SEOUL — While anticipation for the first Avengers movie in 2012 was high, not even the combined brains at S.H.I.E.L.D. could have predicted just how phenomenally successful that film would be. And we’re not just talking about its astounding US$1.5 billion (S$2 billion) worldwide box office total, or the fact that it’s the third-highest grossing film of all time, the highest-grossing comic-book adaptation ever and the most successful superhero film of all time.

We’re talking about how director (and comic book fanboy) Joss Whedon managed to harness the collective power of a bunch of favourite superheroes to make one heck of a movie. A bona fide thinking-man’s superhero movie that also ticked all the right boxes.

So how does one top all that? Will Avengers: Age Of Ultron do as its predecessor did and manage to balance a huge cast with a “serious” storyline? After all, this is Whedon’s last Avengers movie and it looks like he’s going out with a bang. His second superhero reunion is shaping up to be the sternest offering from the Marvel cinema universe yet. The gang is back — Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) — along with newcomers Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver, Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch and James Spader as the evil Ultron. And there’s a pesky Whedon hint that not all the Avengers may survive to assemble another time ...

TODAY got The Avengers to assemble in front of us for a heart-to-heart chat about their highly anticipated superhero reunion.

(The Avengers: Age Of Ultron opens in cinemas on April 23.)

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Q: Chris, it’s the second Avengers movie. How raucous were you all on set?

Chris Evans: You really feel like you’re in school again! It’s not an easy job for anyone on set. Especially for Joss, because this isn’t the “get to know you” phase anymore. We’re all good friends! And in this movie, there were a lot more scenes as a group than there was in the first film. If you get more than three or four of us together, it’s going to be hard to wrangle us. Sometimes, you have to remember, “Hey guys, we’re here to work…” (laughs)

Q: So Joss has to rein you all in?

Chris: (laughs) Yeah, poor Joss! The producers are just waiting for Joss to be the bad guy, but he does it in a way that you feel like he’s the nice, cool teacher who has just had enough. But it’s really easy to let your immaturity kick in when you’re in that group.

Q: Who instigates it?

Joss Whedon: Who doesn’t? (laughs)

Chris: I was going to say, I don’t think anyone is well-behaved. Not one of us is saying, “Hey come on guys, settle down!” Every one of us is kind of a chatty Cathy.

Q: Joss, Marvel superhero movies always have a message. What’s Age Of Ultron’s message?

Joss: I wouldn’t call it a message, but more like an area of exploration. More than anything, it’s about power. Because the Avengers now, in their own little way, are a world power and it’s about how much power can you wield before you become separate from the people you’re wielding it over. And when does it stop being about the people you’re trying to protect? Ultron’s view is that the Avengers are completely useless in the real world, that their power is something that helps keep increasingly untenable status quos, so maybe they should all be put to death. Ultron’s crazy but he makes enough good points. He makes it hard for the Avengers, not in conflict but also internally.

Q: Marvel movies have also always been seen as a microcosm for the crazy real world we live in.

Joss: Oh yes, it’s very important that the film reflects the real world as much as it should. It comes to a point where it would be offensive to be too specific but also offensive to be too blithe. I’ve seen things where cities get destroyed and it’s all “Hooray we’ve won!” It’s conflicting for me as a film-maker — and for the team, you know? You want to give people the spectacle they want to see, but you also want to go, “Hey, it comes with a price tag guys! It’s not always okay!” This is also very much what the film is about: How much is too much?

Q: Joss, what were your biggest apprehensions going into a movie of this scale, the second and last time around?

Joss: My main focus was to do a better film than the first one. So I guess I was only worried that the movie would be terrible and that I would fail. If I stepped back, my biggest fear would be only that people came away from it going “Oh, that was nice”, because I never want to make things people like. I only want to make things that they love. I want people to go, “I was in there with them” or “I was in that battle with them and I’m exhausted but I want to go right back in”. That’s what I am shooting for, and if I fall short of that, I will be sad. I’m still making the movie in my head ... I’m still in that whirlwind. This is my last Avengers movie so that’s why I’ve got to get it right.

Q: Do box office expectations scare you? Age Of Ultron comes with pretty massive expectations.

Joss: I don’t look at numbers. The very few times I have, I’ve become catatonic with fear! I am not a businessman. I respect the business and I try to provide the people who generously paid for the movie what they need from it. But for me, it’s “Did people laugh? Jump out of their seats? Made you cry? Did they care?” I cannot offer a movie that is a sure-fire hit. I can only offer a movie that I think should be one.

Q: Robert, if you had the Iron Man suit in real life, what would you do with it?

Robert Downey Jr: Given some consideration, I’ve narrowed it down to several finalists. One of them is that I like to offer a shuttle service from downtown to the airport. I think I can take three passengers at a time. Second, it’ll be Tony’s Barbeque — where you can put small dishes of meat and poultry on my chest and I’ll fry it. (smiles)

Q: Mark, your Bruce Banner, aka, The Hulk and Robert’s Tony Stark have developed a close relationship in the movie. In real life, what do

you have in common?

Mark Ruffalo: First of all, a love for family. And secondly, a long time of doing this (acting). We’ve had some ups and some downs. But always a real love for acting.

Robert: Mark Ruffalo said he wanted to bunk over in my hotel suite tonight ... but I am just not ready.

Mark: The best things in life are just hard to attain sometimes. That doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying.

Q: Mark, you kind of lucked out when it came to the superhero suit.

Mark: Yeah, I call it my man-cancelling suit! It makes you look big everywhere you want to look small and small everywhere you want to look big! (laughs) It kind of became a joke for a while but it wasn’t that bad. It isn’t very flattering — you look a little bit like a Chinese checkers board. I did say, maybe we should have someone like Mark Jacobs design my suit next time, you know? “Tszuj” it up a little bit?

Q: Mark, you’re someone who seems to effectively seek out both indie films and the summer blockbusters. How important is that for you?

Mark: You know, there are fads in movies and in our culture. If you look at the last 30 years of film, there’s always some kind of genre movie that sort of becomes “the one” for a time. I hope this one lasts a lot longer than some of the others. But you know, it’s a long career. And Michael Keaton is kind of the perfect example of that. As an actor, you don’t have very much control — you have some control but you’re sort of riding a wave of the culture. The culture dictates the popularity of a film. It isn’t a studio or an actor in particular, it’s something that come from the culture. So actors, to some degree, are engaging and riding that wave. I like to ride a bunch of different waves — this doesn’t define who I am. I love to act so I’ll just keep going where my heart takes me and sometimes it’s a blockbuster and sometimes it’s another indie movie ... which will be a blockbuster! (laughs)

Q: Joss, the death of a major character has been hinted at. In comic books, death is never permanent. You think audiences would buy into the death of a character in the movie?

Joss: There have been a lot of rumours that are not true, I’m happy to say. For me, I’m making just the one film and it’s not about whether or not somebody gets killed. It’s just that you’re worried that they might. If you’re not, then it really doesn’t matter. So all I am going to say about this film is that hopefully, you would like them to live or I really air-balled. The (people who create the) Marvel universe are cognisant that they make franchises, and franchises are like TV shows. So they are also aware that you can get away with only so much, and eventually people will say, “I don’t believe you anymore”. There are a lot of factors that go into deciding something like that. And what happens after my movie — I’m going to read about it (somewhere).