• If he got Norton back I would be happy (not that Ruffalo is bad, but I like seeing continuity cast-wise), but that would also destroy any control over the story or direction. Have you forgotten what Norton does to every movie he's in? I don't want him taking over the production or alienating the cast/director. So I'll choose Whedon over Norton. Whedon knows how to work with an ensemble.

• I mean, I'm no Whedon fan with regards to his TV stuff, but I LOVED Astonishing X-Men. So I'm okay with this.

• Screw that, bring me season 3 of Spectacular Spiderman!

• So no more Spectacular Spiderman? :(

• THANK YOU. Agree 100%. Whedon's a one-trick pony, and his run on Astonishing X-Men was pretty much garbage fan-service. I hated it.

• Wolverine and the X-Men is far better, and it's not canceled. (yet)

• If Spider-man can have 5 titles at 7 issues a month (not including minis), why can't he have two (ongoing) TV series?

• No.

• I know his work is pretty reliable, but I just hope this isn't the moment when he chokes. Please, please do it right <3

• I can't wait for Fox to cancel this. I will always hold Wheedon responsible for the demise of T:SCC and therefore damn him for all eternity.

• Joss Whedon = OVERRATED. I preferred Buffy the Vampire movie over his series and Cowboy Bebop was far superior to Firefly.

• As long as the Avengers isn't filled with dialogue that could have been in a Buffy script, I'm ok.

• Late on this obviously, but WHY THE HELL DIDN'T THEY JUST CONTINUE SPECTACULAR!?! Aaargh. I have my problems with the series (too many episodes that are just 20-minute fight scenes), but at least that was a good show, rather than an unknown team starting from scratch yet again. As for Whedon... meh. At least he'll presumably have a budget to work with, but my guess is still that Marvel recognises that in order to keep Downey as Stark they'll have to use Faverau as the director of Avengers.

• If it's any consolation, I didn't get that at first either. Talk about private joke! Great satire indeed.

• Whedon doing the Avengers?! I completely back this direction, the fact I just got Firefly in the post has coated my room in jizz, excuse me while I get a mop.

• Someone should tell him that a female director got the Oscar this year.

• It's as easy as not consider doing it with any talentless hack in the cast. Whedon in a nutshell: Crappy choice of actors and extremely crappy action-scenes.

• Well now I just feel stupid. In my defence though I was hideously drunk last night.

• Really looking forward to this, hopefully they're all as out of character as they are in his X-Men comics. Captain America drinking beer and saying "WUT UP", while high fiving Iron Man and about a dozen jokes directed at how Thor speaks. Yep its gonna be a classic I tell ya boys.

• I didn't read anyone's comments, so let me just state two facts: 1. Joss Whedon sucks. 2. Ultimate Spider-Man sucks. That is all.

• I don't know how anybody could seriously consider making this movie without Summer Glau. I love Marvel comics but most of their movies are dreadfully banal. Perhaps we could get a super hero film that doesn't end in a giant robot fight.

• Here's my Whedonish line-up for great justice: Alan Tudyk = Vision Summer Glau = Wasp Morena Baccarin = Scarlet Witch Nathan Fillion = Giant/Ant-Man Neil Patrick Harris = Hawkeye David Boreanaz = Wonder Man James Marsters = Quicksilver and Felicia Day = Squirrel Girl

• You know, the idea of trading Spectacular Spider-Man, which nicely blended together all eras of Spidey, for a straight adaption of the Ultimate Universe wouldn't bother me half as much if Disney XD had actually aired the (sadly series) finale with its soundtrack. As is, a hefty chunk of the country watched over half of the episode as some sort of weird pantomine performance art before the sound kicked in at about the twenty minute mark. Do I have much faith in this next series based on that? Ahahahaha. No.

• Annnnnd scene http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/04/15_nerdy_characters_who_could_easily_destroy_you_a.php#comment-6158645

• Except Spectacular Spider-Man is the only good cartoon series Marvel has ever done.

• We call that a proofread fail.

• I take it that Dave's comment is a new TR meme?

• I thought the suit was only equipped with 1 fiddle.

• Hey, way to unnecessarily be a d*#k simply because I stated that I, and probably millions of others, would love to see some more Firefly/Serenity. Doing so displays an amazing knowledge of how internet douchebaggery works. But yes, you're absolutely correct: in my fantasy world, Whedon would make some more Firefly/Serenity.

• I want this movie to be a clumsy rehashing of the failed Wonder Woman script. Tony Stark loses the suit and its second fiddle to She-hulk.

• ya know i honestly think nathan fillion would play an amazing 616 version of Nick Fury. he's getting a little older but he's still young enough that we would see his rise to power and see how he obtained his status as the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. it will never happen but i can dream can't i?

