Joss Whedon Talks X-Men 4, Wonder Woman Woes and Batman Heartache

Talk about a guy who could use a hug (or three), Joss Whedon is doing his best to glue back together his broken heart following the severe beat-down his ego has received over the course of the past year. After opting not to replace Bryan Singer as director on X-Men 3 in order to dive head first into the shallow puddle that was Wonder Woman, Whedon now finds himself no longer attached to a comic adaptation, and content with moving forward on his next project -- an original flick called Goners, which he will write and direct.

In speaking with Wizard Universe, Whedon immediately addressed those rumors that pegged him as the leading contender to helm an X-Men 4. He says, "I haven't heard the rumor, but there is no rumor that is not swirling. I don't even know, are they even going to have an X4? I had been talking with [Marvel Studios] about X3, but the dates didn't line up. So I took on Wonder Woman, and that worked out great! Oh, no wait, I remember now, not so much." He goes on to admit that he "wouldn't say never," but seems more interested in telling his own stories right now, rather than "doing someone else's thing." After reading the interview (which, might I add, is quite good), you can't help but feel for the guy; prior to his work on Wonder Woman, Whedon had also pitched his own big-screen version of Batman, only to lose out to Christopher Nolan. He notes: "I still stay up late at night thinking how cool my Batman movie could have been, and I liked Batman Begins a lot. I thought it had some awesome stuff I would never have come up with, but I still think about what I could have done. That's the problem when you throw your heart into those things; it just stays there." [Cue Lisa Loeb's Stay -- Fade Out on lone tear sliding down Whedon's cheek.]

Even though I've never found myself attracted to his Firefly/Serenity/Buffy stuff, Whedon's original voice has landed him a pretty massive fanbase. You can sense he's passionate about the stories he wants to tell, if only someone, somewhere finally gives him the opportunity. For much more from Whedon on the Wonder Woman debacle and his new flick Goners, as well his thoughts on the big-screen Marvel vs. DC battle, check out the Wizard Universe interview here.