Joss Whedon Will Destroy Us All (With The Avengers 2)

So I saw The Avengers and loved it so much I am considering going to see it another time (after the two other times I'm already planning to see it again with friends and family, of course, and factoring in that I will buy it on DVD as soon as it comes out). However, being as unspoily as possible, you can tell this is a Joss Whedon movie. You'll see what I mean. But (sort of spoilers) it's more early-season Whedon than the heart-crushing, "I've got you all hooked, now it's time to fuck with your emotions", ALL THE FEELS that shows up in the later seasons of his shows (I mean 'late' as in 'everything after season two', JSYK). It doesn't prey on your connections to characters, because Whedon doesn't think they're endeared to the audience enough yet. But if you know a little of his other work, it teases at the complete heartbreak that is coming.

Also, I found this quote from Joss Whedon:

"I'm, no offense, very tired of being labelled as 'the guy who kills people.' Shakespeare (he's this hot new writer) does it way more than me, and everyone's all excited about how he, as it were, holds a mirror up to nature, while I'm like the Jason Voorhees of the writing community. Unfair." 

 Poor Joss. He's not the guy who kills people, though. Anyone can do that, up to and including Shakespeare. Joss Whedon is the guy who creates wonderful characters; gives them strong personalities, interesting flaws, personal demons, emotional journeys and brilliant dialogue; makes the audience absolutely adore them; and then kills them. That's why people care so much when someone from Buffy dies way more than they do when Romeo and Juliet off themselves, because while it's all very sad how their love was all great and stuff and then they died, the point of the Buffy character is to be a person. A friend. A sibling. A parent. A lover. (Not all to the same person, though. That would be creepy.) When they die, you aren't just sad. You grieve. And no-one can ever forgive Joss Whedon for that, even though he invented that character in the first place.

It's like all the people who curse J.K. Rowling for killing [insert one of the many fallen characters here]. The reason we feel that way is because she made them so wonderful in the first place. It's a compliment, really. In gif/public death threat form.

So when I find this quote on Wikipedia, I'm not saying we're doomed because someone will die:

Joss Whedon stated that he would want a sequel to be "...smaller. More personal. More painful. By being the next thing that should happen to these characters, and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time. By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself."

 I say we're doomed because we'll love them.

And then they'll die.