BEFORE THE AVENGERS: Joss Whedon
Filipinos may have to thank movie pirates that distributors opt to release “The Avengers” on April 25, a week earlier than our American counterparts in a move to reduce movie piracy. Social networks have gone gaga over the multiple viral clips from the Avengers, the first film to combine characters introduced in “The Incredible Hulk,” “Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,” “Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger.”
The daunting task of writing and directing a genre-spanning movie that may have only worked in comics was assigned to Joss Whedon, a creative genius known for strong female characters and group dynamics. We may still be clueless on how the Avengers film will go but we can have an idea on how the movie will rock based on Whedon’s previous creations.
1. Buffyverse/ Dollhouse
Unsatisfied with the execution of his script for the original Buffy, the Vampire Slayer movie in 1992, Whedon brought his blonde bombshell to the boob tube five years later and worked as its showrunner. Television viewers saw a young woman, usually stereotyped as a helpless victim in slasher movies, to be kicking vampires’ butts. The series lasted seven seasons and produced a spinoff featuring the vampire with a soul, Angel, that lasted five seasons. Whedon continues overseeing stories where the shows left off in comics format.
He also created another show, “Dollhouse,” featuring Buffy alum Eliza Dushku.
What we might see in the Avengers: Strong Female Characters
The only female Avenger appearing on the movie is Black Widow. Though we saw a clip showing the Russian spy breaking a wooden chair that is so “Buffy,” I believe she is in good hands. We still have to see his interpretation of Maria Hill, another female badass S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in comics.
2. Firefly/Serenity
The “Firefly” is a space western television series that revolves around the renegade crew of the spaceship “Serenity” at a time when China and the United States fused to form the so-called “Alliance” government in a new star system. After 14 episodes on TV, the characters appeared on the film “Serenity,” where they get a psychic passenger that brings danger to their usual criminal lives.
What we might see in the Avengers: Genre-spanning adventures
Firefly and Serenity showed how Whedon was able to fantastically combine two genres: western and space opera. So it is no wonder that Whedon can pull of mixing the different genres the characters in Avengers represent: Black Widow and Hawkeye (espionage); Thor (Norse mythology), Captain America (war stories); Iron Man and Hulk (science fiction).
3. Astonishing X-men/Runaways
Whedon wrote comics for Marvel in mid-2000s. In Astonishing X-men, he sent the mutants against an alien who wanted to rid of their race by providing a cure to mutation while also introducing S.W.O.R.D., Earth’s first line of defense against extraterrestrials and making the Danger Room sentient and as expected, female. In Runaways, he sent the children of the criminal group “The Pride” back in time and met a plant-controlling girl sexually abused at the age of 12.
What we might see in the Avengers: Status quo changes
It may be improbable to see a lot of changes in the status quo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe considering this is the first Avengers movie. But Whedon is best at taking characters in new levels of excitement yet remaining true to the characters’ core. There’s a possibility that he might bring his creation, Abigail Brand and the S.W.O.R.D. to the big screen, knowing that the movie deals with invading extraterrestrials.
4. Dr. Horrible Sing-along Blog
During the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Whedon and his brothers and sister-in-law filmed a musical tragicomedy starring Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible. The story revolves around Horrible’s aim to be accepted as a member of the Evil League of Evil, a club of supervillains.
What we might see in the Avengers: A musical.
No, just kidding.
Whedon has written about an aspiring supervillain Dr. Horrible. This means he knows the sensibilities of Loki, who’d be launching his first full-scale invasion in Midgard. And from what we’ve seen so far, Loki can easily land a spot at the Masters of Evil.
