In the aftermath of the announcement that “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon was in final talks to direct Marvel’s team-up movie “The Avengers,” many missed Variety‘s report that, should Whedon sign on, he would also rewrite Zac Penn’s script for the project. As Whedon is better known as a writer than as a director anyway, this didn’t come as a huge surprise, but it was good to have some degree of confirmation.
What is more surprising is what the always-reliable Pajiba are reporting today, that Whedon will also perform a script polish on “The First Avenger: Captain America” before it shoots this summer. Again, this makes sense on a number of levels — firstly, as the film’s title, “The First Avenger” suggests, the film is expected to lead more directly into “The Avengers” than the other Marvel movies, so making sure that the tone matches Whedon’s intentions for the team-up film is probably a good idea.
Secondly, there’s been some scuttlebutt that the script needs a ton of work, and we don’t have a lot of confidence in current screenwriters, “Narnia” alumni Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, so bringing in a fresh pair of eyes can’t be a bad thing. It should at least guarantee that the film will have some better dialogue than that which crippled director Joe Johnston’s last film, “The Wolf Man” (although it’s also worth remembering that Whedon was responsible for the non-sequiter “Do you know what happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning? The same thing as everything else” in the original “X-Men,” possibly the worst piece of dialogue in the history of superhero movies).
With production starting in only a few months, and pre-production already underway in London, Whedon won’t be able to do much except punch up the dialogue, a function he’s performed frequently on films like “Speed,” “Twister” and “Peter Pan.” But we’re sure that the cast — Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Sebastian Stan and, as of yesterday, Hayley Atwell, will appreciate that much at least.