It would seem Joss Whedon is still not officially set to direct the great Marvel team story just yet. When news of this first broke, two sides quickly went to battle. Those for love his ensemble direction and working knowledge of comics, having been a past writer for Marvel himself. Those who are against him see past failures of movies and TV shows and find the director a little too "touchy feely" for such a big testosterone filled actioner. Well, 2nd group, there is hope for you yet.
During his publicity tour for
Iron Man 2, Jon Favreau has talked a little about
The Avengers. In a conversation with Jen Chaney from Washington Post's Celebritology, he will definitely be executive producing the movie but would not confirm Whedon's involvement.
"They’ve asked me to be executive producer, but they’ve got to get their director on board first, I would love it to be [Whedon as director], but I don't think that's been confirmed yet."
"I know that he would be a wonderful choice. He’s got a good flair for dialogue and a nice sense of humor. He’s written comic books, so he understands the Marvel universe very well. And I really liked his film, 'Serenity.' Watched that, watched 'Firefly.' So it’s good stuff. I think he would be a good choice.
"Marvel seems to be continuing the tradition, with Kenneth Branagh [who will direct the upcoming 'Thor'], of making a real director’s medium and allowing each director to bring their personality to their particular franchise," Favreau later added. "As executive producer, I would hope [the 'Avengers'] director would have the same courtesy I was afforded.”
This could be simply a matter of ironing out the details of a contract that is sure to include multiple pictures. Rumors have also circulated that Whedon is rewriting both Avengers and Captain America screenplays but nothing has been confirmed on that as well. We have seen this before from Marvel, though, usually in the case of an actor pegged for a role only to see another choice come from left field. As much as most of us hate these words: We'll just have to wait and see.