Avengers director, Buffy creator, and noted user of social media Joss Whedon has deleted his Twitter account shortly after the premiere of his latest movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron. Whedon, who used the service heavily and had 1.14 million followers, tweeted a thank-you message to "all the people who've been so kind and funny and inspiring up in here," shortly before closing his account. The director and writer did not specify the reason for his departure.

Age of Ultron opened to the second-biggest US box office of all time — behind only the original Avengers — but Whedon had recently made some of his frustrations with the Marvel movie-making machine clear. In a tweet sent shortly before he deactivated his Twitter account, he referenced Marvel execs, imagining them saying "Don't let Joss tweet anything controversial." The comment came after Whedon first criticized a Jurassic World preview clip that he called "'70s-era sexist" for its framing of "stiff" women, before backing down and apologizing for the "bad form" statement. He had also begun to face some criticism for his portrayal of Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow in the most recent Avengers movie.

Whedon thanked "all the people who've been so kind" before closing his account

Whedon is just one of many celebrities to have quit the social media service, but will be missed more than most. In addition to his comedic output, he has been a staunch and vocal supporter of people such as Anita Sarkeesian who have faced systematic campaigns of online harassment. It's not clear whether similar harassment, his relationship with movie executives and their contracts, or simple fatigue drove Whedon from the service, but with his disappearance, we've lost one of Twitter's most respectful and relatable public figures.

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