First reported by IESB on April 1st, and now Deadline Hollywood apparently confirming the news, Joss Whedon is the man Marvel want to direct The Avengers movie.
No strangers to ensemble pictures it is Serenity, his big screen adaptation of the TV series Firefly, which offers the greatest insight as to what we can expect from Whedon’s Avengers. The film was a critical success but didn’t lure in enough box office money but it proved Whedon’s ability to fill the cinema screen with compelling characters and I may be alone in thinking that the action scenes were handled with great style.
His forthcoming horror The Cabin in the Woods is apparently being 3D-ed and won’t be surfacing until next year, and his sci-fi script Goners still awaiting the glare of the green light, and with his Warner Bros Wonder Woman film dead in the water Whedonites all over the world will console their post-Dollhouse grief with this news.
Fans of Whedon’s comic book work, including a pretty impressive run on Astonishing X-Men and his own Buffy Season 8, will serve him well in his work with Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor and the rest of the Avengers. And while I’m sure Marvel will be keeping a fairly tight rein on Whedon’s direction Variety have also reported that Whedon is taking a pass at the script, which is great news for those who loved his work on Buffy and Angel.
I don’t think that this is geek service either, it may have shocked the blogosphere but this news has elevated my interest in this movie, Whedon is a favourite of mine and I cannot wait to see how he handles Robert Downey Jr and Samuel L. Jackson among others.
