While I love a good April Fool’s Day prank (last year I convinced everybody that I was going to be on a reality show to run the Boston marathon on two weeks notice) I’m holding back today and playing it straight. IESB swears this isn’t a prank, either, so you’ll have to take a leap of faith and dive into the pool of trust. The rumor goes that Joss Whedon is on Marvel’s short list to direct the AVENGERS movie that Zak Penn is currently scripting. This is from the same source that let out the scoop of the SPIDER-MAN 4 reboot several months before official press.

Whedon has his throng of fans to be sure. Why, just yesterday, Air Dave817 and Kid_Zombie named him as their dream choice to take over the X-MEN movies. He’s obviously got a pedigree with Marvel, already, in case you forgot about ASTONISHING X-MEN and his run on RUNAWAYS. He was actually even a contributing screenwriter on the first X-MEN movie, though David “ Solid Snake” Hayter would end up getting all the credit.  If he were to take the reigns, he’d embody a lot of qualities fans have been looking for at once. That is, he’d technically be a comics writer hopping fences and bringing more familiarity and faithfulness to the material with him, but he'd still have years of directing experience to qualify him.  

The choice makes more sense to me the more I think about it. SERENITY was one of the few big genre movies I’ve seen that was able to handle 10 major characters without making anyone in the cast seem like they were just standing around to be there. Since that flick was one of my favorites the year it came out, I’ve been eager to see Whedon get another turn at features and with a studio actually getting behind him on it, this time. Like I said, were this deal to happen, it would fulfil a lot of fans’ desires.

But what do you think, oh space-western Comic Vine community? Would you want Mr. Whedon to take the Avengers to this new arena? Or is there somebody else you’d prefer? Perhaps Louis Letterier? Or Jon Favreau? Make your own short list of directors you want.

-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia.   Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this April - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.

Yeeeeaaaahhh, sure right. NOT!!!!

If this is a joke I will be very upset.

Not a joke on my part, I swear. If this were a prank, it'd be a lot more ridiculous, believe me.

i can't stand this guy.

^____^ Love joss, if this is true i would happy since he knows how to utilize characters and not just pick a favorite and ignore the rest of the cast. Besides he can't do worse than some of the other directors out there who lets say filmed X-men the last stand(can't believe that movie exists T___T)

" Not a joke on my part, I swear. If this were a prank, it'd be a lot more ridiculous, believe me. "

Mr Whedon is gonna be sad reading that people thought he was a april fools joke

If this is true, I will be so, so, so happy.
But in case it's not, I'm not going to get myself geared up for anything. Fingers crossed.

I'd much prefer Joss to direct X-Men First Class/Reboot.  :(

I've YET to understand all the fawning over the man.  Granted, BUFFY and DR. HORRIBLE had its following and while I'm not even remotel familiar with SERENITY at least he managed a following for that as well. 

 
Despite my "eh" attitude about him, he does have street cred regarding directing.   Don't know who I'd select other than Favreau, but he has said he didn't think he'd able to do it, but as I've stated before, he is undersestimating himself.   I'd give Whedon a shot, no complaints with the choice.
 
My reservations are now with Zack Penn.  Isn't that the same person who wrote all the X-Men movies?  Including #3, as a co-writer, or am I wrong?  (I know I should IMBD)  I have a bad, bad feeling if that is true. 

I'm a huge fan of Joss Whedon's storytelling, but not necessarily his overall ability as a director.  Everything he's ever done has come across as B-movie quality when it comes to special effects, and sometimes even casting.  He creates amazing character driven stories, which makes him perfect for comic writing.  But, when it comes to big budget, hollywood action flicks, I don't think he has what it takes.  Sorry Joss.

I loved the Runaways run he did, aswell as shows he did like Buffy and Angel,   So I think Joss is much suited to the new 'teenage' X-Men.  :/  

hey thanks for the shout out in the article! made me feel alot more part of this community, so thanks for that!
 
now on topic, i don't beleve this is true ha ha ha BUT if it is, I'd be down with it. Joss is great with large casts and you will need someone like that for the movie for sure.  I always thought JJ Abrams would be the perfect choice for the movie, but after reading all of  Louis Letterier's comments and the passion he has for it, I would love to see him do it as well.
 
Joss is my favorite writer, his work inspired me to be one myself, so i would much preferr him to write the movie over directing it but still great news to me!!.....if not a joke that is ha ha

Please... god... please tell me this is a joke. Joss Whedon is the most overrated hack to come out of Hollywood in the past 20 years. Please keep him the hell away from any Marvel movie, because him directing and/or Dane Cook being cast are guarantees that I'm just never going to watch a movie.

Oh please let this be true. I'm so very very happy that you brought up the Serenity movie. It shows perfectly that he can write for a large cast well. While I will probably go see the movie regardless of who directs it, having Joss as a director would make me want to see it even more.

" You know who I think should direct Avengers...Zack Snyder. He did excellent work with 300 and Watchmen. "

I dont know if Avengers is dark enough for Zack Snyder to direct, Watchmen are not the avengers. Dark Avengers... maybe but still.
 
The original Avengers have a more sunny and heroic image.

so the film is going to drop the cool cowboy theme and instead focus on the crappy sci-fi bit?

Joss has a huge problem - he can't write someone else's characters, especially characters that have been established for some time. He might start out okay, but he devolves from there. 
 
That said, I'm not sure how this will carry over if he does direct an Avengers movie. Serenity was a great film, but they were his characters, it was his world he created. To play it safe, I'd really rather that he not be involved with this movie at all. 

This is april fools day. Anything written on the internet today isn't true until it's verified tomorrow.

Oh god, that means the Avengers movie will be canceled!

welll if it is true joss whedon could pull it off.  the man is a genius. i have not met a whedon product i did not like.

The answer is  F*** YEAH!!!  Total nerdgasm!

If you forget about everything else he did. Serenity was a great movie. I never even watched the show before I saw it and I thought it was simply fantastic. I hope it happens.

Careful not to step in the bull$h!t everyone

yesssss on so many levels

" Fox will cancel it 10 minutes into the movie. "

OH PLEASE LET THIS BE TRUE!!! The more I think about Serenity and how the cast got its fair share of the spotlight, the more i agree he would be the perfect director for this film... 5 out of 5 baby!!!!!!!!

"

I've YET to understand all the fawning over the man.  Granted, BUFFY and DR. HORRIBLE had its following and while I'm not even remotel familiar with SERENITY at least he managed a following for that as well. 

 
Despite my "eh" attitude about him, he does have street cred regarding directing.   Don't know who I'd select other than Favreau, but he has said he didn't think he'd able to do it, but as I've stated before, he is undersestimating himself.   I'd give Whedon a shot, no complaints with the choice.
 
My reservations are now with Zack Penn.  Isn't that the same person who wrote all the X-Men movies?  Including #3, as a co-writer, or am I wrong?  (I know I should IMBD)  I have a bad, bad feeling if that is true. 

"

I don't have any Avenger's comics nor do i know nothing about this director but i'll see the movie. :)

Just what we need: an Avengers movie full of smart-mouths.

Love love love Whedon.

Hope this isn't true, I can't stand Joss Whedon.

I'm surprised people care this much about a rumor about who will direct a project that is 2 years away from its tentative release date. I'd be pretty surprised if they stuck with Whedon all through the process, even if he is announced as the director tomorrow. I'm more worried about this project even happening at all, let alone by 2012.

Gee, not Whedon, puh-leez, give that thing to LeTerrier or Favreau!  
 
Or, as a couple of fellow CVers said ealier, Zack Snyder would be a terrific choice.