• There isn't much to be said 100 comments later, but the thing is, there's alredy a script, and if you count writing as Whedon's actual strength, we're left with a half-assed action director. He's probably better with actors than Leterrier, but it's not like "Avengers" is going to star laurence olivier as captain america. We need convincing, tight and coherent acting and plot, but the action has to be nothing short of a dongtastic assblast.

• Oh Noes! Disney is making an Ultimate Spider-Man, I'd better start hating it now because Disney can't possibly make a decent action cartoon that will satisfy my manly need to see a teenager in his jam-jams beating up cartoonish super-villains the serious respect that it deserves! It'll probably be all talking trees and pie gags amirite? Okay, sarcasm aside, I really do like Spider-Man and I'm hoping the new show turns out well. The only problem I really have is one that's pretty much been addressed by others already. Spectacular Spider-Man pretty much satisfied the need for an "Ultimate Spider-Man". Time will tell I suppose. As for Whedon...I dunno, I'm not his biggest fan but I can think of worse directors to cover the material.

• For those of you who wishes for another season of the Spectacular Spider-Man, sorry, it's not gonna happen. That go cancelled long time ago. I worked on it as an artist and we all got let go of the project after we finished 2nd season in late 2008. We all hoped they green lit for 3rd and 4th seasons but that never happened. Even the supervising director and the producer got let go soon after.

• For those of you who wishes for another season of the Spectacular Spider-Man, sorry, it's not gonna happen. That go cancelled long time ago. I worked on it as an artist and we all got let go of the project after we finished 2nd season in late 2008. We all hoped they green lit for 3rd and 4th seasons, but that never happened. Even the supervising director and the producer got let go soon after.

• For those of you who wishes for another season of the Spectacular Spider-Man, sorry, it's not gonna happen. That go cancelled long time ago. I worked on it as an artist and we all got let go of the project after we finished 2nd season in late 2008. We all hoped they green lit for 3rd and 4th seasons but that never happened. Even the supervising director and the producer got let go soon after.

• Wow, I am not at all a Joss Whedon fan but you sir, you sir may just have made me one because your annoying and dare I say "Obama hatin'" (no, I didn't vote for Obama or am an Obama supporter)rambling is so ridiculous that you make me want to distance myself as far away from you as possible. Bravo sir.

• Well, writing the X-Men is the one and only thing that Whedon has ever proven to be good at so I guess I can support this.

• Me.

• Woah, let's lay of the Power Rangers, THEY PAID THEIR DUES!!!

• That's fine for the first season. Hell, I honestly wouldn't have noticed as a kid, but THE ENTIRE SERIES was like that! EVERY time the Lizard featured, there'd be frames from the first episode with Spidey fighting The Lizard in a sewer...even when the setting was elsewhere. And believe me, there was more wrong with the series than just crappy animation.

• Fuck you in so many ways for that.

• Give Saffron my best.

• Too late, she's already back. And yes it was using a very shitty plot device.

• Am I the only one who couldn't get into Buffy? I tried watching it on netflix and didn't make it very far.... Did enjoy Astonishing X-Men and Firefly though and am pretty excited by this news.

• Unfourntunately, Spectacular got cancelled as do all Marvel cartoons just as they get good, and ALWAYS on a cliffhanger.

• Watch, he's gonna cast Felicia day as the Scarlet Witch, Neil Patrick Harris as Quicksilver and Nathan Fillion (I think that's his name) as Ant Man or some other Avenger.

• Am I the only one way more excited by the news that Conan is getting his own show again than Whedon doing the Avengers movie?

• That is so true about Ratner and Emmerich but for people to put fucking Joss Whedon as the geek and nerd messiah is the highest of bullshits I can think of. Buffy was good for the most part, Angel and Dollhouse sucked (never thought he deserved his own show and Dollhouse showed potential but it never lived up to it), Serenity or Firefly, I can't say anything about since I haven't seen even one episode. Astonishing bored me out of my mind when he was writing it, I just wasn't feeling it. I did really enjoy Dr. Horrible though. All that said, the man has a love for nerds and that maybe the reason this movie may not suck but for people to shit their pants over this news is kind of ridiculous.

• Astonishing wasn't full of "Buffy-isms"? I dunno, the standard corny jokes and sloppy wit and completely unsubtle humor were there. And he pretty much went the route of 'fuck continuity I'm going to rehash old 70s style character traits instead of modern stuff'. Depending on how he handles the characters in Avengers could make or break it. I'm all for some humor, Iron Man had lots of little things, but Whedon usually goes the over the top silly route. At least with Buffy, Firefly and Astonishing X-Men.

