Joss Whedon

WHEN audiences last saw the cast of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in May 2003, Buffy and her friends had won a nearly apocalyptic battle between good and evil. Their hometown of Sunnydale, Calif. -- also known as the Hellmouth -- was a gargantuan pit as a result. After peering into the crater, Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, walked away with a smile, and the television series came to a close after seven seasons. On March 14, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" will return in comic book form.

"The Avengers"are here, and resistance is futile. Even if you're frustrated by the relentless calculation of Marvel Studios' plan for world cinema domination, fed up by the shameless way the studio used several of its earlier, at times pro forma superhero movies to promote this one, even if you don't particularly like comic-book adaptations, this film just might make a believer of you. That's because, just like Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson),...

You'd think by now college kids would know better than to head to an isolated cabin deep in the woods for a laid-back weekend of beer, swimming and truth or dare, because… cue spooky music … as everyone knows by now most of them are destined to die, falling to their blood-soaked ends like dominoes: One. By. One. Actually that's exactly what longtime horror-making buddies Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard are counting on - that everyone knows...

While trailers for 'The Avengers" revealed that Gwyneth Paltrow would pop up in the approaching superhero fest, director Joss Whedon is now speaking out on how and why the A-lister joined the powerful assembly. Robert Downey Jr., "Iron Man" himself, insisted that franchise love interest Paltrow (who plays Pepper Potts) was crucial to his character's arc in "Avengers," which costars Chris Evans , Scarlett Johansson , Chris Hemsworth and many more. "You need to separate the characters from their support systems in order to create the isolation you need for a team," director Joss Whedon said during the film's junket, explaining his intial decision against including any supporting folks from the various films that feed into "Avengers.

There may not be two bigger heroes for many of the Comic-Con faithful than Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. The mood was set for most of the crowd as songs from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer's" musical episode and "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"played over the Hall H loudspeakers. The announcer rattled off a list of the duo's separate accomplishments, each cheered to varying degrees, but the loudest roar came when Whedon and Abrams walked out to a packed house as part of Entertainment Weekly's Visionaries series, answering a variety of questions from the audience and from moderator Jeff "Doc" Jensen.

While trailers for 'The Avengers" revealed that Gwyneth Paltrow would pop up in the approaching superhero fest, director Joss Whedon is now speaking out on how and why the A-lister joined the powerful assembly. Robert Downey Jr., "Iron Man" himself, insisted that franchise love interest Paltrow (who plays Pepper Potts) was crucial to his character's arc in "Avengers," which costars Chris Evans , Scarlett Johansson , Chris Hemsworth and many more. "You need to separate the characters from their support systems in order to create the isolation you need for a team," director Joss Whedon said during the film's junket, explaining his intial decision against including any supporting folks from the various films that feed into "Avengers.

A roundup of Friday morning's arts and entertainment headlines: Joss Whedon is officially directing "The Avengers." ( Los Angeles Times ) Guillermo del Toro will revamp Disney's "Haunted Mansion" franchise. ( Los Angeles Times ) GLAAD gives the CW high marks for diversity. ( The Envelope ) Oksana Grigorieva claims Mel Gibson said, "I want Jew blood on my hands." ( Radar Online ) Can Mindjolt do for video game developers what MySpace did for musicians?

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Aristotle. Nietzsche. Buffy? The blond heroine of the campy television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," as well as other works by creator Joss Whedon, are the focus of an academic conference at Henderson State University this weekend. The show starring Sarah Michelle Gellar won cult fame and critical praise during its seven seasons on the WB and UPN networks.

To the uninitiated, "Serenity" may seem like just another "Star Trek" knockoff, but to so easily dismiss writer Joss Whedon's feature directing debut, a continuation of his short-lived 2002 sci-fi western TV series "Firefly," would be to miss out on a highly entertaining piece of genre-blending fun.

Joss Whedon, the scribe who birthed "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" and swore off the small screen after "Firefly" was canceled, is part of the Fox family again. Whedon's "Dollhouse" will be unveiled today as part of Fox's lineup at a presentation in Manhattan. The drama is about an illegal house of men and women whose memories and personalities have been wiped out so that they can be hired to be anyone and do anything. It stars Eliza Dushku (Faith from "Buffy"), who unintentionally served as the inspiration.

