The Avengers’ Original Writer Talks Rewrites, Calls Joss Whedon ‘A Bad Person’

The original writer of 2012’s The Avengers has recently spoken about Joss Whedon stepping in and taking over the film, and the issues he had with the director.

In the recently released book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards, Penn was interviewed about being replaced by Whedon. The writer said that, although he and Whedon knew each other, Whedon didn’t reach out about taking over, and that when the two did finally speak, Whedon had no interest in keeping Penn on board.

“He said to me, ‘No, it’s not awkward for me. I’m rewriting you,’” said Penn (via Comic Book Movie) of the conversation he and Whedon eventually had. “It became pretty apparent that he had less than zero interest in, in any way, having me involved with the movie.”

Penn surprised at how much of a “bad person” Whedon was

At the time, Penn had spent years working on the film, something he mentioned to Whedon. According to the writer, though, Whedon had little sympathy for the matter.

“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?,” Penn said he told Whedon, to which Whedon is alleged to have replied, “What’s going to happen when my kids think that you wrote half the story?”

“I think he’s a dick. I think he’s a bad person, and it was really surprising,” said Penn. “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.”

In the end, Penn was credited in some ways on the 2012 film. He and Whedon both were given a “Story by” credit, although Whedon was listed as the sole writer for the film when it eventually came out.