The Avengers Joss Whedon leading on "Avengers" short list of directors

[powerbomb1411]

His run on Astonishing sucked and he has a good track record of shows being canceled or being on the brink of getting canceled.

This has bad news written all over it for me.

 

[Son of Coul]

Sounds interesting. Marvel's done a fantastic job getting their **** together early for every one of their projects so far, even the Cap casting despite how long it may have seemed, and it's looking to pay off big time.

 

[Raiden]

The good thing is that Joss Whedon has created some very good TV shows, like Buffy, and he's a comic book fan & writer (I like his Astonishing X-Men). The problem, though, is that Whedon isn't known to be a good movie director, and his movie Serenity (based on his cancelled show Firefly) felt more like a made-for-TV movie than a big-screen blockbuster. The Avengers is Marvel's ultimate dream, one that is built up by Iron Man 1 & 2, Thor, and Capt. America and will be the first "cross-over" superhero movie ever. Marvel must consider very carefully whom they want to helm this tremendous project, and I can't help but feel that they could've done better. I hope Marvel really knows what they're doing.

 

[Chewy]

Whedon is going to "rework" Penn's script

Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Incredible Hulk will soon start taking orders from Joss Whedon.

Marvel Studios is wrapping up a deal for Whedon to helm "The Avengers," which assembles the superheroes in one pic on May 4, 2012, that Paramount will distrib. Whedon will also rework Zak Penn's script.

Whedon, a favorite among fanboys, most recently penned the script for "Cabin in the Woods," a horror pic that he is also producing for MGM. Pic co-stars Chris Hemsworth, who plays the hammer-wielding Thor.

The creator of series like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," "Firefly" and more recently "Dollhouse," all for Fox, has been close to helming a superhero pic before, namely "Wonder Woman" for Joel Silver at Warner Bros., but Whedon wound up ankling the project due to creative issues.

He directed episodes of those series, and recently helmed an episode of Fox's "Glee." "Serenity" is his sole film directing credit. The sci-fi western, distribbed by Universal in 2005, was based on the short-lived "Firefly."

"The Avengers" extends Whedon's long relationship with Marvel. He wrote for the comicbook company's "Astonishing X-Men" series.

"The Avengers" would star Robert Downey Jr. (as Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Hemsworth (Thor) and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury). Edward Norton may also return as the Hulk.

"Iron Man 2" bows May 7, followed by "Thor" on May 6, 2011, and "The First Avenger: Captain America" on July 22, 2011. Paramount will distrib.

SOURCE

 

[DocHoliday]

I love everything Joss has done (sans Dollhouse). Yet I just don't see him having the vision to the action. I hope I am wrong because I do like the guy.

 

[Son of Coul]

Not surprising, most of the time directors will do this uncredited. Especially these movies, I don't think they're ever just adapted exactly from the script.

 

[Matt.S99]

Buffy=campy, forgettable, but solid fun.

Firefly=brilliant, amazinng, superb show.

Serenity=Best Science Fiction film of the last decade (yes better than Avatar).

A guy who has a great a touch for action/drama/comedy and who knows how to use an ensemble cast masterfully. Firefly/Serenity is far better than anything the X-Men franchise has ever produced.

Good choice.

Whoa, whoa ,whoa. Buffy is FAR from forgettable.
As you see from my sig, Buffy is one of my biggest loves in life. That show is down right amazing.

 

[Iceman]

Well this could have been a lot worse!

 

[Son of Coul]

As long as it's not Nic Cage.

 

[craigdbfan]

I'm happy with this decision.

There is no denying Whedon is great with team ensembles and the action, performances and stories he can do with them is masterful indeed.

If ever there was someone more fitted for a team movie like this it has to be Whedon.

While I didn't want him for Spider-Man, I 100% approve of this director for the Avengers.

Can't wait until 2012.

 

[Figs]

I've only seen a hand full of episodes of Buffy so I can't really judge him as a good or bad director.

I just hope the script is outstanding and he doesn't throw any godawful melodrama as seen in Buffy.

 

[Iron_Stark]

Well g-dammit. He better not screw this up.

 

[TheVileOne]

This is a big move for Whedon. I hope he can handle the pressure and working on what really should be one of if not the biggest and most important movie of all time.

 

[samsnee]

Isn't he the one that wrote the line "What happens to a toad when struck by lightning?" in X-men?

 

[lixdexia]

no announcement about any marvel movie has ever gotten me this excited if there is one guy who can balance this movie it's joss whedon! WHOOO!!!!!!

 

[samsnee]

Isn't he the one that wrote the line "What happens to a toad when struck by lightning?" in X-men?

