Joss Whedon is on Marvel’s shortlist to direct the inevitable Avengers film. That is if a tipster over at IESB.com is to be believed. This isn’t super surprising news because of Whedon’s cult cred (Firefly, Buffy) and comic book achievements (he wrote the awesome and popular Astonishing X-Men run for Marvel). Whedon proved that he could aptly handle a VFX heavy summer flick with Serenity. Combine that with his working relationship with Marvel and strong knowledge of it’s characters and it puts Whedon in a really good place.
So what stands in Whedon’s way? First, despite Serenity’s greatness it definitely underperformed money wise. Second, while no one denies that Whedon can write well, what has he directed since Serenity? Answer: A handful of TV shows (Dollhouse, Glee, The Office) and Dr. Horrible (which created a bit of a splash for it’s unique distribution but it wasn’t a megahit). Avengers will also require the director to work with a lot of different big personalities (Robert Downey Jr, Sam Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Ed Norton, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, etc). Basically one could make the argument that Whedon isn’t an experienced enough feature director for this behemoth of a film. If that wasn’t enough, Captain America needs to be pretty damn good on it’s own (and in the hands of Joe “Jurassic Park 3” Johnson that’s a big toss up).
I think Whedon did a great job on Serenity (I saw it before Firefly and still loved it) and welcome him with open arms over the other previously known short listed Avengers director Louis Leterrier (Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans).
What do you think about Joss Whedon potentially directing The Avengers?
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