Since his career has mostly seen him operating on the fringe, it’s expected he’ll shatter the walls that have held him back all of these years. Below is a retrospective of his work for the 0.00002% of the Internet that might not be aware.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

After kicking around Hollywood with writing jobs on sitcoms like Parenthood and Roseanne, Joss Whedon graduated briefly to film writing with 1992′s Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry. The movie underperformed at the box office but Whedon couldn’t shake the character. Four years later he was able to develop the television series of the same name that would put him on the map. This series became the foundation of the Whedonverse eventually leading to a spin-off and higher-profile projects.

Alien: Resurrection

Against the better judgement of almost everyone, 20th Century Fox was eager to revive the Alien franchise after box office failure of Alien 3. The project proved to be somewhat of a hot potato with directors Danny Boyle, Peter Jackson, Bryan Singer, and South Park’s Trey Parker all passing. Due to the success of Buffy, Whedon was brought in to write the script and subsequently put through the studio’s ringer. Originally the script starred a cloned Newt with the final act taking place on Earth. After re-writing the finale five times, his battle for Earth and the lead character of Newt didn’t make the final film version.

Angel

Seeing the potential in Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s supporting character Angel, Whedon spun off a second drama that relocated the vampire with a soul to Los Angeles. The result was a darker, more grown up show that appealed more to male audiences. The series centered around a paranormal detective agency that investigated and dispatched Los Angeles’s demonic underbelly. Don’t let that description dissuade you. The show was awesome.

Firefly/Serenity

Whedon’s futuristic space western followed a crew of rebel smugglers in the year 2517 as they traversed the solar system alluding the Alliance and other threats. The series was criminally mishandled by the programmers at Fox which led to its early cancellation. However, success on DVD lead to the film adaptation, Serenity.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

This musical broken into three acts centers around a lovesick super-villain, his heroic nemesis, and the woman that they both love. It was written exclusively for the Internet during the Writer’s Guild of America Strike and funded by Whedon himself. This allowed he and his writing partners complete control over the final product without the worries of changing story and pacing to fit a television or film format. The series won several awards and helped guarantee that Neil Patrick Harris would be allowed to sing at any televised event of his choosing.

Dollhouse

Feeling pretty bad about their mistreatment of Firefly and seeing a need to televise Eliza Dushku in various sexy outfits, Fox once again went into business with Joss Whedon. The result was the high-concept science-fiction series Dollhouse. On the show, individuals trying to wipe their slate clean and start over volunteer themselves to a service that wipes their memories and reprograms them to fulfill the fantasies and nefarious needs of clients able to afford such services. It was a pretty shakey premise that needed time to find its footing. It took an entire season to do so. In a very un-Fox move, Fox actually allowed the show the opportunity to grow and brought it back for a second season. It was then canceled as it hit its stride.

We took the time to comb through these new offerings, and pulled out our favorites. And by the look of things, we won’t encounter any vitamin D for at least three months.

The Hunger Games

Based on the addictive book series, teenagers fight one another and their hormoes in a televised battle to the death. (March 23rd)

The Raid: Redemption

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An elite SWAT team enter the fight of their lives when trapped in a fifteen-story apartment building overflowing with rapists, murderers, thieves, and loiterers. Billed as “the greatest action movie in years.” I assume they’re referring to every movie since Con-Air. (March 23rd)

Goon

Seann William Scott stars as a bouncer turned ice enforcerer when his talent for breaking faces lands him a spot on his hometown hockey team. (March 30th)

Wrath of the Titans

I know that I shouldn’t be excited after Clash of the Titans. But they promise this time things will be different. They promise and there’s a giant lava monster. (March 30th)

Life Happens

The spring’s only non-violent film comes from Breaking Bad’s Krysten Ritter. She stars alongside Kate Bosworth and Rachel Bilson as a party girl trying to get back into the dating game after squeezing out a kid. (March 30th)

Iron Sky

Space Nazis from the moon. (April 4th)

American Reunion

The gang from American Pie is back to examine how life changes when they stick their penises in a variety of places. (April 6th)

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope

This documentary from director Morgan Spurlock and producer Joss Whedon offers a view of the geek mecca that is Comic-Con through the eyes of four very different super-fans. Perfect for those who want in on the fun, but don’t want to wear a Wookiee costume in the San Diego heat. (April 6th)

ATM

Two dweebs and Alice Eve are trapped overnight in an ATM vestibule by a hooded killer. Make your own judgements from the trailer. And know that I would watch this even if it was Alice Eve using an ATM incident-free for two hours. (April 6th)

