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Joss Whedon or Peter Sollett Might Direct Marvel's Runaways?

by Ethan Anderton
April 5, 2010
Source: Deadline, The Playlist

Though the news of Joss Whedon's potential to direct The Avengers came on April Fool's Day, LA Times was happy to confirm news that seemed too good to be true. Whether he ends up directing the superhero movie or not, it looks like Marvel really wants him for something as The Playlist reports Whedon is also in the running to direct an adaptation of Marvel's Brian K. Vaughan-written comic book series Runaways, which is briefly described as The Breakfast Club with superheroes. Meanwhile, Deadline has exclusive news to the contrary as they report Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) is negotiating to direct.

If you're unfamiliar with series, it follows a group of kids (seen above) who just so happen to be the offspring of super-villians and are endowed with their own powers for evil. However, the kids don't want any part of their parents diabolical plans and wish to use their powers for good along with exposing their parents for the villains they are. Calling themselves The Pride, they're housed in a secret lair under the La Brea Tar Pits

Maybe it's just because I want Whedon to remain available to feed the dreams of directing The Avengers, but I'm inclined to find Deadline's scoop on this project a little more reliable. I don't mean to discredit The Playlist at all, because they've certainly had more than their fair share of accurate and reliable scoops, but Mike Fleming has plenty more insiders and his reputation certainly precedes him in finding accurate scoops.

Sollett being chosen over Whedon might indicate their desire to keep this more grounded to the characters (which is definitely the best part of Runaways) rather than a predominantly FX-heavy superhero bonanza, which is exactly what The Avengers will be in the end. But at the same time, Whedon's involvement with a movie the size of The Avengers is bigger than anything he's ever done, so Runaways might suit him better in that regard. After all, Whedon did write some issues of the comic book series when Brian K. Vaughan was unavailable, so we'll just have to see how all this plays out. Stay tuned as more info becomes available.

Explore tags: Movie News, Opinions, Rumors

Daniel Felts

Wow. Looks pretty interesting.
nelson

i would prefer Whedon do first class but he probably hates Fox at this point
http://www.internapse.com Scott

Whedon is also in negotiations with Marvel Studios to direct the Avengers, which I'd much rather see over him directing Runaways. That said, Sollett is probably a great pick for the same reasons as Marc Webb for Spider-Man. Both directors can deal with multiple characters and more so, multiple young (teenage) characters.
Andrew Geczy

Did you say Sollet would be better for Runaways because it's more character driven? That's Joss Whedon's specialty. He's known for his slick dialogue and quality character development. He's perfect for Runaways. I'm a huge fan of Joss Whedon. I wouldn't be a writer now if it weren't for Whedon. He in large part made me into who I am today.
Mark

Joss Whedon would be perfect for Runaways (especially considering he wrote an arc of the comic series).
Nada Nuff

This is a project that I can see him doing. Much more so than The Avengers. The similarities to First Class are strong, though--gotta feelin' this one might be shelved for awhile.
S

Man, I would LOVE to see Whedon continue the X-Men movies and do X-Men 4. I was a fan of his work on Astonishing X-Men and I think he could clean up pretty well after what X3 left us with.
9mm

This is ridiculous. Let the man direct the movie for the comic book that he single handedly ruined? Anyone that read Runaways before Gay Whedon got involved will tell you that he ruined it. Fact.
SlashBeast

Whedon's not suited to anything other than teen angst. His directoral skills are also more suited to television. Watching Serenity was like watching a made for TV movie.
Dotty

wat would it be rated, would it be M or PG. plz i would love to know, and when is it coming out.
Fisherr

I hope Whedon does these products right.Either Runaways or The Avengers.