Joss Whedon Had His Problems With 'The Avengers'

"The Avengers," the third-highest-grossing film of all time and easily Marvel Studios' new legacy cornerstone, hits DVD and Blu-ray on Sept. 25.

That makes this a perfect time for writer-director Joss Whedon to sit back and take stock.

Spoiler alert: it could've been better, he claims.

He told Vulture recently that at nearly three hours long, even he considers it a bit excessive. Nor does he believe, despite a years-long build up over the course of five interlocking previous films, that audiences had internalized the continuity of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk's related histories.

"I don't think it's a perfect movie," he said. "I don't even think it's a great movie."

What it is, he explains, is a war movie.

"The rollout to the Avengers getting to [Thor's adopted brother] Loki was so gradual that people were getting restless," Whedon explained. "I thought Cobie [Smulders] nailed it, and the reason I thought it was necessary is because I was trying to make a war movie and I wanted to give context that something bad had happened in the past. In a war movie, you don't know who's going to live or die, but you do know that this war happened and that [the characters] are going to be in a dire circumstance, and I wanted to creat that atmosphere."

By this point, "The Avengers" has topped $1.5 billion in worldwide gross, putting it behind James Cameron's "Titantic" and two behind Cameron's "Avatar" on the all-time gross records.  The $1.5 billion in gross sales should increase considerably with the movie headed back into 1,700 theatres over Labor Day weekend.

Eventually, Whedon will hold the numbers to much less value. The success hasn't even completely sunk in yet, he admits.

"I think [the movie is] a great time, and I'm proud of it, but for me, what was exciting is that people don't go to see a movie that many times unless it's pulling on something from within, unless there's a need there. That's very gratifying," he added.

"I felt like I had a particular mission in making what I felt was a slightly old-fashioned movie, because I grew up wanting to make summer movies and wanting to make superhero movies, and I got to do both at once," Whedon said. "I felt like summer movies haven't been what I remember them to be, so I felt like I would love to evoke something that's less hip and ironic and more heartfelt and character-driven and apparenlty, other people cared about that in a large way."

Whedon is next due to be a big cog in writing and possibly directing ABC's Marvel Universe series "S.H.I.E.L.D." and to soon start piecing together an announced sequel to "The Avengers" ramping up in 2013 with the release of the now-filming "Iron Man 3" and "Thor: The Dark World."

His "Avengers" follow-up is tentatively set to hit theaters May 1, 2015.