Detention

What looks at first to be a quirky, teen rom-com quickly goes off the rails when an axe-killer, a flying saucer, and poorly-timed Heath Ledger jokes suddenly appear. (April 6th)

The Cabin in the Woods

Best Spring Ever for Whedonites continues when The Cabin in the Woods finally escapes from MGM’s vaults. By all accounts, it’s a movie that you just need to shut up and go see. Then shut up again as to not ruin the fun for anyone else. (April 13th)

Bad Ass

Coasting on the audiences built for films like Machete and Hobo With a Shotgun, Danny Trejo stars in this film based upon the Internet phenomenon, “Epic Beard Man.” Also stars Charles S. Dutton, Ron Pearlman, and green screen explosions. (April 13th)

Lockout

When the President’s daughter is held captive during an outer space prison riot, Guy Pearce is the one man extemely sarcastic enough to save her. (April 20th)

Chimpanzee

This documentary follows a young chimpanzee separated from his tribe and adopted by a fully grown male (Andy Serkis). (April 20th)

The Avengers

A mixed bag of Marvel movies have lead up to them — the first superhero team up film, The Avengers. Judging by the trailer, it’s going to be totally awesome even if it makes zero sense. (May 4th)

The Dictator

Sacha Baron Cohen finds yet another way to offend the Middle East. (May 11th)

God Bless America

Bobcat Goldthwait goes behind the camera again with this film about a man who travels the country after being diagnosed with a terminal disease. Oh yeah, he also viciously kills every a-hole he encounters along the way. (May 11th)

Battleship

You’re not curious? You’ve gotta be curious. (May 18th)

Moonrise Kingdom

So many wonderful things in one place. I love this movie without having even seen it, and it makes me love his other films all the more. (May 25th)

This new still from The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn shows the title character hard at work trying to locate Waldo. Did you check behind the ferris wheel ticket booth? He likes to hang out back there sometimes. (Anamatie)

After being shelved during MGM‘s financial shitsplosion, Cabin In The Woods, the self-referential take on slasher films written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, is finally ready to see the light of multiplexes. We don’t know when Lionsgate plans to release the Chris Hemsworth-starring film, but we know that at least one frame of it exists. That’s a good sign. (Bloody Disgusting)

6 photosImogen Poots

Goofing around with a guy who fights robots and frost giants is not a bad way to spend an afternoon. Hemsworth seems to be having fun talking about his breakthrough role. He thought Red Dawn and Cabin in the Woods were good gigs, but The Avengers will probably be out before we see those movies.

Q: Could you eat a burger or something? You’re making me look bad.

CH: [Laughs] I’m about to shoot The Avengers. I have to play the character again so I’m back in the gym and force feeding myself full of protein.

Q: I get the sense Ryan Reynolds is sick of people talking about his abs. Does the body obsession amuse you?

CH: It’s funny. You’ve got to laugh at it. It’s all very new for me. He’s been in the spotlight for a lot longer than I have. At the moment I’m happy to be working and whatever attention is a plus.

Q Thor learns his lesson in this movie. Where do you go once he’s learned to respect humanity and be humble?

CH: I was just thinking about that. That’s the challenge with having sequels. You don’t want to go through the same arc again and you want to have new challenges. Now he’s more mature than he was. Whether he falls back into some old habits or whether it’s a completely new challenge he’s faced with, I can only hope for that to be the case. The writers and director put it on the page. I’m sort of at the mercy of them in a sense.

Q: Did you ever see the Thor in Adventures in Babysitting?

CH: [Laughs] I didn’t. With Vincent D’Onofrio. I’ve heard a lot about it.

Q: What is it like to swing that hammer?

CH: It’s good fun. It’s a fairly unorthodo weapon in a lot of ways so we had to invent fighting style around it. It became an extension of your body and very much boxing technique was a big influence there. We wanted it to have a sort of brutality and a power to it so we talked about broadsword technique as well and incorporating that. It was a lot of fun, standing on the set and having 12 stunt guys say, “Yeah, just hit us. Go for it.” And there’ll be no consequence.

Q: Have you been on set on The Avengers yet?

CH: I haven’t, no. They started shooting about a week ago and I come on board in about a week’s time.

Q: What was the read through like

with you, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Evans?

CH: We didn’t have one. That was the plan and then different schedules made that impossible. We’ve all individually spent a lot of time with Joss talking about the script and our characters. There may have been certain people who worked together more than others doing rehearsals and what have you but my main intro into it is going to be next week when I get there.

Q: Does it feel different than doing your own Thor movie?

