There were a few panels that many were waiting to see during the 2010 Comic Con weekend. One was the Entertainment Weekly’s The Visionaries panel that included both (and only) Joss Whedon & J.J. Abrams. Another one was The Avengers panel at Comic Con and the 3rd one on my list was the Joss Whedon Experience Comic Con panel. Wow. That’s all I have to say! Overload, awesome and totally SHINY!
Comic Con’s Entertainment Weekly’s The Visionaries panel
In the panel that Joss and J.J. Abrams were a part of, the two of them saved us any potential fan-brain aneurysms because they’ve officially announced that they’re not working on anything together… I wonder what they would do if they did though? Or are they just redirecting us and they’re secretly working on something together? I’m going to have to take them for face value at their word.
But what they are working on is as follows -
Joss Whedon:
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Joss IS directing The Avengers movie. (Finally. The actual official announcement. Though it seemed a given, everyone was pretty much writing it as such, but it is cool that we can all let out our collective breath!) Joss directing The Avengers is huge. He’ll finally be on a huge movie project that is much bigger than his usual cult productions. And make no mistake by that phrase “cult productions,” it’s just that Joss’s products are rarely known by the regular movie consumer as I have found myself explaining his shows to too many people some days. So this is awesome news. Plus, I there are no episodes to re-order on him!
J.J. Abrams:
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J.J. announced his new and upcoming show Undercovers. (But we knew this already) But Abrams also announced that he is working on the sequel to his alternate time-line / reboot of Star Trek. I’m am sure that will not suck!
J.J. also made note of something we already knew but he re-confirmed working with Steven Spielberg on Super 8. The movie they’ve kept us in the dark about for sometime now. All we know is a train derails, something big is looking to pound its way out of a wrecked train car, some kids may have video taped it, and we go from there!
I wonder what would happen to the world if Abrams, Spielberg and Whedon worked on the same project? Nah… I can’t imagine a script big enough for these 3! So if we tossed Christopher Nolan in the bag with these guys, would we get sci fi dream layers of Star Trek where Buffy is staking ET to the sound of the light / tone show they played for ET and Echo would be on assignment in Gotham City? Remember, multiple dream levels! OK, I’ll quit… it’s getting too much for me.
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Where Else Was Joss Whedon?
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During the Marvel Studios panel for Thor & Captain America, it became an announcement platform for The Avengers movie. No one was surprised, but everyone was jazzed. Joss showed up in his guise as the director of The Avengers and he was finally officially confirmed as the director of The Avengers. The full cast was also officially announced on who will be playing whom.
- Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson)
- Chris Evans (Captain America),
- Chris Hemsworth (Thor),
- Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye)
- Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner a.k.a. The Hulk)
- Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man)
- Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury)
- Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow).
The biggest question floating about up until this point in time was who was going to replace Edward Norton to play Bruce Banner / The Hulk, but the question itself was moot to Comic Con attendees. People had spotted Ruffalo’s mother the morning of the panel. Also on Eva Longoria playing The Wasp appears to be a BAD RUMOR based on people seeing her leaving Marvel Studios meeting about a different movie some time back. See Hit Fix. )
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The Joss Whedon Experience
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In that classic dry sardonic whit of his, Joss made note of an intimate art film called The Avengers that he’s working on.
He confirmed the uncertain status of Cabin in the Woods due to MGM’s financial uncertainty. (This won’t be the first time one of Joss’s ideas gets S*canned by bad timing and circumstances! Can anyone say “GONERS?”
Joss called the cast of The Avengers a very insightful bunch who are very invested in this project.
When someone asked him about the idea of ever doing a subscription-based web series, he said he’s thought about it so much that he just never got around to doing it. (That Whedon humor of his! I LOVE IT!)
Someone else asked if he has any network TV projects coming up and he said it’s not his next gig. (Hmm, so what could be his next thing?)
Joss Whedon did confirm (or un-confirm) that Nathan Fillion IS NOT playing Ant Man because Ant Man does not show up in the film.
What was Whedon’s first job? Writing spec scripts… and they were all received very well, by his father!
A Quip About The Avengers from Joss Whedon:
While I was pulling my scattered notes together, I did a quick search to see what other wisdom or info could have floated out there in any press round tables that I didn’t hit up. Here’s a great quote from Io9 from Joss on the some of the story line on The Avengers:
“It just really just goes back to the very first incarnation of The Avengers. It goes to The Ultimates, it goes to everything about it. It makes no sense, it’s ridiculous. There’s a thunder god, there’s a green “ID” giant rage monster, there’s Captain America from the 40s, there’s Tony Stark who definitely doesn’t get along with anybody. Ultimately these people don’t belong together and the whole movie is about finding yourself from community. And finding that you not only belong together but you need each other, very much. Obviously this will be expressed through punching but it will be the heart of the film.”
[io9]
