Will Joss Whedon Direct The Avengers?

There's been a lot of rumors flying around about Marvel Studios upcoming adaptation of The Avengers in 2012. Of course, that's a given; the idea of a single movie combining characters like Iron Man, the incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America (as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., Edward Norton, Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans , respectively) is bound to spread rumors. With that many superheroes in the mix, The Avengers has no choice but to blow expectations out of the water.

A lot of the movie's success, of course, comes down to who they choose as the director. There's been some speculation that it might be one of the previous Marvel directors, such as Jon Favreau (Iron Man), Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk) or Joe Johnston (Captain America). However, according to Deadline New York, Marvel's already made their selection: Joss Whedon.

Joss Whedon is perhaps most famous as the creator of the TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. He also is the creator of the cult-favorite Firefly and its feature movie, Serenity. Whedon has never been in charge of a movie like this before, so his selection might seem to some like a choice way out of left field.

In reality, though, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. Whedon is well-known to be a huge comics fan and at one point was rumored to be up for directing X-Men: The Last Stand before Matthew Vaughn (and in the end, Brett Ratner) took the job instead. Perhaps more importantly, Whedon wrote the comic book Astonishing X-Men from 2004-2007, to much critical acclaim; many have even referred to his run as one of the X-men's finest.

Potential detractors will be quick to point of Whedon's lack of experience. While he's hardly a newcomer to the business, he's never before tackled a project of this magnitude. Every movie that Marvel will be releasing in the next few years will be building up to this one; they can't afford to mess it up. Still, what Whedon lacks in experience, he makes up for in ambition and respect for the source material. If he is the director, he's going to try just as hard as any fan would to make sure The Avengers is all it can be.

So if Whedon is the director, it's not too hard to see why Marvel made their selection. Since both Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk have received positive reactions from the fans and (for the most part) the general public, Marvel seems to know what they're doing. If Whedon is directing, The Avengers could be well on its way to being the biggest Marvel movie of all time.