Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Avengers: Age Of Ultron Confession Is A Bummer For Marvel Fans
Actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson has starred in projects in a variety of different genres throughout his 20-plus year career, from the 2009 music biopic "Nowhere Boy" — where he played a pre-Beatles John Lennon — and the 2012 period romance "Anna Karenina," to director Christopher Nolan's mind-bending thriller "Tenet" in 2020.
Apparently, though, Taylor-Johnson isn't crazy about the types of films that have raised his profile the most — or at least of the timing in which they came.
In an interview with Esquire about his upcoming role in the Marvel supervillain movie "Kraven the Hunter," Taylor-Johnson made some blunt observations about his previous work in the superhero and sci-fi movie genres — specifically in 2010's "Kick-Ass," 2014's "Godzilla," and 2015's "Avengers: Age of Ultron." True, his work in the films allowed his star to rise in showbiz, but they also came at a time when he was starting a family, which was clearly more important to him.
"There was 'Kick-Ass' and then there was 'Godzilla' and 'Avengers,' and all those things lined up for me," Taylor-Johnson told Esquire. "But I didn't really care for them."
Taylor-Johnson would have preferred being with his family
"Kick-Ass" stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a superhero wannabe who encounters some very real villains. The 2014 Monster-Verse chapter "Godzilla" saw the actor in the lead role opposite his future Marvel Cinematic Universe star Elizabeth Olsen. The acting duo — who first cameoed as twins Pietro Maximoff-Quicksilver and Wanda Maximoff-Scarlet Witch in a post-credits scene in 2014's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"— formally made their debut in the MCU a year later in "Avengers: Age of Ultron."
But instead of the work, Taylor-Johnson's mind was on his family he started with his wife-colleague, director Sam Taylor-Johnson. The couple met in 2009 filming "Nowhere Boy," and they married in 2012. They have two children together, who were both very young during the period Aaron Taylor-Johnson was making "Kick-Ass," "Godzilla," and "Avengers: Age of Ultron."
"I wanted, purely, to be with my babies. I didn't want to be taken away from them. I battled with what that would be like," Taylor Johnson recalled for Esquire. "I would say I was probably not ready to be in that position anyway — it was too early. But yeah, I also slightly didn't give a f***."
With any luck, Taylor-Johnson will care about working in the super-spy genre. In January 2023, news broke that Taylor-Johnson reportedly had a James Bond meeting that "went well" — which is a great sign since the actor is considered one of frontrunners to replace Daniel Craig as 007. Taylor-Johnson's "Kraven the Hunter" was originally scheduled to open on October 6, 2023, but its studio Sony changed movie release dates for "Kraven" and many more because of the uncertainty surrounding the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. The film is now scheduled to debut on August 30, 2024.