Ah, crap: Joss Whedon’s doing something again

Ah, crap: Joss Whedon’s doing something again

Apr 16

Just when I thought Joss Whedon would go back to TV forever and leave us cinephiles alone, here he comes to potentially ruin another few promising franchises. The purveyor of all things smug and sarcastic, Whedon  has been called in to rewrite the Captain America and Avengers scripts. This comes hot on the heels of the news that he would be directing The Avengers, and makes sense, I suppose, as Whedon’s known more for his writing than for his ability to stage a good scene.

It’s no secret that I don’t like Joss Whedon’s work, so hearing that he’s practically taking over Marvel for the next couple of years is disheartening indeed. I mean, come on, Kenneth Branagh is directing Thor, and he’s all like, a Shakespearean actor, and stuff. Then there’s Joe Johnston directing Captain America, who’s at least an established, if mediocre, director. The franchises seemed to be doing okay on their own.

Enter Joss Whedon, whose greatest moment in film came in 1995 when he scored a writing credit on animated smash Toy Story. Ever since then he’s been running a series of increasingly lame TV shows, frum Buffy The Vampire Slayer through Firefly to Dollhouse, of which I’m happy to say I’ve never caught a second’s footage. There’s something about Whedon’s smarmy, sarcastic, American dialogue that really rubs me the wrong way with a cheese grater, and no amount of spluttering about how aweseme Firefly is can dissuade me of that opinion.

I’m hoping Whedon will somehow manage not to irrevocably ruin characters like Captain America, Thor, Hulk and Iron Man for everyone, because I rather like a spot of superhero biffo. But don’t forget that Whedon’s name is also on the writing credits for Alien Resurrection, which was awful (due mostly, but not entirely, to the weakness of the script). Only time will tell just what damage Whedon does to Marvel’s budding franchises.

Oh, and the internet is buzzing on this so it’s worth noting that Captain America’s girlfriend / love interest Peggy Carter will be played by some British lass by the name of Hayley Atwell (pictured below). Never seen The Duchess or Brideshead Revisited so I’m unqualified to pass judgment on her acting skills, but I can confidently assure you her staring-off-into-the-distance-while-revealing-some-cleavage skills are worthy of the tasks likely to be set for her as a female Marvel character.

Captain America rolls this winter (Northern summer) for a 22nd of June 2011 release; The Avengers due on the 4th of May 2012