Joss Whedon hasn't been afraid of putting the knife in since breaking with Marvel after Avengers: Age of Ultron last year, which included complaining about the resurrection of Agent Coulson in his own Agents of SHIELD show.
And now he's apologised for the comments about Clark Gregg's character - but not without putting another knife in while he was at it, regarding the short shrift the show gets.
"With a TV show, you just have to... you just have to be careful," Whedon said during a talk at the Oxford Union. "Which unfortunately just means the TV show gets, you know, leftovers.
"One of the first things they said was, 'We got a great idea! We'll use Loki's sceptre!' And I'm like, 'Yeah... um, hold that thought'."
Cameos of movie characters in Agents of SHIELD have included Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), Sif (Jaimie Alexander)... and that's about it.
Whedon said that his comments about Gregg's return to life in the show came across 'meaner' than he intended.
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"No, I don't regret bringing back Phil Coulson because he's Clark Gregg, and he's so badass," he said.
In the same talk, he also confirmed that he is 100% not working with Marvel Studios anymore, which didn't come as much of a surprise.
Agents of SHIELD will be returning from its mid-season three break in March.
Watch Joss Whedon's full appearance at the Oxford Union below:
