Maybe his current partner is expecting a child? Outside of the press release context, if someone was dropping those sorts of hints that’s what I’d guess.

It might also be that his run of bad publicity has put him in a mental state where he can no longer muster the focus and energy for the job. He’s talked about having depression before, and I don’t think he was entirely joking.

Look, I’m really not interested in defending Whedon. He seems like a bit of an asshole, and I’m entirely prepared to accept that he’s crossed the line into “beyond asshole” territory at this point. Seriously, this is not about rebutting any shitty behavior of his, but...What. the. fuck. did. he. do? Just, like, any…

Yes, and obviously everyone pontificating on the character and actions of Joss Whedon is a bastion of rational thinking. No entire fucking paragraphs dedicated to that, right?

Good god. If this is all people can dig up, what the fuck are we even talking about here?

Co-written by Drew Goddard. Directed by Goddard.

Still not quite sure why Fisher is willing to burn down his fledgling acting career over this.

If Snyder was a director that was treated normally then that’d be fine. It’s when Snyder develops this violent cult of love where his supporters unironically rank Snyder on the level of Stanley Kubrick and proclaim that Snyder is the ONLY person making “grown up” “intelligent” and “adult” comic book films. That’s the…

Well, if he refuted, as in definitively disproved or debunked, the allegation, why do we even need to bring it up?

The Avengers script is as good as anything he wrote in his prime. It’s Ultron where he goes a bit too Whedon-y idiosyncratic 

I mean, we can have this conversation without pretending that Zach Snyder has nothing to offer. Shitting on all his work to make a point kind of invalidates the point completely. Dawn of the Dead was a great looking film that helped bring back zombie coolness and a minor hit, 300 was a MASSIVE hit and a…

I know literally nothing about Ray Fisher except all the crap he’s put into the public, but if I were just some rando with no opinion, I would say he’s frustrated that his career didn’t take off like he wanted it to, and he’s lashing out at the guy he blames, even though Zach was making a truly terrible piece of…

It’s because he was so idolized for so long. One of the dangers of parasocial relationships is that if you learn the person wasn’t who you thought they were, it feels like a personal betrayal.

Just trying to get out ahead of the next Louie CK. Whedon’s probably not that, but I thought the same about Louie. It seems weird to me as well that there’s such vitriol toward him in a news article, but the AV Club newsfeed is just the Mean Girls burn book now.

I’m honestly puzzled by the vitriol about Whedon. It’s so intense and personal, and has an unhealthy fervor that’s outsized in comparison to his misdeeds.

The issued statement doesn’t divulge if Whedon got fed up with HBO, if HBO got fed up with Whedon, if the split was pandemic related or story arc related or cost of production related or behavior-in-set related. So why was the article trashing Whedon? Also, being despised by Zack Snider is a badge of honor.

On the internet it feels like everything has to be either the greatest thing ever or the worst thing ever. I think Joss Whedon is a talented guy who has created some shows I’ve really enjoyed. There are obviously people who know him who think he’s not a great guy, but you can say that about anyone. I’m going to…

No, they just show up in every thread.

I know you mean well, but you never seem to reply to engage with comments - just to remark on commenters.

“Obviously, from a modern point of view it looks oppressive, but it was actually rather progressive for its era.” So it’s a Whedon show ba-dum-tinggggg!