• To all the Whedon haters out there, you have to remember that in this universe, people like Brett Ratner and Roland Emmerich are allowed to direct movies. When Jon Favreau wasn't attached to direct Avengers anymore, I was just thinking "oh no, oh no, what if they bring in one of those hacks to direct". Joss Whedon makes me breathe a tremendous sigh of relief.

• To all the Whedon haters out there, you have to remember that in this universe, people like Brett Ratner and Roland Emmerich are allowed to direct movies. When Jon Favreau wasn't attached to direct Avengers anymore, I was just thinking "oh no, oh no, what if they bring in one of those hacks to direct". Joss Whedon makes me breathe a tremendous sigh of relief.

• The next thing I hear regarding Ultimate Spider-Man BETTER BE "Greg Weisman and Victor Cook Hired to Run the Show". With both Spectacular Spider-Man and Gargoyles under his belt, I consider Weisman to be the animated equivalent of Joss Whedon.

• To be fair, the reason for that was that the animation studio literally had no work done a month before the deadline. They basically took the money and pissed around for a while. When the producers found out, they had to scramble to put together a season in a very short time frame. There's interviews about it if you google it.

• In your fantasy world, maybe, but he can't just snap his fingers and get a studio to back more Firefly/Serenity. So whining that he's not doing that is just displaying an amazing lack of knowledge about how hollywood works.

• Aw, man i love Spectacualar Spider-Man. Probably the only Cartoon besides Brave and the Bold i got sucked in. They have awsome Voice Talent and the Storylines so far where realy good. This USM Cartoon better Kick some ass.

• Joss is still in the early stages of talks no contract yet. and hope Mardisney gives him a nice budget to work with since its going to cost just for Roberts and Samuels salary. as for a new spider man cartoon. spider man always worked better animated. and hope they at least try to pick off from the last spider man cartoon.

• Well, it hasn't helped that the cartoon was moved from the wide-access CW Network to the "Too New for You" Disney XD Station. And on top of that, they took WAY too long getting Season 2 out. Hell, I saw the Canadian premieres before the U.S. premieres. Word on the netz (http://tinyurl.com/y4r285x)makes it sound like it'll be the Marvel Spider-Man version of The Brave and the Bold, which means it'd be more fit to call it "Marvel Team-Up". Hell, Spectacular Spider-Man is kinda more "Ultimate Spider-Man" anyway. And the only problem with the Justice League analogy is that Justice League Unlimited was cancelled when "THE BATMAN" was created. Because, y'know, kids are way too stupid to keep up with more than one incarnation of a popular character.

• Who exactly is we?

• Yes! There's so much that was wrong with the Spidey 90's cartoon that I could write a daily list (hmmmm...)

• SSSSHHHH!!!!! QUIET!!! Don't let them know that!!!

• Oh cool, that's excellent news. I'm looking forward to years of reading internet posts post-release insisting on how amazing Avengers was, and how it deserved far more recognition, awards, box-office gross, and general wanking heaped on it than it received during it's (let me read my crystal ball here...) underperforming release. And hopefully I'll be told how much I'm missing out on, and how much I'll love it, if I'd only give it a chance. Because that shit never gets old.

• Ah, le sigh. I kinda knew that Spectacular Spider-Man was gonna get shitcanned. At least there's some good news.

• Erg. "Cellar door," right? STILL no good, no matter how many viewpoints we see the same dumb events from.

• Maybe writing is the fetish he was talking about.I wouldn't be surprised if Whedon was hot for writing.

• I don't know, I see Nathan more as a Hawkeye type

• So you're gonna try and tell me Serenity on it's own had any kind of development or depth for Walsh?

• I will join the chorus of those lamenting the likely demise of Spectacular Spiderman. That show rocked. My son and I loved it.

• Or Wes Anderson *realizes how hilarious that would be*

• i have faith in him as a director just as long as he does not write it or get to cast more then 3 parts

• Ya know who would be better? Brett Ratner. /sarcasm

• I preferred the second arc to the first, myself.

• Ummmm, I'd like to put 1 million on Black Widow being killed. I'll take my winnings in unsequential 100 dollar bills please. :-) And to answer your 2nd question......who cares, because she's going to eventually turn up alive again. Why do I know this...duh....it's the comics. The only fucker who has really ever stayed dead was Uncle Ben Parker......for now.

• I'm not saying he doesn't know how. He's very good. Serenity is a real nice looking movie. Hell, several episodes of his shows that he's directed looked fantastic. But that doesn't mean I don't think Favreau's better. But I'm certainly not going to make the claim that his directing this movie is a bad thing. And you have to respect his feelings toward cg. He had two giant fleets of spaceships blowing the hell out of each other. But the effect he spent the most time discussing was that retractable catwalk that shook the tiniest amount when Mal stepped on it

• He may have had a good first arc on Astonishing X-Men, but I would punch Whedon in the face for his God awful Runaways arc. That said his action scenes in his shows or movies have never impressed me, so I'm kind of worried about this announcement.

