as such focuses more on just straight up strength.

[gunnar hendershow]

Anyway Joss Whedon said he didn't really pay attention to or feel threatened by the people attacking him on Twitter and he deactivated his account to give himself some peace and quiet.

[GoGo Yubari]

Mark Ruffalo's thoughts on the Black Widow drama are awesome and totally on-the-mark:

I think it’s sad. Because I know how Joss feels about women, and I know that he’s made it a point to create strong female characters. I think part of the problem is that people are frustrated that they want to see more women, doing more things, in superhero movies, and because we don’t have as many women as we should yet, they’re very, very sensitive to every single storyline that comes up right now. But I think what’s beautiful about what Joss did with Black Widow – I don’t think he makes her any weaker, he just brings this idea of love to a superhero, and I think that’s beautiful.

If anything, Black Widow is much stronger than Banner. She protects him. She does her job, and basically they begin to have a relationship as friends, and I think it’s a misplaced anger. I think that what people might really be upset about is the fact that we need more superhuman women. The guys can do anything, they can have love affairs, they can be weak or strong and nobody raises an eyebrow. But when we do that with a woman, because there are so few storylines for women, we become hyper-critical of every single move that we make because there’s not much else to compare it to.