LogFAQs > #885686465

Zeus posted...

I assume that had to be a rights issue considering that Quicksilver is one of the more popular characters in Fox's X-Men movies

It wasn't. The twins were part of a special deal (part of why both Marvel and Fox could use Quicksilver, and why Marvel still has the Scarlet Witch, where they're about the only mutants Marvel can use with impunity.

That being said, Whedon has openly admitted that killing him off was his idea. So much so that they shot a separate alternate ending to the movie where Quicksilver survived in case the studio told him he wasn't allowed to kill the character off. But the studio let him do what he wanted (especially since they were already fighting with him over the Hawkeye scenes), so he offed him.

In fact, Quicksilver being in the Fox movies around the same time it was known he was going to be in The Avengers was mostly a deliberate fuck you from Fox towards Marvel (Fox added the scenes in later on, which is why he kind of disappears afterwards).

At no point was there a corporate mandate or contractual conflict that led to killing him off. It was just Whedon being Whedon.



Metalsonic66 posted...

Killing Coulson didn't bother me. His death was well-done and even though he was a minor character, it did have impact after seeing him in 2-3 other movies beforehand.

I wouldn't say it bothered me, per se. I just pointed it out as yet another example of Whedon's long-running weakness as a writer, which is that he seems to go back to the "need a dramatic moment, kill a major character" well way too often (as you say, offing Quicksilver in the second movie is another prime example). So much so that it's basically become a memetic joke that Whedon = dead main characters.

And while Coulson's was handled about as well as it could be, he's offed plenty of main characters that feel more like he's doing it purely for shock value more than because it's the best possible way to tell a given story.

And arguably, Coulson's death was kind of weak anyway, because Tony never really seemed to LIKE him all that much, and other than Fury and Widow, none of the other characters really had much of a reason to CARE that he was dead. At least not any more so than any of the other nameless mooks on the helicarrier.

It becomes even more of a head-slapper when you realize the underlying implication that the main reason they were having trouble working together in the first place was less clashing egos or actual personal issues and more because the Mind Staff/Stone was fucking with their heads.

The fact that he uses character death as a major crutch isn't necessarily a huge deal (George RR Martin does it too, and everyone loves him for it), but there's also a difference between doing it on your own project that is 100% your own (and even when other writers come on board, they're just there to carry out your creative vision as well), versus working on a collaborative shared universe where dozens of writers and directors are likely going to have to deal with the fallout of any creative decision you make for years (if not decades) to come.

It's the same reason I hate Grant Morrison when he works on non-personal projects.

Or as I used to sum it up, "You shouldn't shit in someone else's sandbox."

Half the reason why character death has become so meaningless in comics is because too many writers are quick on the trigger to kill off any character they don't like, forcing later writers who DO like those characters to come up with ridiculous, soap opera-y excuses to bring them back. Especially when, for every one death that is actually meaningful or impactful, you've got dozens of throw-away deaths that are absolutely meaningless.


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