We're still well over a year away from the second superhero team-up in Joss Whedon's The Avengers: Age of Ultron, but that doesn't stop us from wondering about The Avengers 3.  Before we get to worrying about who will star in it and which heroes will square off against which villains, we need to know just who will be writing and directing the damn thing.  If a comment from screenwriter Drew Pearce during a recent interview is to be believed, Whedon might already be set to return for the third installment, possibly as both a writer and director.  Hit the jump for more.

[Update: Pearce has taken to Twitter to clarify his comments, saying "Duh, I have NO IDEA whether Joss is actually coming back for Avengers 3." So, while likely, it's still not confirmed that Whedon will be directing the third Avengers film.]

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Image via Marvel

During an interview with Movies.com in which he discusses Marvel's creative process and the Easter Eggs hidden in his Iron Man 3 short, All Hail the King, Pearce casually mentions that Whedon is on board for Avengers 2 (which we know) and Avengers 3 (which we've only speculated about).  Here's the quote:

Movies.com: Will we see some aftermath of this short at some point, either in the cinematic universe or Netflix or any of the other crazy things Marvel is cooking up?

Pearce: Honestly, it's a question above my pay grade. One of the things when you're a writer or director in the Marvel universe is you come in, you leave some tasty morsels dangling at the end, and maybe you're the one who comes in and picks them up again next time, or maybe it's someone else, or maybe they just hang there awhile and that's fine too. Despite any cliffhanger-ness to the short, I also don't feel like it's unsatisfying. That's all you can really hope to do. Unless you're Joss [Whedon] and you're making Avengers 2 and 3, and then you have a pretty good idea if you're making the next one or not.

It may be an off-hand comment with no real meaning behind it, or it might be a slip of the tongue that reveals a truth.  Hard to tell until we get an official word one way or the other.  It would certainly make sense to keep Whedon in house, if only for story consistency.  The Avengers: Age of Ultron might already be too big to fail, so keeping Whedon involved is about as low a risk as you can take.  Let us know what you think about this possible turn of events in the comments, and be sure to check out the full interview with Pearce.

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