You'd think by now college kids would know better than to head to an isolated cabin deep in the woods for a laid-back weekend of beer, swimming and truth or dare, because… cue spooky music … as everyone knows by now most of them are destined to die, falling to their blood-soaked ends like dominoes: One. By. One. Actually that's exactly what longtime horror-making buddies Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard are counting on - that everyone knows...

As documentaries like "Super Size Me" and "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold"demonstrate, Morgan Spurlock is not one to avoid the spotlight. In "Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope," however, the director does just that, with warm and surprising results. Puckishly named after George Lucas' retitling of the first"Star Wars" film as "Episode IV: A New Hope," "A Fan's Hope" is a look at the annual San Diego convention that is sweetly empathetic where previous Spurlock works have been brash and confrontational.

Bradley Whitford, 52, has shuttled among theater, film and television since his Emmy-winning run on "The West Wing" ended in 2006. He plays one of three men arguing about an abstract painting in the Pasadena Playhouse's revival of "Art," opening Sunday, and stars in the horror film "The Cabin in the Woods," opening in April. Is this your first appearance onstage at your hometown theater? How did this come about? David Lee, a wonderful director, and Sheldon Epps, who runs the theater, asked if I was interested in doing this particular role in this particular play.

George Michael appeared outside his North London home Friday and acknowledged that he had nearly died during his monthlong battle with pneumonia. "It was touch and go for a while," said the 48-year-old singer, who appeared to have lost weight during his month in a hospital in Vienna. He fought back tears and seemed short of breath. The solo star and former Wham! frontman said his staff had downplayed the severity of his illness to avoid alarming his fans. He implied that he had been in a coma when he talked about having "woken up" 10 days ago. —Associated Press New haunts for 'Horror Story' Now that FX's "American Horror Story" has ended its first season, creator and executive producer Ryan Murphy reveals that each succeeding season will start fresh.

These have been scrapbook seasons for Tom Hiddleston — over the last two years the 30-year-old British actor has worked with directors Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, Kenneth Branagh, Terence Davies and Joss Whedon — but there is one snapshot memory from it all that he says "will be with me until the day I die. " It was during the filming of "War Horse," the Christmas Day release that takes Spielberg back to the epic battlefields of Europe and puts...

When a Hollywood studio remakes "The Wizard of Oz," L. Frank Baum doesn't have a chance to send out a press release. But the tricky thing about rebooting a property that's only been gone seven years is that the creator is usually around to say something about it. That's just what Joss Whedon did after Monday's news that a young writer named Whit Anderson, who grew up watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," would now tackle the new movie. It was largely a jokey missive that Whedon sent to E!

Joss Whedon's last experience with episodic TV left a bad taste in his mouth, but an old friend has coaxed him back. Whedon and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" buddy Eliza Dushku (Faith from the show) will be launching a series, "Dollhouse," with Fox. The actress' Boston Diva Productions and Whedon's Mutant Enemy will produce the show, which has gotten a seven-episode commitment. Though a writers' strike could delay production, it's scheduled for fall 2008.

IT'S fitting, and sweetly vengeful, that a television show born of a writer's zeal for frontier life is now itself conquering new borders. "Serenity," the new incarnation of the futuristic space western "Firefly," which briefly aired in 2002 on Fox, will premiere as a Universal Pictures feature on Sept. 30 -- with the TV cast intact. So how has director-writer Joss Whedon been able to take his failed television series from the small screen to the big?

A roundup of Friday morning's arts and entertainment headlines: Joss Whedon is officially directing "The Avengers." ( Los Angeles Times ) Guillermo del Toro will revamp Disney's "Haunted Mansion" franchise. ( Los Angeles Times ) GLAAD gives the CW high marks for diversity. ( The Envelope ) Oksana Grigorieva claims Mel Gibson said, "I want Jew blood on my hands." ( Radar Online ) Can Mindjolt do for video game developers what MySpace did for musicians?

There may not be two bigger heroes for many of the Comic-Con faithful than Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams. The mood was set for most of the crowd as songs from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer's" musical episode and "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"played over the Hall H loudspeakers. The announcer rattled off a list of the duo's separate accomplishments, each cheered to varying degrees, but the loudest roar came when Whedon and Abrams walked out to a packed house as part of Entertainment Weekly's Visionaries series, answering a variety of questions from the audience and from moderator Jeff "Doc" Jensen.