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On one hand, you could say Joss Whedon had about as auspicious a Marvel Studios debut as possible when he wrote and directed "The Avengers." The blockbuster superhero team-up was really the first of its kind, bringing together disparate elements of a shared timeline and cementing the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the juggernaut blockbuster franchise we know it as today. It also made $1.5 billion, which helps. On the other hand, you could also argue that Whedon's foray into the MCU started in about as inauspicious a way as possible.

That's because Whedon's first MCU project cost an old friend millions. The director came to "The Avengers" after Zak Penn had already written a script. But Whedon decided to disregard the existing screenplay almost entirely, rewriting it from scratch and, in the process, establishing his comedic sensibility — previously on full display...