Writer and director of “The Avengers” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron” Joss Whedon has returned to Twitter after leaving the social media site for 16 months, and he’s come back with a cause.

“Save the Day.”

It’s the name of a new super PAC spearheaded by the creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and fronted by a bunch of Whedon’s famous friends.

The “Save the Day” website describes the organization, saying, “We are a short-form digital production company dedicated to the idea that voting is a necessary and heroic act. That every voice in this wonderfully diverse nation should, and must, be heard. That the only thing that can save democracy is the act that defines it. We are committed to fighting the apathy, cynicism, and honest confusion that keeps citizens from using their vote. And to reminding an increasingly out-of-touch and compromised set of representatives that they are answerable to the people they were hired to serve.”


In the first video released by the PAC (Warning: Video contains explicit language), a cavalcade of Hollywood’s finest appear to underline the importance of voting in November’s election.

From “Avengers” alumni Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle and Mark Ruffalo, to Julianne Moore, Keegan-Michael Key, “Hamilton” star Leslie Odom Jr., Nathan Fillion and many more, the video itself mocks the “celebrities uniting for an important cause” formula in classic self-deprecating Whedon style.

“You only get this many famous people together when the issue is one that truly matters to all of us,” Taran Killam and Randall Park state in the video. The clip then goes on to list the types of causes important enough for celebrities to stump for — like a disease, an ecological crisis or, as Cheadle states, “a racist, abusive coward who could permanently damage the fabric of our society.”

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Mark Ruffalo and Joss Whedon. (Jennifer Cochis / Save the Day )

It’s fair to say that “Save the Day” isn’t an organization without political leanings, though neither candidate is mentioned by name at any point in the video.

“At least one person was like, ‘I didn’t expect this to be quite so partisan. I don’t want to alienate half my fan base.’ But nobody backed out,” Whedon told BuzzFeed of filming the video, which concludes with an extended riff promising that Ruffalo would do a nude scene in his next movie if the country were successful in protecting itself from fear and ignorance.

Whedon has taken this opportunity to return to Twitter because he sees “Save the Day” as a battle worth braving online trolls for.


Hey! Did I miss anything? Lol jk the world is on fire 😂 here's a thing I made https://t.co/g1SE45Rkrv — Joss Whedon (@joss) September 21, 2016

“I have a pathological fear of conflict, but I think this is more important than the fact that I’m a fraidy-cat,” Whedon told BuzzFeed. “You cannot be afraid that people will not like you.

“The people with extreme beliefs are willing to yell until the people with more complex belief systems just want to go away,” he continued. “And if you can’t stand up for the thing that you know in your heart and your brain is true at a time when it means a difference to the entire world, then you have no right to stand up at all. If you cannot talk back to these people, then you get what they think you deserve.”

libby.hill@latimes.com


Twitter: @midwestspitfire

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