Beaten by Wonder Woman, will the cult scribe finally make his mark in the superhero genre...?

IESB reports that Joss Whedon is on the short list to direct Marvel’s Avengers movie, later confirmed by the LA Times.

The writer-director has proven his ability to handle teams of superheroes, with his brilliant run on Marvel’s Astonishing X-Men comics.  He’s also shown his skill at handling ensemble casts and bringing together disparate genres, not to mention his propensity for witty humour, in his cult shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse, as well as his critically-acclaimed feature film directing debut, Serenity.

Though Serenity under-performed at the box office, this was largely due to the fact that not enough people had seen the fantastic space western Firefly, which it issued from.  The Avengers is not likely to suffer from such problems, seeing as it follows on from several summer blockbusters (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America), and is a big tentpole film for Marvel.

Of the cast, he’s worked with Chris Hemsworth (Thor) on Cabin in the Woods, which he co-wrote and produced.

(Interestingly, Joss Whedon has mentioned in interviews that he’s a fan of the British 1960s TV series The Avengers, although there’s been no talk of him making a reboot of this.)

However, Whedon's had bad experiences working on superhero movies in the past.  As a script doctor on X-Men, virtually none of his work made it to the finished film, and he spent two years writing Wonder Woman, only for his script not to get made when the studio couldn’t decide what they wanted. The Wonder Woman film still hasn’t been made. As a director, though, he might have more creative control.

Also, he hasn’t expressed a particular interest in The Avengers in the past, citing the fact that his stories come from pain, which the Avengers, as a team, lack.

His involvement in the project would probably depend on the details of the particular take the story goes for.

He’s also not a fan of excessively complicated crossovers between comic book titles, and so would probably want to strike a balance between the crossovers and making a film which stands in its own right.

Joss Whedon is a fantastic writer, and has mostly directed his own scripts (to great effect) in the past, so it seems a missed opportunity for him not to write the film.  The script is written by Zak Penn (X-Men 2, The Incredible Hulk).  However, if Whedon directs, then hopefully he’ll get to take a pass at the script, both to make it even better (because, in my opinion, Joss > pretty much everyone) and to make it fit his sensibilities more closely.

There’s a precedent for directors with a cult following being chosen to direct superhero movies, proving to be a smart choice, and growing in popularity as a result.  For example, Bryan Singer (X-Men), Sam Raimi (Spiderman), Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins), and Jon Favreau (Iron Man).

If Joss Whedon directs The Avengers, he may get the mainstream recognition he deserves.  Perhaps his next TV show may even not get cancelled...

One casting suggestion: Joss Whedon could cast Neil Patrick Harris as a singing supervillain, in a crossover with Doctor Horrible 2...

IESB | LA Times

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