We can’t all be at Comic Con. I mean, think of the overcrowding! And so for all of us who graciously refrained from attending so that everyone else might be more comfortable, here’s the footage of the Marvel Studio’s panel, where the entire cast of The Avengers debuted with their director, Joss Whedon.

Let the poster photoshopping begin!

It wouldn’t be Comic Con with out some major news about the big bad comic book movies coming out in the next couple of years, and this year Marvel is ruling the roost. When it’s not displaying the throne of Odin for anyone to get their picture taken on, it’s letting Joss Whedon do what he does best:

Get people excited.

When we first heard that J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon were going to be on a panel together, needless to say we were very excited. Well last night it finally happened. And while there was no big announcement of a collaboration (and we knew not to expect one), the panel was a great insight into the creative process these guys have and the geeky bond they share.

According to Hitfix‘s Marvel sources, the House That Stan Built is not going to ask Edward Norton to reprise his role as the Hulk for The Avengers, and will instead be casting an unknown in the role. This has confused many people who have been following Marvel’s ambitious project of injecting universe continuity into its movies, because, by all accounts, Norton was very interested in the role.

From Hitfix:

I sat down with Norton at SXSW this year, and one of the things we discussed was this exact scenario. At the time, he seemed to me to be interested in being part of “The Avengers” if the script and the director came together in an interesting way.

[Joss] Whedon‘s been meeting the cast, laying out his plans for the film, and so far everyone seems incredibly excited by what they’re hearing. One of the people who Whedon met with was Norton, and I’d love to know what they talked about. What I do know is that both Whedon and Norton reported their enthusiasm back to Marvel, and according to some calls I made today, it even sounds like Norton was making serious plans with his agency to keep his dates clear.

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It’s time to unleash some classic ’80s whoop-ass on those space punks! This is Firefly, where intergalactic cowboys and leg-warmers are always in style, to the max! Malcolm Reynolds is here and he’s bad to the bone, along with the rest of the freaky crew. And Serenity is looking totally bitchin’. What has possessed me to talk in this bodacious manner? Because Garrison Dean and Charlie Jane Anders of io9 have created this gnarly alternate opening theme to Joss Whedon’s beloved yet short-lived Firefly series, complete with full-on drum kit and synthesizers. Let’s boogie!

According to the Hero Complex blog at the LA Times, a rumor is circulating that Entertainment Weekly is going to sponsor an epic duo of a panel at this year’s Comic-Con, uniting two of the greatest creators of nerd media: Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. Unfortunately, this rumor doesn’t come along with any similar rumors regarding covert partnerships on secret projects, so it’s probably just epic for epic’s sake.

In an article discussing the casting of Kevin Pennington as someone in the Avengers movie, Marvelous News‘ “insider source” had this to say about what characters Pennington couldn’t be:

Nathan Fillion is pretty much locked to be Henry Pym, and should be announced before any other new additions to the cast (think around Comic Con).

Hubba-WAH?! Why isn’t this the headline? Well, consider it fixed. Nathan Fillion might be in the Avengers movie that Joss Whedon is in negotiations to write and direct.

It doesn’t happen too often that we want to go off to the corner and make fangirl noises, but this is one of those times.

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As our sister site Mediaite has noted, there’s a campaign underway to restore nominal Baldwin brother Stephen Baldwin to good standing, spearheaded by none other than … Stephen Baldwin. Hmm. Well, now there’s a grassroots campaign in service of someone we really care about: cult director Joss Whedon, of Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc. fame. Appropriately enough, the campaign is called “Ignore Stephen Baldwin: Restore Joss Whedon.”

Even though Whedon’s in a pretty good place right now — he’s going to direct The Avengers and vet the script for Captain America, after all — the trailer after the jump echos the sentiment of many Whedon cultists that he’s been given a raw deal. It also contains some NSFW language, assuming you regularly blast the audio of YouTube videos you’re watching in your workplace, and, more importantly, drops a Serenity spoiler, so: Be warned.

Pajiba reports that according to their sources, Joss Whedon is not only in final talks to direct the Avengers movie, he will also be writing the screenplay, and will be given the opportunity to do a final pass on script for the upcoming Captain America movie.

In the category of worst news to ever break on April Fools Day, rumors have been surfacing this week that Joss Whedon may direct the Avengers movie.

It was reported first at IESB, who took pains to stress that this was not an April Fools joke on their part. Now, The LA Times has done some digging and hear from their sources at Marvel Studios that this is partially true. No director for the Avengers movie has been chosen yet, but Whedon is on the short list.