He brought us Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and more recently the Nerd King Joss Whedon took control of Marvel's cinematic Universe by both writing and directing The Avengers as well as Agents of SHIELD.
Work is already underway for the sequel, Age of Ultron, and Whedon is overseeing production of every other Marvel movie that might somehow tie into it.
He's the Top Dog of that whole system, basically. But he might not sit on the throne forever.
Kevin Feige, head of Marvel Studios, was asked recently in an interview with Screen Rant about Whedon's involvement in Phase 3 of their big screen franchises, and he didn't confirm it.
"It's still being determined," was the answer, rather than a resounding "Of course he fucking is!" which is what you might expect. Joss is knee deep in Avengers 2 business right now, getting all the big pieces back on the board to fight mad sentient robot genocide fanatic Ultron (played by James Spader) so it's possible they've just not had chance to sit down and discuss Avengers 3 yet.
Considering AoU isn't released for another 18 odd months, trying to pin either Feige or Whedon down on details for the 3rd chapter seems a little bit too soon, but many naturally assumed that Joss the Vampire Slayer would carry on finish his good work.
Robert Downey Jr recently confirmed that, despite his contract with Marvel being up already, that he would return to play Tony Stark for AoU and possibly Avengers 3. Whedon's contracted to Marvel till 2015, shortly after AoU is released, and chances are they'll renegotiate to keep the man on board, but they might also feel like going in another direction. Shit, Joss himself might want to move on.
Director Jon Favreau side-stepped Iron Man 3 having put together the first two, so it's not without precedent. If Whedon decides not to continue, they'll have a tough job hiring on someone else with the sheer magnitude of fan approval that Joss has going for him.
Filming has yet to begin on Age of Ultron, while Thor 2: Dark World is released next week (October 30th) and Captain America: Winter Soldier follows it later this year.
Words by Gazz Wood
Gazz Wood has two podcasts! One is called Possibly of Interest and is co-hosted by TV producer Howard Cohen (Impractical Jokers, My Transsexual Summer) and guests from the British comedy world. The other is just Gazz talking to people like Misfits director Nirpal Bhogal, sex and relationships expert Annabelle Knight and a professional bartender called Jimmy. It's called Gazz Wood Has A Podcast and it's great.