CH: Sure, yeah. You can never have the same sort of attention that you have in your own movie obviously, because there’s seven other people who’ve got to fit into it. But it’s interesting and probably nicer to not carry all the weight and be surrounded by some people who are going to elevate your game and you can learn from. That’s exciting. They’re actors I’ve admired for years and the idea of working with them and the superheroes that they’re playing I think is going to be pretty iconic.

Q: Will your hammer as broadsword style apply to the fights in that film or will it be a completely different style?

CH: Oh no, you’ve still got to have the same somewhat fight sequence. I think you want it to be an evolution and you want to add in some new flairs or have some kind of new technique and moments. You don’t want to repeat the same things but still the structure of it is going to be pretty similar.

Q: Will changing the Chinese to Koreans really help Red Dawn?

CH: [Laughs] I have no idea. You have to ask the producers who made the decision. We as the actors, it was all kept pretty vague to us even when we were shooting. The Russians were in there, then the Chinese, now it’s the North Koreans. It wasn’t a political statement on anyone’s behalf. For us, the film was about the relationship of the kids and their interaction and banding together. So you’d have to ask the producers.

Q: Do all the MGM shenanigans hurt Red Dawn and Cabin in the Woods?

CH: I don’t know, I hadn’t really thought about it. When you film a film, you want it to come out soon. You want people to see it. It’s the representation of who you are at that point. It’ll be sort of a Benjamin Button effect when these films come out. I’ll get younger and younger.

Q: What is your character in Cabin in the Woods?

CH: He’s one of the young college kids. It’s the same, there’s a big secrecy around that just like there is with the Marvel films but it’s a blend. The Truman Show meets Night of the Living Dead is a pretty good comparison.

Q: That’s the thing. It’s been a secret for two years now, so by the time the film comes out people still won’t know what it is.

CH: I don’t know, once again my job is to go in there as the actor and do my bit. Everything beyond that, politically and what have you, I’m kept out of the loop. I think the secrets around it or people no knowing the story sometimes builds up an anticipation about it and some excitement. Hopefully that’s the case with this.

Q: How much of your life is tied up in Marvel-land the next few years?

CH: A lot of it. I do Avengers next. I’ve just done Thor and if this is a success, hopefully we do another one but that wouldn’t happen for probably quite a while. I’d love to launch into something else and not wear a big heavy costume and cape in the next one.

Q: Do you enjoy talking in Thor-speak?

CH: Sure, there was an old English sort of Shakespearean tone to it. It didn’t go as far as what the comic books head into but it certainly makes you feel or sound more like that period or those characters, as opposed to if you’re doing an American accent in a modern day speak. I guess I wouldn’t feel as much like someone from another realm.

Q: But even to speak like that in a Midwestern diner…

CH: Yeah, that was rather odd. That was strange because we’d shot everything in Asgard first. Then we’d come to Santa Fe and we shot that section, it felt like a completely different film. I felt very fish out of water during that period which the character was meant to feel so I guess it was beneficial. It was much harder to maintain that Thor-speak in that environment.

Thor crashes into theaters Friday.

Cabin in the Woods looks like it has found a home in Lionsgate. The Joss Whedon-helmed horror pic has so far suffered a year-and-a-half delay that seems to have nothing to do with the quality of the film and everything to do with the corporate typhoon that took place at MGM. Expect release news soon. (Deadline)

Summit Entertainment has snatched up the U.S. rights to the fabled sci-fi novel Ender’s Game, having gotten Wolverine director Gavin Hood attached to the project as well. Summit is waving a tearful goodbye to Twilight, so they’re on the lookout for a new franchise, and this could very well be it. (Deadline)

Fox has taken back Shawn Levy‘s Kodachrome, which Fox had first-look rights to, but didn’t actually get a chance to consider before Levy sold the project to Dreamworks. It was apparently an honest mistake, but I will not let a simple thing like the truth get in the way of a perceived feud between Shawn Levy and Fox. THEY WANT BLOOD! Anyway, Fox decided it does want Kodachrome and exercised its first-look option. (Variety)

Sony and MGM are hammering out an agreement that might give Sony rights to distribute old and new projects, like Red Dawn and the upcoming Bond films. They would also co-finance upcoming Bond movies, because putting your money behind Bond is a safe bet. Especially when he goes all-in. Daniel Craig, you have one hell of a poker face.

We’ll see if the deal pans out, and if we get to see these movies. Or they might end up dead… in a Cabin In The Woods. Because they’re a bunch of stupid college kids. (Cinema Blend)