One of the biggest changes to the backstory of the evil Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron is that he’s created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, and not Hank Pym as depicted in the comics. This, of course, sparked some outrage from fans who felt that Ant-Man should be the guy to create this piece of A.I.

“Of all the heat I’ve ever taken, not having Hank Pym was one of the bigger things,” Joss Whedon told Empire about the decision not to have Ant-Man in the mix. “But the fact of the matter was, Edgar [Wright] had him first and by virtue of what Edgar was doing, there was no way for me to use him in this. I also thought it was a bridge too far. Ultron needs to be the brainchild of the Avengers, and in the world of the Avengers and the MCU, Tony Stark is that guy. Banner has elements of that guy – we don’t really think of him as being as irresponsible as Tony Stark, but the motherf***er tested gamma radiation on himself, with really terrible, way-worse-than-Tony-Stark results.”

But with Ant-Man being the next movie released after Avengers: Age of Ultron, was there not a place for Hank Pym?

“It didn’t make sense to introduce a third scientist, a third sciencetician,” Whedon explains. “It was hard for me, because I grew up on the comics, to dump that, but at the end of the day, it’s a more interesting relationship between Tony and Ultron if Tony was once like, ‘you know what would be a really great idea?’ They’re doing what they always do – which is jump in headfirst, and then go, ‘Sorry, world!’ But you have to make it their responsibility without just making it their fault.”

Avengers: Age of Ultron which is set for release in the UK on April 23rd and North America on May 1st and is directed by Joss Whedon with a cast that includes Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (The Incredible Hulk), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Paul Bettany (JARVIS / The Vision), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Quicksilver), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), James Spader (Ultron), Thomas Kretschmann (Baron Strucker), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Claudia Kim (Dr. Cho) and Andy Serkis (Uylsses Klaw).

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