Whedon to Direct 'Avengers' movie, Fanboys Across the World Squeel in Unison

It's all over the interwebs, geeklebrity director and writer Joss Whedon is close to being tapped to direct Marvel's big blockbuster gamble, "The Avengers". The film is intended to bring together Marvel's upcoming superhero franchises together including the wildly successful Iron Man franchise (Robert Downey Jr.), and several big-budget films in development including Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and the recently announced Captain America (Chris Evans). The film is also likely to feature a black Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as he appears as SHIELD head honcho in Iron Man 2.

While I'm thrilled that Joss Whedon is getting his chompers into a comic book film project after the unfortunate fate of his Wonder Woman project, I'm less thrilled about the starting line-up of Avengers. So far the successful superhero movies that have been produced in this resurgence in interest in the genre has largely been male heroes. Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Captain America, Iron Man, Daredevil, The Spirit, the list goes on and on of male characters making it to the silver screen. Attempts at breaking this glass ceiling for leading ladies has been a mix bag. X-men was fairly diverse with women often taking central roles in the films, but directorial falters led to an unfortunate wasteland of mutant drivel. And I won't even dignify Jennifer Garner's Elektra with more than a passing mention.

Joss Whedon's shtick since his entree with Buffy the Vampire Slayer is kick-ass girl power. So here's hoping that we get some lead females into this line-up of Avengers. Scarlet Johanson's turn as the Black Widow in Iron Man 2 looks intriguing, but I'm hoping for some of the other Avengerettes to come out of the woodwork. Here's my wishlist:

Ms. Marvel - Carol Danvers has the sex appeal and the kick ass superpowers to go toe to toe with the big boys. Plus, so far the Avengers line-up needs a brick, and Ms. Marvel could be just that.

Jessica Jones (Jewel) - An unlikely candidate as her storyline is overly enmeshed with Spiderman and the so far unintroduced Luke Cage. But I love Jess Jones and I think she'd make an awesome Avenger. Plus, who doesn't like a girl with purple hair. I hear the Japanese LOVE it.

The Wasp - She's a classic. Granted it's hard to work Van Dyne without her husband, Hank Pym... but she was a founding member of the Avengers and even preceded Captain America on the team. If she makes it in let's hope it's the version without all the wife-beating.

Scarlet Witch - Also unlikely since her powers are so ill-defined and on top of that she's a mutant which brings in all kinds of continuity issues with X-men, and it's not clear if Marvel is ready to address the mutant problem with the rest of their film universe. But being the patron saint of Scarlet Betch... let's cross our fingers for the Red Mistress of Magic to make it into the Avengers!