Joss Whedon

Well, now that we know who’s directing The Avengers (Joss Whedon, for those who have been living in a cave since yesterday), expect news to start moving along.

Several months ago, Zak Penn was charged with writing the script for The Avengers. We still don’t know what the gist of that story will be, other than it will involve Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. bringing together the newfound superheroes who have been developing in a series of movies from Marvel Entertainment — namely, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and possibly The Incredible Hulk. We don’t know much else about it, nor do we know who the big bad will be.

Apparently, Whedon is not only in final negotiations to direct, but also to rewrite Penn’s script. I’m sure some will be up in arms about this, but it’s got great potential. Whedon’s writing has always been strong (if you’re going to bring up Alien Resurrection, remember Whedon’s quote on it: “They did everything wrong that they could possibly do”), both in terms of dialogue and plotting. Most important to fans is likely going to be the fact that he’s got serious experience writing in this specific genre — I’ve raved about The Astonishing X-Men before, and I’ll continue to do so. I’m not expecting this to be The Scooby Gang with costumes — Whedon hopefully knows the genre better than that.

As for the exclusive news, Pajiba is fortunate enough to have a source close to the project who has some interesting info on The First Avenger: Captain America. Apparently Whedon’s role in the Marvel film universe may expand even further, as he’s also likely to be tasked with doing a polish on the Captain America script. At this point, we know the general news about Captain America — Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans) undergoes a secret super soldier experiment during WWII and becomes Captain America. During a battle with The Red Skull (played by Hugo Weaving), he ends up frozen in ice, only to re-emerge during the modern era (where, presumably, he’ll eventually meet up with Tony Stark, Nick Fury, Thor, and the rest of the gang). The nature of Whedon’s script polish (on a screenplay originally written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) is unknown, but it makes me rest a little easier, since this project has seemed like more of an x-factor than the others.

Sebastian Stan will play his sidekick Bucky Barnes, and just yesterday it was announced that British actress Hayley Atwell (most recently featured as Lucy in “The Prisoner”) will play Peggy Carter, his WWII-era girlfriend who is also a resistance fighter.