THE AVENGERS Original Writer Zak Penn Talks Joss Whedon Kicking Him Off; He says “he’s a dick”

Before Marvel movies they were at the peak of cinematic blockbuster making and big movie making The Avengers was preparing to be made Joss WhedonHead of the MCU Kevin Feige hired The Incredible Hulk writer Zak Penn to tackle the superhero movie script. He wrote the first draft, but when Whedon came on board, he basically overhauled the story and had Penn kicked out of the film.

Whedon was never kind in giving credit to Penn’s contributions, first saying, “There was a script. There just wasn’t a script that I would shoot a word of.” Penn has a spotty track record after working on films like Electra AND X-Men: The Last Standbut he also contributed to hits like X2: X-Men Unite AND Free boy.

In the newly released MCU: The Kingdom of Marvel Studiosthe writer reflected on learning that Whedon had kicked him out of The Avengers and shared his candid assessment of the now-disgraced director (via ComicBook), saying:

“With all the other directors we talked about, Joss wasn’t on the list. I felt he was going to rewrite the script himself. He didn’t even want to meet me – which, by the way, I always call the writer I’m replacing. I think Let it be a courtesy.”

Assuming that Whedon might feel uncomfortable about the situation, Penn chose to contact him (they had known each other for a long time and were both graduates of Wesleyan). “He told me, ‘No, it’s not embarrassing for me. I’m writing to you again.’ It had become quite apparent that he had less than zero interest in involving me in any way in the film.”

Penn had spent years of his life working on the film and told Whedon:

“My kids grew up while I was working on it. They all told their friends. What’s going to happen when their friends say, ‘Didn’t your dad work on Avengers?'” Whedon responded, “What’s going to happen when my kids think that have you written half the story?”

As for what he thinks of the director now, Penn adds:

“I think he’s an asshole. 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 it just came out of my pocket and into Joss’ pocket.”

Ultimately, it was decided that Whedon would get a single “Written by” credit, although both men shared a “Story by” credit which made neither happy. But at least Penn is now telling his side of the story, and while Whedon made a good movie, he’s also been called a terrible person and will never work in Hollywood again. So Penn took him there. Hopefully the writer continues to work on solid film projects and gets the credits he deserves.