Rumor has it that Avengers director Joss Whedon might be jumping from the Marvel universe to the only franchise that might actually be bigger, Star Wars, according to Slash Film (via Movie Pilot).
It's a totally unverified rumor at this point, but it got a tiny shred more credibility from a reliable source for Star Wars news, makingstarwars.net, which reports that their source told them "it's extremely possible" that Whedon could get the gig.
More likely is that a decision decision is yet to be made for the director of Star Wars Episode IX, which is expected to drop in 2019. Whedon's films do bring in huge money, though, so it would make sense for Disney (which owns both Marvel and Lucasfilm) would want to keep Whedon under their umbrella.
While promoting Avengers: Age of Ultron, an exhausted Whedon told IGN his thoughts on his next move and possibly directing Star Wars.
"Right now I'd be interested in a looong nap, but are you kidding? I mean, it's Star Wars, it's always going to be Star Wars," Whedon said, before noting that he's less interested in working with old characters such as Han Solo. "We're all painfully aware that at some point we'll be running on fumes. I love working with characters I grew up reading about, but we need to create the characters other people grow up reading about."
With his interest in bringing new characters to life, Whedon seems like he might be more into directing one of the Star Wars spinoff movies. Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) is directing Star Wars: Rogue One, due out in 2016, but with Josh Trank out as the director of the other, still untitled, Star Wars spinoff, that movie is wide open.
Star Wars Episode VIII will be directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper) and has a release date set for spring of 2017.
