Joss Whedon to direct 'The Avengers'?: Existence of God no longer in doubt

Image Credit: Albert L. Ortega/PR Photos; Marvel EntertainmentFriends, Romans, Countrygeeks, lend me your ears! Deadline brings us news that Joss Whedon is thisclose to directing the upcoming Avengers adaptation, the mega-sequel-spinoff that will bring together Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and more Marvel superheroes. PopWatchers, I'm dying. I'm on the floor, choking on happiness, while my brain is simultaneously imploding and exploding with disbelief and rapture.

Marvel is not commenting on this news, but if there's even a ring of truth here, that's cause for rejoicing across the globe. I had, frankly, been a bit worried about the Avengers movie. Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man is a more-than-proven quantity, but we're still a year away from seeing Chris Evans as Captain America and Chris Hemsworth as Thor. And balancing so many big personalities in the same movie, while also making time for beloved B-players (Hi, Hawkeye!), would take a very particular kind of a director: A fizzy-dialogue-writing, massive-cast-juggling, funny-sad-thrilling-terrifying-singing-dancing filmmaker genius.

Enter Joss Whedon, who excels at all that and more. PopWatchers, are you as excited as I am by the news that the Buffy/Firefly/Dollhouse/Dr. Horrible maestro might be taking hold of Marvel's superteam? Aren't the casting possibilities just endless? I see Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz playing married superheroes Wasp and Ant Man, and Anthony Stewart Head playing the Avengers' butler Jarvis, and Nathan Fillion playing Hawkeye…