Back in April the bombshell news making rounds was that none other than god of geek Joss Whedon would be bringing all that Marvel Studios had built together by directing The Avengers.

At the time, this seemed like a done deal even though Whedon was technically only in “final negotiations” for the job. After this many seemed to think it wasn’t as done as it first sounded, leaving us all to wonder whether Joss was really the man for the job.

Today during the Visionaries panel featuring Whedon and Star Trek director J.J. Abrams, Whedon decided to add a little finality to it all. The man behind Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dollhouse came out and said “It’s not an official thing, I think because Marvel couldn’t afford a press release. So can we make that an official thing? I’m directing The Avengers.”

If that wasn’t enough, Whedon went on to share his take on such an juggernaut of a film. He admits he’s only still in the outlining stages of development, but that he has a clear vision — helped greatly by the fact that most of the parts are already cast.

When it comes to terrified comic book fans unsure whether the director can pull this off, Whedon seems to have a pretty impressive outlook on where he wants to go with The Avengers. To assure us, he shares that one of his biggest influences for the film include the great Jim Starlin. He also goes on to say “The thing that I love about it; the thing that made me excited to do it was…just, how completely counterintuitive it is. It makes no sense. These people should not even be in the same room, let alone on the same team. And that, to me, is the very definition of family.”

Do you need anything else to show you how much this man loves comics and how great his passion is for the important little details that go into making the story and characters work? We won’t know for a long time how well he fares, but for now, take solace in the fact that Joss Whedon is not taking the opportunity for granted.