The Avengers

I’m told Marvel Studios is in final negotiations for Buffy the Vampire Slayer series architect Joss Whedon to direct Marvel Studios’ The Avengers. That’s the fast-tracked film that would amount to an all-star team of Marvel superheros, including Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), as well as SHIELD leader Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Other signature superheros will likely be involved, but I’ve listed the actors in active superhero duty. Whedon has been rumored for this job for awhile, and is high on the fanboy wish-list. He’s an interesting choice: despite his writing/producing TV series resume, his lone feature directing effort, Serenity, was not a hit. After Iron Man 2, Marvel has three pictures left on a distribution deal with Paramount before it moves to Disney, and the studio has been churning them out. Iron Man 2 gets released in May, Captain America will begin shooting this summer in Europe, Thor is in production, and Marvel Studios just set Pete Sollett to direct Runaways, based on the comic book series created by Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan. Whedon has written installments of the latter, so he knows how to make those superheros fly. Marvel has considered all of the individual superhero movies to be an intro to The Avengers, so the wanna-see on this one will be huge. The film will be released in the first weekend of May, 2012.

From Variety.com :

Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Incredible Hulk will soon start taking orders from Joss Whedon.

Marvel Studios is wrapping up a deal for Whedon to helm "The Avengers," which assembles the superheroes in one pic on May 4, 2012, that Paramount will distrib. Whedon will also rework Zak Penn’s script.

Whedon, a favorite among fanboys, most recently penned the script for "Cabin in the Woods," a horror pic that he is also producing for MGM. Pic co-stars Chris Hemsworth, who plays the hammer-wielding Thor.

The creator of series like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Angel," "Firefly" and more recently "Dollhouse," all for Fox, has been close to helming a superhero pic before, namely "Wonder Woman" for Joel Silver at Warner Bros., but Whedon wound up ankling the project due to creative issues.

He directed episodes of those series, and recently helmed an episode of Fox’s "Glee." "Serenity" is his sole film directing credit. The sci-fi western, distribbed by Universal in 2005, was based on the short-lived "Firefly."

"The Avengers" extends Whedon’s long relationship with Marvel. He wrote for the comicbook company’s "Astonishing X-Men" series.

"The Avengers" would star Robert Downey Jr. (as Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Hemsworth (Thor) and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury). Edward Norton may also return as the Hulk.

"Iron Man 2" bows May 7, followed by "Thor" on May 6, 2011, and "The First Avenger: Captain America" on July 22, 2011. Paramount will distrib.