Joss Whedon to Write and Direct Avengers 2

News broke just a couple of hours ago that Joss Whedon has now officially signed on to write and direct The Avengers sequel. Whilst the news might not come as much of a surprise, there was still an outside chance he might turn it down due to the tight turn around Marvel studios wanted. During the Firefly Comic-Con panel he had stated “I have not come to a decision on directing Avengers 2 yet”, thank the movie gods he made the right choice as who else could have followed The Avengers? That’s right, nobody.

I’m not sure the words have actually been invented that could accurately convey just how brilliant this news is, and I’m sure fans of the movie all over the world are high fiving, chest bumping or doing the dance of joy made famous by our Joss.

The good news doesn’t end there, Whedon is also developing a live action Marvel TV series for ABC, and it will be set within the established cinematic Marvel universe. How’s that for a slice of awesome!

Naturally it’s early days for both projects, but a start date of early 2014 for Avengers 2 looks like a good bet. There’s also the chance Marvel will get the rights to Fantastic Four back early in exchange for giving 20th Century Fox and extension on the Daredevil license. Fox have until October 10th to get a Daredevil movie up and running, as they have now signed director Joe Carnahan to handle the reboot a trade or unprecedented co-financing deal could well be on the cards.

Add to that Guillermo del Toro’s Hulk live action series for the ABC network, and you have the makings of a very exiting couple of years for all things Marvel.

Bring on Phase Two.