Joss Whedon

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NRAMA: Finally. Iron Man - Acceptance.

Ummmm, now this is an interesting choice. The guy arguably most responsible for putting Cap in position for the Red Skull to take his shot ...the guy debatably vilified still by some Marvel readers ...is charged with representing acceptance? Why did you choose Iron Man/Tony for this final stage?

And same question as with the New Avengers chapter - how is this special different than Civil War: The Confession which apparently involves Tony coming to terms, and how did you and Bendis avoid bumping into one another..?

JL: The Confession also grew out of the same retreat. Like any subject matter, two people can approach same topic and have two completely different takes on it. So, I love what Bendis has to say in that book, but it’s not what happens in mine. And Brubaker covers a great deal of this in Cap #26. Acceptance, not only because it is the final issue, but because Tony’s dilemma of the role he plays in “The Death of Captain America”, is focused on him, but it is really about the entire Marvel Universe. How are they going to accept what has happened. And the simple answers is - some will, some won’t and for all of them, it will take time.

As soon as we agreed who we wanted for the first four artists, the last issue had to be ... special. John Cassaday is one of the finest illustrators working in comics today. And if we were going to tell the world that these stories are truly a loving tribute to this character, it had to be with Cass — who is one of the most outspoken Cap fans out there. This is going to be a huge cast and as he’s proven time and again, and most recently, in Astonishing X-Men, he delivers on every single character he touches. We’ve wanted to work together for some time now, but our schedules wouldn’t allow that to happen. And after having to cover as big a story as this one will demand... I hope he’ll speak to me afterwards! [laughs].

I do want to take a moment to thank Joss Whedon, Cass’ partner on Astonishing, who helped move things around in the schedule so Cass could this. Joss in the man. Or, an even higher compliment (for Joss) would be to say he’s the wo-man! [laughs]

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