Mark Ruffalo defends ‘Avengers’ director Joss Whedon

AVENGERS director Joss Whedon is still copping it from furious Marvel fans. One of the film’s stars has had enough.

MARK Ruffalo has spoken out in defence of Avengers director Joss Whedon who is under fire from fired up film fans.

The director has been heavily criticised for his depiction of Scarlett Johansson’s character Black Widow in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and in particular for her relationship with Bruce Banner, the Incredible Hulk.

Whedon, who has been tagged as “sexist” and “misogynistic”, recently quit Twitter after receiving hundreds of threats online, including comments such as “I’m going to do everything in my power to destroy your career” and “Fu** you you dumb fu**ing piece of s**t.”.

In a Reddit Ask Me Anything session overnight, Mark Ruffalo defended his pal and said he’s “sad” about the criticism.

“I just don’t think that people should get personal with Joss, because he really is — of anyone — an advocate for women,” said Ruffalo.

Scarlett Johansson on set with director Joss Whedon.

“He’s a deeply committed feminist ... I know it hurts him. I know it’s heavy on him. And the guy’s one of the sweetest, best guys, and I know him — as far as any man can be a champion for women, he is that.”

Ruffalo believes the anger directed at Whedon is “misplaced” and added “what people might really be upset about is the fact that we need more superhuman women”.

“The guys can do anything, they can have love affairs, they can be weak or strong and nobody raises an eyebrow.

“But when we do that with a woman, because there are so few storylines for women, we become hypercritical of every single move that we make because there’s not much else to compare it to.”

Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo star in 'The Avengers Age of Ultron'.

Meanwhile, fellow Marvel director, Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn, has posted a plea on Facebook in support of Whedon, describing his own experiences and the fact “the angry contingent of fandom is getting more aggressive all the time”.

“My plea to all of you — and this is nothing new — is that we all try to be a little kinder, on the internet and elsewhere,” he wrote.

“And, honestly, that includes being kind to the people who are tweeting this nonsense.”

However, Whedon can take comfort in the fact that the Avengers: Age Of Ultron had the second-highest grossing three-day US debut in history, making $US191.3 million ($A244.08 million) just behind the opening of his original Avengers in 2012 ($US207 million).

Originally published as Mark Ruffalo defends ‘Avengers’ director Joss Whedon