Joss Whedon

DIRECTOR’S CUT

Astonishing X-Men: The Director’s Commentary-Deleted Scenes

Due to space considerations, the following scenes were dropped from the original Wizard #159 feature on pages 46-57. But nothing’s too good for Wizard readers, so here are the five bonus scenes with commentary from creators Joss Whedon and John Cassaday...

ASTONISHING X-MEN #2, p. 9

The X-Men in action

WHEDON: The idea was to see them all do their thing. And they do their thing in 3.6 seconds. If a bunch of mercenaries show up and think they’re going to take on the X-Men, there’s no fight.

CASSADAY: I initially wanted to give more space to this, but it eventually came to me that the quicker this all happens and is over with, the more you realize what pros these guys are. Bam, zap, snikt! It’s over just that quickly. This also sets the stage for showing how powerful Ord is a page or two later when he hands them their lunch. Until...

ASTONISHING X-MEN #2, p. 14

Lockheed returns!

WHEDON: I live for these moments. I live for the turn-the-page surprise moments. No one was going to see this guy winning the fight. I’ve sidelined him a little bit since then, I definitely need to get up in him more. He’s a powerful guy.

CASSADAY: Chris Claremont saw me at a convention over the summer and said, “After all this time, I can’t believe they let you guys steal my baby!” I thought he meant Kitty. He was actually referring to a small purple dragon.

WHEDON: John’s not wrong, Claremont’s more protective of Lockheed than any human I know. John went for a straight, cartoony, Paul Smith version. I just think he’s too important to Kitty not to have him. I figured that’s the one, come-from-behind, blowout guy you’re not going to see coming.

ASTONISHING X-MEN #3, p. 3

‘Are you a #&$%ing retard?’

WHEDON: [Marvel] asked if I could back off the language thing and I was like, “Just this once, I want him to hit her as hard as he can.”

CASSADAY: I didn’t love it. Salty language gives me the lip sweats.

WHEDON: What John did so beautifully, because I was specific about it but not that specific, the look on his face not being mean. Most artists would have had him yelling. John gave him a look like, “Did I hear you right?” John can give you a completely specific attitude with a face.

ASTONISHING X-MEN #4, p. 8

Ord invades the X-Mansion

WHEDON: The fun there is a big scary guy, people in trouble and us creating the kids.

CASSADAY: Up to now, it’s sorta disputable how bad this guy is. He’s been a little oafish and unlucky. This is the beginning of a scene that shows him to be the bastard he is.

WHEDON: I wanted to throw in a little bit of life at the school. [Hisako] mentions a character called Blindfold that I will introduce in issue #7. “Nothing goes to waste,” is sort of the motto. Wing’s story was just a two-page bit that becomes a real arc that does continue past the first six issues.

ASTONISHING X-MEN #5, p. 24

“You ain’t going to win this day”

WHEDON: What’s up with these government people?

CASSADAY: I dig that we didn’t end our books with a big splash reveal until #5. It feels like most every book now simply spends 21 pages leading up to the big reveal splash cliffhanger on page 22. It can be effective, but you can’t do it every time at bat!

WHEDON: The line about the S.H.I.E.L.D. weaponry was literally a throwaway line. When I was just spitballing I asked if I could just make Nick Fury the worst son of a bitch in the world, but Marvel said they had other things they were doing with him, so he can’t be the worst son of a bitch in the world. I was disappointed because I just wanted to brutalize the characters. But the great thing about Nick Fury is that he’s already kind of the worst son of bitch in the world anyway. He can be rude and get in the way. He represents the shadow government and everything that’s wrong, but still be gruff, likable and kind of cool.