Joseph Hill Whedon (born 1964) is a scriptwriter, director, cameo actor, television producer through his famed Mutant Enemy production company, comic book author, and as of the live movie-theater broadcast of This American Life a singer. Joss comes from a family of talented writers, and is one of the first third-generation television writers.Best-known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dollhouse, the famously-canceled cult hit Firefly and its motion picture, Serenity, and Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.Whedon's characters and scripts are famous among his fans for containing a dry, caustic wit. He can be counted on to do something completely unexpected in every new series. In Buffy, he listed a regular guest-star in the opening credits for the first time — only to kill her off in that very episode. He also gets a lot of praise from feminists for his strong female characters.Whedon delights in defying the audience's expectations, for example, rather than killing a major character, he'll kill off a lesser-known but much more endearing character. In the DVD commentary for Serenity, Whedon explains that he likes doing such things because people expect the hero to die or be horribly injured at some point during the production — but they don't expect the minor characters to die, so the impact is much greater. Unfortunately, at this point he's done this so often that nobody expects the characters they like to live.Not to be confused with Joss Stone.
Speed (script doctored by Whedon; Graham Yost, the only credited writer, has said most of the film's dialogue is Whedon's. Which makes sense, because the lines in the film carry the trademark sarcastic humor that Whedon later became famous for.)
Toy Story (with seven other writers, nominated for Oscar)
Alien: Resurrection (apparently the experience was so bad that he sheds tears when asked about it - even though the script he wrote was largely unchanged when filming started)
X-Men (one of five uncredited writers; only two bits of dialogue are actually his, only one of which was done the way he intended. The storyline for X3: The Last Stand also adapted several elements and plot points from his run on Astonishing X-Men)
The Cabin In The Woods: Not much is known about it, it's finished but they decided to have it converted to 3D for whatever reason, so it got delayed a year. Oh, and due to the poster and website, it's safe to say that Evil Dead jokes have already been made.
Abusive Parents / Parental Abandonment: A staple of the Jossverse, sometimes lampooned. For the Freudians out there, Joss' parents split before he turned 10.
Acting for Two: Or three. Or four. Several actors played different characters between Buffy and Angel. Some actors also achieved a "hat trick" of appearing as different characters in three of his series. The most notable of these actors is Jonathan M. Woodward. Not only did Woodward appear in all three of Whedon's shows(Holden Webster in Buffy; Knox in Angel and Tracy in Firefly), his character died in each instance.
Action Girl: Very common. Though Whedon himself doesn't think this should even be a trope. He once recounted how interviewers always ask why he writes so many strong, competent female characters, saying he always wants to yell at them about why they aren't asking every other writer why they don't write these kinds of character.
Buffy/Angel: Jesse, Jenny Calendar, Doyle, Tara, Anya, Lilah (sorta), Cordelia, Fred, Wesley, Lindsey. Not to mention Buffy herself. Twice. And Angel, come to think of it. And Spike.
Giles was recently killed in the Season 8 Buffy comics. When asked why, Whedon said, "I wanted to make all this matter and have something that would send emotional ripples through all the characters. Also, I’m a prick."
Firefly/Serenity: Shepherd Book, Wash.
Dollhouse: Topher Brink, Boyd Langton, Paul Ballard, Mellie!November, and Bennett Halverson. And considering the Epitaphs, quite possibly everyone you don't see, like Ivy. This trope is also subverted), in that Victor and Sierra actually live - most fans expected at least one to die.
Dr Horrible: Penny.
Titan A.E.: Inverted with Gune, played brutally straight with Korso and Preed, hinted at with Cale's father.
Kitty Pryde during his run on Astonishing X-Men. Particularly shocking, considering how much he loved the character ( she's often cited as an inspiration for Buffy). Obviously, another writer undid it. But still...
Author Appeal: He likes to give some of his characters English accents like The Watchers, Spike, Adelle, and that Badger fellow.
People with mental illness shows up in a lot of his shows.
Buffy Speak: While he didn't invent it, Joss and his shows had a big hand in changing the way TV and movie characters talk, especially white teenagers. This isn't because he likes it so much as it's how he speaks.
Foot Focus: Before there was River, there was Dawn. Notably, both Summer Glau and Michelle Trachtenberg have a background in ballet, which was incorporated into their roles. The former played a ghost ballerina on Angel.
Hollywood Atheist: Malcolm Reynolds is deeply bitter against God/Christianity after losing a war. Nathan Fillion himself stated that Mal is actually a Nay Theist who's pissed off after the Serenity Valley.
I Call It Vera: "Mutant Enemy" was originally the name of his typewriter in school.
Too Happy to Live: Everything Whedon writes. If fans see a happy character, they know bad things are coming. Funnily enough, this happened to an entire series (Firefly) for Whedon.
Family Business: Membersof the Whedon family have been writing for television practically since the medium's inception, and then, of course, there are his brothers.
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