Over $1.4 billion banked at the worldwide box office. Like there was ever any doubt.

Get a load of this, True Believers! Back in May we reported that a follow-up to Marvel Studios’ highest-grossing film The Avengers was in the early stages of development at the Walt Disney Company, according to company CEO Bob Iger. Now it’s being reported that “Jazzy” Joss Whedon is returning to write and direct the oh-so-inevitable (and untitled) sequel to the mighty Marvel blockbuster. The news broke just recently during the Walt Disney Investors Conference Call.

As part of the deal, Whedon will also produce a new, as yet untitled series for ABC, which is owned by Disney. All that is known of the series is that it revolve around other characters from the Marvel Universe.

If you want to know what an Avengers sequel would look like if the Geeks of Doom got their hands on it, feel free to check out FamousMonster’s wishlist for what he wants to see in the next on-screen assemblage of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

I’m happy to hear that Whedon is returning to the directing chair for the next Avengers adventure. He was the original’s MVP in the end; his witty scripting and confident, energetic direction was ultimately what brought together the movie’s many characters and plot lines that had been established in previous Marvel features in one highly satisfying package that could have been a complete disaster. The man is a master storyteller, the kind of intelligent filmmaker that high-value geek properties need in their corner.

We can probably expect the Avengers sequel sometime in the summer of 2015. In the meantime The Avengers numero uno is set to hit DVD and Blu-ray on September 25, 2012.

In the words of Stan “The Man” Lee, “Excelsior!”

[Source: /Film]