Joss Whedon Reveals Early Draft Of ‘The Avengers’ Featured Wasp Instead Of Black Widow

Right around the time that Cobie Smulders was cast as Agent Maria Hill in "The Avengers," some folks speculated that Nick Fury's sidekick might be Wasp. And while that didn't come to fruition, it turns out writer/director and now geek savior of all things Marvel, Joss Whedon, was on the same wave length as the fans out there.

Last night, at a DGA screening of "The Avengers," Whedon stayed to answer questions from the audience, and on hand was CinemaBlend, who shared that the movie was going in a different direction initially. "There was a little bit of time when we thought we might not actually get Scarlett [Johansson]," Whedon said about deciding which Marvel heroes would be in the movie. "There was a very Wasp-y draft that I wrote – but it was way too Wasp-y. Because I was like, ‘She adorable! I’m just going to write her!’ " 

But it wasn't just Janet Van Dyne. Whedon also had his doubts about Loki being a worthy enough foe to the superhero team, and while he woudn't reveal who he was thinking of (because the character might be used later on), he wanted a second villain in the movie. "I definitely felt like I have Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, I have four of the biggest, baddest…just the toughest guys out there – and I have one effete British character actor," he said, before showering praise on the thesp. "The ace in the hole is Tom Hiddleston, because he’s so compelling and commanding and gracious about it that it became, ‘Oh it’s about how he gets in their heads – it’s going to be fine. But it took me a long time to accept that because they need someone to hit!" 

As Collider reveals in their coverage of the event, it was actually the studio who turned down the idea of two villains. Also, it was both Kevin Feige and Clark Gregg who campaigned to have Agent Coulson killed off (sort of anyway — he's back in "S.H.I.E.L.D."). And oh yeah, in case you're wondering where Whedon stands on "Star Wars" vs. "The Empire Strikes Back": “I still believe that even though 'The Empire Strikes Back' is better in innumerable ways than 'Star Wars,' 'Star Wars' wins because you can’t end a movie with Han frozen in Carbonite. That’s not a movie, it’s an episode.” Feel free to debate that below.