 

[david icke]

Yeah, this is the best news for the film, as I said way back on the thread, I'm a big fan of both Angel and Buffy, and I enjoyed the Serenity movie, despite not being that into Firefly. In no way did I think it seemed like a 'made for tv' movie, it felt like a bona-fide full on sci-fi movie when I saw it at the flicks. Apparently he had a low budget for the film, and it did not show, so it will be extremely interesting to see what he does with a big budget extravanganza like this, but, one thing will be guaranteed, he will get the characters right, and will focus on the personal intimate details of drama, he won't get lost in the sfx and toybox he has been given.
This is the guy who stood up at the Marvel writer's conference on Civil War and told them all that there *had* to be a clear winner, so's not to pussyfoot around with the story and the fans, when basically everyone else was pussyfooting around with their pussyfootian ideas for an ending. He will not shortchange the fanswith any half baked notions, and it's extremely good news he will be re-doing the script.

and for anyone who is unfamiliar with Buffy/Angel(the two greatest live-action superhero tv shows ever), and wants to get a taste of what he can do with a limited budget in the genre with a movie length story, take a look at 'Becomng parts 1 and 2', which is better than most superhero movies. It's the two part ending to s2 of Buffy and deals with Angel and Buffy's origins in flashback while giving us the grand finale to season2 with Angel vs Buffy. He wrote and Directed both eps.
Of course it's best if you watch the whole of s2, but you can fill in the blanks easily enough if you are a fan of ongoing comicbook arcs, and have experience of missing some issues here and there, especially if you lived in the prehistoric age of the undependable newsagent/stand for your books.

 

[DocHoliday]

Whedon has a specific style. Even when it's pre-established characters. Also his tone in his other stuff is almost meta. I really just prefer Joss when he is working with his own characters and universe.

 

[TheVileOne]

Yes he did, but the story goes "oh she said it wrong, it was meant to be like muttered under your breath and not stated by shakespeare blah blah blah"

So I guess Singer and co. missed the intent or whatever. Whatever, Singer took the blame for that line in the audio commentary for X-men.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Isn't he the one that wrote the line "What happens to a toad when struck by lightning?" in X-men?

Yep.

 

[Philly Phanboy]

Whedon is going to "rework" Penn's script

SOURCE

That's a good news bad news situation if ever there was one.

No doubt he'll vastly improve on Penn's script but Whedon's flaky track record with him losing the Wonder Woman movie because of his delays and his glacier slow release during writing for Runaways, I really wouldn't expect this movie to make the 2012 timetable now.

 

[david icke]

Yes he did write that Toad line! lol, But you know what happens to every great writer who does one humdinger in his career... the same thing as everything else!
The only other line I know from X-Men that is his is the 'You're a dick' '...Ok!' exchange between Wolverine and Cyclops, so he got a good one in there, the same as everything else! he wrote! apart from that toad line!

edit: and as for getting it in on time, he will, he was occupied with other things when doing the WW treatment, and admitted he had trouble with defining the character for the screen, so that took up a lot of time too. Here, he has no such problem with the characters already established in their onscreen personas. It will simply be a matter of him arranging and conducting the music.

 

[Saint]

I like that some people are saying that Whedon's AXM was no good; such comments help me easily identify whose opinions to ignore.

I'm happy to see Whedon finally land the sort of gig he deserves, and to be involved in a comic book movie period--even though I would have preferred him on a handful of other properties. As I said at the beginning of this thread, my Whedon-confidence is near total, but there's always the chance that a certain property won't click with a certain creator, and I'd never thought of Joss as an Avengers man, so there is some degree of uncertainty. Nevertheless, I'm inclined to expect greatness.

 

[flickchick85]

Buffy was one of the least "forgettable" shows ever created. WTF at some of these comments. Also, that show was melodramatic because it was the coming-of-age story of a 16-year-old girl. As the character aged/matured, so did the show. It's kind of like Harry Potter in that way, actually.

But despite being extremely different in tone to this (AND his other projects, for the record) the show also showcased some of Joss's strengths that are gonna be vital to The Avengers: Balancing the fantastical universe/plot elements with emotional realism, maintaining high stakes and drama while keeping a sense of fun, and most importantly - nailing the elements of a strong ensemble of characters. Actually, the ensemble dynamics are pretty much the strongest aspects of his body of work. He basically works miracles in that department, which is the #1 trait that makes him a great fit for this project.

IMO, this is a far more encouraging choice than Letterier, and I'm now about 10x more excited for this movie.

 

[Lunar_Wolf]

I'm in mix about this. I like it, but on the other hand I really don't know if I do.