Surprise! ‘Firefly’ Creator Joss Whedon To Direct ‘The Avengers’

When it comes to fanboys, no one is better suited for any job you can think of than Joss Whedon. The writer/creator/producer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse has developed an army of followers who will love him to the end of time.

Marvel Studios has apparently realized this faithful following and how much Whedon is just a geek and fanboy himself. According to Deadline Hollywood, the maker of epic comic book movies is in final negotiations with Whedon to direct The Avengers, which is the film that will bring all of these massive characters and storylines into one film.

This comes as a major shock to most people. While Whedon is a genius writer, he has only directed one feature in his career — 2005’s Serenity. He has, on the other hand, directed many television episodes, including 22 episodes of Buffy, 7 episodes of Angel, 3 episodes of Firefly, 3 episodes of Dollhouse, and even episodes of both The Office and Glee. Oh, and let us not forget Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

While this news is now coming out, credit must be given to IESB, who first caught wind of Whedon being a top choice of Marvel. Unfortunately, that report fell on April 1st, and as you might imagine, many just walked right past it as just another ridiculous and fabricated report — just another reason why April Fools is the most annoying day of the year for people who actually care about the news.

No details are really known about where Whedon will go with the movie, but I have to think this is a good move. Jon Favreau was clearly the best choice, but since he was not available, I like that Marvel wants to go somewhere else.

Whedon will have an unbelievable task in front of him; with this movie taking Favreau and Robert Downey Jr.‘s Iron Man character, Louis Leterrier’s Incredible Hulk, Kenneth Branagh and Chris Hemsworth‘s Thor, and Joe Johnstson and Chris Evans‘ Captain America and putting them all into one single film, the newbie director will have to find a way to make a great comic book film while still staying true to the storylines and characters that all of these other immense talents have built up.

Try standing in those shoes.