Joss Whedon officially directing The Avengers!

The appropriate response is "Squee!"

At EW’s Visionaries panel at Comic-Con on Wednesday, which also featured J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon finally made official the rumours that had been unconfirmed for months: he’s directing Marvel’s Avengers movie. It was the best day ever.

In his own words, “It’s not an official thing, I think because Marvel can’t afford a press release. So can we make it official? I’m directing The Avengers.” To which the crowd responded with the appropriate level of enthusiasm.

He went on to explain “I will say the thing I love about it, the thing that made me excited to do it, is how counterintuitive it is. These people shouldn’t be in the same room, let alone the same team. And that, to me, is the very definition of family.”

He’s currently outlining the script, which presumably means he’s essentially coming up with a whole new draft, rather than just reworking it. This is perfect, because as good as Joss Whedon is as a director (and he’s excellent), if anything he’s an even better writer, and his direction seems to function as a natural extension of his writing.

Joss Whedon is now officially king of all geeks. In the words of Xander: “I’m not going to stand here and say ‘I told you so’, but…I told you so.”

The natural way to celebrate the shiny news about this all-star mega-blockbuster summer tent-pole extravaganza movie to be released in 2012 is with the Dance of Joy. Or the Snoopy Dance.

Joss Whedon is the perfect director for The Avengers. His acclaimed run on Astonishing X-Men showed his instinct for Marvel superhero team dynamics, Doctor Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog put a fresh, fun, and moving twist on the superhero genre, his feature film debut Serenity took audiences on a rollercoaster ride even with a relatively small budget, and all of his television series showcase his ability to meld multiple genres together and make ensemble casts really click, through stories rooted in character.

Hopefully The Avengers will not only be the greatest film ever, but also smash box office records, win every Oscar, and get rave reviews from every critic, opening the way for Joss to make sequels, get Cabin in the Woods released, make Doctor Horrible 2 and have it seen by everybody in the entire world, get everybody who hasn’t seen them already to check out his back catalogue and realise just how great his TV shows are, achieve the popular acclaim of Peter Jackson, have the clout to get any project he wants made with a big budget and total creative freedom, and get Firefly recommissioned for 20 seasons. And be king of all Londinium and wear a shiny hat.

But even if none of this works out, he’s still the man who brought us Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Serenity, Doctor Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog, Sugarshock, Astonishing X-Men, and Fray.

The Avengers comes out in May 2012, which gives plenty of time to catch up on Joss Whedon’s impressive back catalogue. It’s totally worth it. (And if you don’t, then you’ll miss out on all my pop culture references…sorry.)

Stay tuned for more updates on the movie, including casting announcements.

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