Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon quits Twitter

 
Goodbye: Joss Whedon has quit Twitter (Picture: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images)
Emma Powell5 May 2015
The Weekender

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Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon has quit Twitter.

Although the 50-year-old director has not confirmed his reasons for leaving, it is believed that fans of the Marvel comic who criticised the plot and branded his portrayal of Scarlett Johansson’s character Black Widow as sexist, were the driving force.

Prior to his departure from the micro-blogging site, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer director posted two tweets to his 1.15 million followers.

Referencing the release of the film, Whedon first posted: "Now I may me down to sleep I pray the lord my soul to keep If I should die before I wake 'kay."

One user later posted a montage of online criticism which showed users referring to Whedon as a “s****y sexist” writer, "misogynistic" and accused him of doing a “hatchet job” to Black Widow's character.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">This is the real reason why @josswhedon left twitter. I don't blame him. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&amp;id=222025&amp;p=http://t.co/Xfk7n0XvGS" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-53431-http://t.co/Xfk7n0XvGS" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/Xfk7n0XvGS</a>— John Galt (@atlasnodded) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/atlasnodded/status/595349915880038400" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-53431-https://twitter.com/atlasnodded/status/595349915880038400" data-vars-event-id="c23">May 4, 2015</a>

Comedian and actor Patton Oswalt hit back at critics for chasing Whedon off of Twitter, writing: "Yep. There is a "Tea Party" equivalent of progressivism/liberalism. And they just chased Joss Whedon off Twitter. Good job, guys. Ugh."

The Avengers: Age of Ultron European Premiere

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Whedon has in the past expressed his frustration with Twitter. During an interview with Entertainment Weekly he said that using it was “enormous work – very fun, but it really started to take up a huge amount of my head space".

He continued: "It’s a fascinating medium, it’s a fascinating social phenomenon. People are like, ‘It’s like a drug.’ Yeah, and it’s like a job. It’s just another art form. Until I have a script I truly believe in or a tweet that’s really remarkable, I can just walk away and get back to the storytelling I need to do.”

Avengers: Age of Ultron is in cinemas nationwide.

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