• Avengers is fucked, it will suck and only cater to the hardcore Whedon fans just like every other thing he's made. If that talentless piece of shit Summer Glau get's cast in it, I will kill Whedon.

• When you have an ensemble story that needs to be told you call the master. This is a good move.

• I didn't even realise that enjoying character driven narratives was a fetish. It does explain why I masturbate when I'm reading Dickens though.

• That he took roles rightfully belonging to Bruce Campbell & Stan Lee.

• As far as I can tell, he's not a Whedon fan, and he's saying people may not like the idea of Whedon directing. He's definitely a Skrull.

• I'm pretty sure there were female directors before Obama's presidency.

• I have no idea what you are trying to say there. Is it some kind of clever satire that has gone over my head?

• Wow.

• i'm not as pessimistic about a new cartoon, but i'm TOTALLY on the same page about your opinion of Spider-Man animated in the 90's. that show re-used more footage than an episode of Power Rangers.

• SAD CHRISTMAS *Price is Right Trombone Fail*

• At the risk of starting a flamewar…for a guy that values geek properties, Rob sure is obsessed with Joss Whedon. That being said, I only know about Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse that he's made, and I didn't know that Avengers or Disney had anything to do with him. Buffy the Vampire slayer was just weird, but I didn't really care. Serenity was patently absurd in the way Whedon did it. Pathetic even. I don't know about Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible, but hearing Rob try and sound impartial to this announcement, it just sounds forced to me. In the end, it just seems to me that in the case of this movie at least it just feels like it's going to be directed by Joss Whedon merely for shock-factor reasons. This, if you ask me, does more to set the fanboy agenda back than help it. This may shock a lot of you, but as a Christian conservative I don't really care if you masturbate furiously, alone in your closet to the thought of River Tam beating hordes of Reavers into a fine mist. Who directs this movie in the privacy of a major studio, and soon enough in every theater around the country is between him (Or her. Who knows? Obama's president), the rest of the cast and crew, and God (and moviegoers). But when Hollywood crams Joss Whedon's character-driven fetishistic writing down mainstream America's throat, you shouldn't be surprised when there's pushback.

• I don't really like USM, but the Whedon-vengers? Zomg teh yay.

• We don't hate Whedon, we just want you all to shut the hell up about him. (Also, he ruined Runaways. If I did hate him, I would be justified.)

• Hmmm....I'm a little scared. While Joss is good at character moments both dramatic and funny. Almost everything he works on has ugly art direction and mediocre action. I could trust this guy to write the script, but direct it? Man, I don't know ... I'm gonna place bets now that we're gonna get a movie that has funny lines that are very quotable but has the ugliest Quinjet you've ever seen. Ditto with whatever base the Avengers are using.

• Wait a second. If Nathan Fillion was recast as Captain America, would people be happy or pissed? What about Fillion as Thor? Or even Giant Man (or whatever his name is now)? How would people feel if Nathan Fillion played everybody?

• That stupid Hulk looking Green Goblin was actually made less Hulky and a lot more creepy in later issues. Maybe next time you could read those before you Hulk out?

• The distinction being that one was syndicated while the other was a weekly. Both were lame, one was just dramatic about it.

• If only they posted this on the April 1st

• Spectacular Spider-Man is prob the best incarnation of a Superhero in a cartoon period! I thought it was stupid at first because of the kiddish animation but I ended up LOVING THE SHOW! I've been waiting for news for a third season, hoping Disney wouldn't fuck it up and guess what? YOU FUCKED IT UP DISNEY, YOU FUCKS! I don't want Ultimate Spider-Man, why the hell would I? Spectacular Spider-Man is as much as Ultimate as you could want but they didn't give us a STUPID HULK LOOKING GREEN GOBLIN LIKE THE CRAP ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN SERIES GAVE. FUCK ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN AND FUCK DISNEY!

• I maintain that Dollhouse was deeply flawed in places, but there were some really interesting non-Eliza Dushku parts. Just sayin', with that show I think you get more out of it if you just ignore her.

• Good for you Rob...Not often in life do wet-dreams come true...Good for you^^...

• That game was awesome. Although the Carnage fight left nearly gave me RSI. So.... much.... button mashing....

• Joss Whedon... Ave... ...I have a rather large erection just this moment.

• Some unfamous dude whose parents had a book of real baby names

• Ultimate Spider-Man was already basically a cartoon in the video game. Hell Bendis even worked the storyline directly into the regular series, although I doubt Disney will have Silver Sable shoot holes in Venom's head, then have Venom eat her, then have her blast her way out. Or have Venom eat a kid with a balloon.

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