THE AVENGERS Original Writer Zak Penn on Joss Whedon Giving Him the Boot; Says "He's a Dick"
Back before Marvel movies were at the height of cinematic blockbuster movie-making, and the great flick The Avengers was getting ready to be made by Joss Whedon, MCU boss Kevin Feige hired The Incredible Hulk writer Zak Penn to take on the script for the superhero ensemble flick. He wrote the first draft, but when Whedon came aboard the project, he pretty much overhauled the story and got Penn ousted from the film.
Whedon was never even kind in giving credit to the contributions made by Penn, previously saying, "There was a script. There just wasn't a script I was going to film a word of." Penn has a hit-or-miss track record after working on movies like Elektra and X-Men: The Last Stand, but he's also contributed to hits like X2: X-Men United and Free Guy.
In the newly released MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, the writer reflects on learning Whedon had pushed him out of The Avengers and shared his blunt assessment of the now-disgraced filmmaker (via ComicBook), saying:
"All the other directors we had been talking about, Joss wasn't on the list. I heard he was going to rewrite the script himself. He didn't even want to meet with me - which, by the way, I always call the writer I'm replacing. I feel like that's courtesy."
Assuming Whedon might be uncomfortable about the situation, Penn chose to reach out to him (they'd known each other for a long time and had both graduated from Wesleyan). "He said to me, 'No, it's not awkward for me. I'm rewriting you.' It became pretty apparent that he had less than zero interest in, in any way, having me involved with the movie."
Penn had spent years of his life working on the movie and said to Whedon:
"My kids have grown up while I've been working on it. They've all told their friends about it. What's going to happen when their friends are like, 'Your dad didn't work on Avengers?'" To that, Whedon responded, "What's going to happen when my kids think that you wrote half the story?"
As for how he feels about the director now, Penn adds:
"I think he's a dick. I think he's a bad person, and it was really surprising. Remember, my bonus is based on my credit. So literally millions and millions of dollars, which is not the issue here, but that just came out of my pocket and went into Joss's pocket."
Ultimately, it was decided that Whedon would get a sole "Written by" credit, though both men shared a "Story by" credit which made neither of them happy. But at least Penn is getting his side of the story out now, and while Whedon made a good movie, he also went on to be outed as a terrible person, and will never work in Hollywood again. So, Penn’s got him there. Hopefully the writer will go on to continue working on solid film projects, and will get the credits he deserves.