Does Joss Whedon listen to the die-hard Avengers fan?

SEOUL — As of yesterday (April 28), the Avengers: Age of Ultron raked in a hulking S$5,792,809 at the Singapore box office, breaking several records including Biggest Marvel Opening Weekend of All Time, Biggest April Opening Weekend of All Time and Biggest 2015 Opening Weekend of All Time.

This contributed to an international box office take of US$200.2 million over a five-day tally across 44 markets. And the superhero sequel hasn’t even opened stateside; the film is set to open across the United States on May 1.

Although it looks like Avengers: Age of Ultron is well on its way to topping its predecessor — the third-highest grossing film of all time, no less — director Joss Whedon is taking any enormity of pressure and expectations well in his stride.

“I don’t look at numbers. The very few times I have, I’ve become catatonic with fear!” he told TODAY when he was in Seoul promoting Age of Ultron earlier this month. “I am not a businessman. I respect the business and I try to provide the people who generously paid for the movie what they need from it. But for me, it’s “Did people laugh? Jump out of their seats? Made you cry? Did they care?” I cannot offer a movie that is a sure-fire hit. I can only offer a movie that I think should be one.”

And for the guy who has both the first and second Avengers film under his belt, Whedon is more than aware that making multi-million dollar superhero epics that pleases everyone is one super-human feat; a near impossible one when it comes to pleasing hardcore fanboys who believe they know best.

“I don’t really read the fan forums,” he confessed with a smile. “But I have learned to avoid my own Twitter feed! Because until the movie comes out, everybody’s angry!

“Every day, Chris Evans (who plays Captain America) is bombing my Twitter asking, ‘Why didn’t I have more screen time?’” he joked.

A bonafide fanboy himself, Whedon knows full well that superhero devotees have strong opinions and pre-conceived notions of what they want to see. He added that very often, fans will even ask why it can’t be their version of the story on the big screen.

“And I’m like, ‘Because I made the film!” he laughed. “I don’t know how else to put it! Hopefully, they’ll see the film and they’ll fall in love with it the way I did, along with everybody in it.”

“Then maybe I can go back to Twitter,” he quipped.

He does, however, fully acknowledge their fervour and enthusiasm. “I love their passion although I don’t always love the way they word it,” he said of the die-hard fans. “But in person, when people are not an anonymous Twitter person, people are wonderful! So gracious and so grateful that we are all seeing the same thing.”

I grew up reading these comics, and wanting to put them on screen and having that opportunity is a privilege, and when I get together with a fan, we’re just two fans going, ‘Oh my god! It’s amazing!’”

For the director who is bowing out after Age of Ultron, Whedon summed it up best: “I never want to make things people like. I only want to make things that they love.”