"Avengers: Age of Ultron" has been compared to "The Godfather: Part 2" by director Joss Whedon.

The initial reaction from most readers would be an emphatic "Did he just go there?"

Francis Ford Coppola's sequel is not only an Oscar-winner, but arguably the greatest sequel ever constructed in the history of cinema. This is no hyperbole. "Godfather Part 2" exceeds its predecessors in a number of ways including its more intricate character study, its dark tone and its tragic outcome. There is simply no sequel in cinema history with the depth and gravitas of Coppola's masterpiece.

So where does "Avengers" come into all of this? How does a popcorn flick that is the sequel to a rather fun but ultimately vapid movie compare to such a titanic achievement in cinematic history?

"The model I'm always trying to build from, or my guiding star, is The Godfather: Part II where a ton has happened in-between and it's a very different movie [from Part I], but you don't need any information," said Whedon according to IGN. "It's there in the film about what's happened since, what's different, and why is this a different film; why is it a different kind of structure, and why is it darker. It's all there, you're in the vernacular of the first movie and you're just ready to pick up in this new place, and hopefully that's what will happen with my movie. Obviously I'm talking about one of the greatest films ever made (The Godfather: Part II)... I hope mine will be good, but that is my guiding star.

"Events of Captain America [The Winter Soldier] will definitely affect the world of Avengers 2," he added. "But at the end of the day, I have to make my movie assuming that people will only have seen the first one, or possibly not even seen the first one. I can't assume that everybody went to see Thor [The Dark World], Captain America, and Iron Man 3 in-between. I have to go from one movie to the next and be true to what's happened [in the previous movies], but not be slavish to it."