Whedon on The Avengers: sounds good on paper

The nerd community is buzzing about the possibility of Joss Whedon directing The Avengers movie. And after reading this sentence there are probably a few people absolutely giddy at the prospect. Settle down, kids. As of this flurry of pecks on my keyboard no deal had been met. And I'm a bit thankful for thank.

No, not because I want to do it. I couldn't direct traffic, much less a film.

I posted previously about how its pretty scary that Christopher Nolan plans of taking on Superman after he's done with his Batman trilogy. Now, it would be a good thing for him to grow as a director in handling such a different character. However, it is a very different character and the same things Nolan did to make the current batman franchise a success would not work with Superman. The tone of the entire concept is different and while the two characters are often used complimentary to each other its the differences that make the dynamic work and it is those differences that Nolan must understand if he's going to make Superman work for him on screen.

Back over to Whedon. I love his work. I'm really a huge fan of the guy, but I'm not too sure about him handling The Avengers. I could see him doing an X-Men movie. I could see him directing the Spider-man franchise relaunch. They're planning on doing a Runaways movie and that's definitely in Whedon's wheelhouse.

But The Avengers?

Whedon definitely has the love of the characters. I'm sure he knows a lot about the team and its history. However, this movie is going to be the culmination of a lot of build up and hype. The Thor and Captain America movies that are in production seem to only exist to get The Avengers on the silver screen. This movie won't be about clever dialogue, melodrama or intense interpersonal relationships. Its going to be, and should be, completely unbelievable, stuff blowing up, saving the world from an impossible threat kind of movie. Otherwise what's the point of having them all there? This thing needs to be able to blow the doors off of everything else out there.

Can Whedon do it?

The answer is a potential 'yes', but he's really going to have to go in with a clear vision of where this project needs to head and what it has to accomplish. He'll have to push further than any project he's done before. Also, there's a good chance that he'll be handling a script from someone else. This may not be the big 'YAY!' everyone thinks it is.

Well, I'm not overly excited for this movie to begin with. I'm barely caring about Ironman 2 at this point. So let's try to stay calm. They'll be enough fanboys screaming that our ears will hurt, even if this movie is a bomb.