Here’s the Silly Reason Loki Was Cut from Avengers: Age of Ultron

matchgirl42:

maryxglz:

Marvel toyed with fans’ emotions in a big way by teasing that Loki would
be in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and even filming scenes with Tom
Hiddleston, before excising his footage from the film completely. Now,
Hiddleston has finally revealed the reason Loki was cut from Age of
Ultron, and it’s all test audiences’ fault

In the above interview with Digital Spy,
Hiddleston said that he had spent a day filming scenes for Thor’s dream
sequence, but they were ultimately cut from the film because test
audience reaction indicated that Loki was pulling focus from Ultron:

‘I got the phone call from Kevin Feige… that in test screenings,
audiences had over-emphasized Loki’s role. They thought that because I
was in it, I was controlling Ultron, and it was actually imbalancing
people’s expectations. So Joss and Kevin said ‘Let’s cut it, because
it’s confusing people.’

The dream sequence was clearly separate from the rest of the film in
many ways, serving as one big Easter egg for the MCU and especially
Avengers: Infinity War (which is probably why it was my least favorite
part of the movie), so it seems a little silly that test audiences would
think that Loki was actually the main villain. But then again, the
scenes themselves may have been misleading for some reason, or they
might have just wanted to think that because Ultron himself was so
underwhelming.

I wish I could say that we’ll find out from the
bonus footage on the Blu-ray, but it seems that Hiddleston’s scenes
aren’t included. This is a big oversight, considering that audiences
were expecting to see Hiddleston in Age of Ultron. But honestly, it
probably would have been anticlimactic to see Hiddleston in a tiny
little cameo in a dream sequence that felt unnecessary to begin with.
It’s disappointing, but maybe it will be more satisfying to wait to see
him in Thor: Ragnarok and Infinity War, if Hiddleston finally signs onto them, that is.

#Loki upstaged Ultron#so their solution was to cut him rather than jump on expanding his role in the mcu#test audiances: you’re doing it wrong

Exactly what she said.

Also?  The whole reason that Ultron could be upstaged?  Because in the MCU/movie he was a bad/weak villain, basically.  I mean people talk all the time about how Loki’s been woobified in the MCU, but damn…Wanda was more of a threat than Ultron was, and once she and Pietro went over to the Avengers, that was pretty much game over for Ultron.

And I’m not saying anything bad about James Spader, I’ve always loved his voice and acting, but damn did the writing/directing/editing not live up to the expectations of the character.

It’s a persistent and very frustrating trend in superhero movies and I wish to God somebody in charge of these universes catches a clue one day.

They always try to up the ante in sequels by introducing multiple villains, and it never works. This has at least seemed less pronounced in the solo movies, but as soon as I heard that they were including Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Ultron in this movie, I knew it would be a clusterfuck.

Setting aside raw acting ability – both Tom Hiddleston and James Spader have the chops to carry a movie as the villain/antagonist, I think we can all agree on that. James Spader as Ultron was kickass. But Tom had thechance to carry a movie as the antagonist. Not just in Thor, but in The Avengers as well – yeah, we had the Chitauri and the brainwashed people, but they were ultimately just extensions of the threat Loki himself presented. Wanda and Pietro started off with HYDRA before being kind of…shuffled over to Ultron’s side before they inevitably became good guys. And we knew they’d become good guys, so their entire stint as antagonists was a complete bloody waste of time. I predicted that entire progression of events, and the movie disappointed me by not disappointing me.

Honestly, I think a lot of the treatment of Loki’s character in the movies is becoming emblemetic of my increasing frustration with the MCU. This isn’t the first time we’ve received hints that Tom Hiddleston’s portrayal of Loki is considered “too compelling” or “too sympathetic” by the guys in charge. At the least, it’s caused a positive effect in the comics – while Kieron Gillan’s run on Journey Into Mystery, which happened the same year, definitely helped matters, I don’t think anyone’s going to argue that Agent of Asgard drew a lot from Tom. But even then, even I’m side-eyeing previews for The Mighty Thor going “don’t you fucking dare, Jason Aaron.”

But the movies are increasingly showing that they don’t want to “waste time” on developed villains. They want the flash, they want the explosions, they want the “hey, it’s that guy” cameos. See also my feelings of increasing dread towards Captain America: Civil War. Whether it’s because they don’t think a well-developed and compelling villain makes a difference or because they genuinely don’t want their movies to get that deep, I don’t know. But it’s frustrating as all hell. Even setting aside how distinct movie!Malekith is from comics!Malekith, I have the art book and I know all the shit they cut out about the Dark Elves in the second movie, and it could have made such a difference.

The 2011 Thor movie, for all its little flaws and technical issues, nevertheless holds a special place in my heart because it told a damn solid story with damn compelling characters. It was a tragedy that could have been averted at a million little moments and yet at the same time was inevitable, with the characters being who they were. But given Kevin Feige’s Shakespeare roots, that makes sense.

You want to know why I’m always excited to maybe see Loki in the movies? It’s not because I’m a stupid fangirl distracted by the pretty. It’s because I know that Tom Hiddleston can elevate even the most bland and token writing into something compelling.

I think this might also might tie back to their insistence on slowly turning MCU into the slowest television show ever, btw. Because they’re not writing to tell a complete story. They had to promise us a five-minute cameo of Falcon getting his butt kicked by Scott Lang for anyone to give a shit about Ant-Man, and tease that maybe someday we might get Wasp the recognition she deserves, and give us our first look at Bucky since last year. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that they’re writing to get butts in seats in 2018 and that pisses me off.

We could have turned The Winter Soldier into a complete story with a five second addendum to the post-credits scene, of Bucky turning around and seeing Steven standing in the exhibit looking back at him. But they didn’t want that, because apparently, they’re that desperate for sequel hooks.

God damn it, Marvel, I know you can be better than this.

/end rant

Here’s the Silly Reason Loki Was Cut from Avengers: Age of Ultron