Dollhouse and Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon may soon be helming Marvel Studios’ upcoming The Avengers film. The news Joss Whedon might be in contention to direct The Avengers was originally mentioned on IESB.net on April 1st. This led some to speculate the whole idea was just an April Fool’s Day prank. Turns out, Whedon apparently really is just a final negotiation away from becoming a Marvel filmmaker.

Joss Whedon (Photo: Gage Skidmore - Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Zak Penn will pen the screenplay for The Avengers and the film is currently planned for a May, 2012 release date. The comic book adaption will reportedly star such heavyweight Hollywood actors as Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth.

We were already pumped for an Avengers movie, especially considering the rumored cast for the film. Putting Joss Whedon at the helm would guarantee we’ll be first in line on opening day!

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Joss Whedon may have lost his shirt gambling on Dollhouse, but his fans never seem to lose faith in him. Dollhouse was cancelled by FOX this week after failing to draw in competitive ratings for the show’s second season, but Whedon fans continue to believe in his talent despite his seemingly cursed track record of cancelled series.

No one probably could have predicted Joss Whedon’s series remake of the cheesy Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie would go on to run successfully for seven seasons. But Whedon managed to take an impossible concept and turn it into a riveting, passionate series that converted millions of viewers into rabid fans. Unfortunately, many of his other brilliant ideas have  failed to pan out quite so well.

Firefly also had a rabid fan base of ‘Browncoats’, but not enough of one, and it was cancelled despite its fabulousness before it even really got off the ground. The Buffy spin-off Angel managed to struggle along for five seasons, but was always a pale shadow in comparison to Buffy. Now Dollhouse, too, has received the dreaded cancellation notice.

Yet, Joss Whedon is still revered as one of the most influential people in sci-fi and fantasy TV programming. J.J. Abrams once said Whedon is “an object of worship for viewers who like their television smart and funny and transcendent.” We have to agree, even when he just ups and kills off our favorite characters out of nowhere – seemingly just for the fun of it.

As Jessica over at SmallScreenScoop.com writes: “I mean, we call him a God as a joke but we also sort of mean it. Joss is God. We don’t always agree with him, but we always respect him.”

And as Jessica says, we hope Joss Whedon will “never stop doing your thing” even when it crashes and burns or never gets the appreciation it deserves. Because true art is art created out of love. Whether or not a Whedon project is a hit or not, you always know – as he’s often said – it was something done out of joy and the desire to try something unique and different.

So keep on keeping on Joss, we’ll be there, patiently waiting to see what awesomeness you’ll be pulling out of your bag next.

>> More on this topic: Dear Joss Whedon, Don’t Stop Believing

Fans of Joss Whedon‘s Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku, are probably not shocked to learn the series has finally been cancelled. FOX officially announced Dollhouse has been canceled on Wednesday, following the show’s near-total inability to draw in ratings.

The impending cancellation of Dollhouse seemed inevitable when it was announced the series would be put on hiatus during November sweeps, replaced by reruns of House. You don’t slot reruns when you have new episodes of a show to air if the series actually has any chance of surviving for a another season.

Dollhouse is currently filming its 11th episode and is expected to finish shooting all 13 episodes originally scheduled to air for the season. Thankfully, it looks like FOX will air all the episodes, including the one we’ve most been looking forward to, guest-starring Firefly‘s Summer Glau. The remaining episodes will reportedly begin airing Dec. 4.

Episode 13 of the show will reportedly wrap up the series as best it can so as not to leave the few fans out there hanging. Unfortunately for some fans who speculated the SyFy channel might pick up the show, a rep for the network Tweeted today: “Looks like Fox finally canceled Dollhouse. (No, I don’t think we’ll pick it up.)”

>> More on this topic: Dear Joss Whedon, Don’t Stop Believing