Joss Whedon keen to direct Star Wars spin-off

The Avengers director Joss Whedon wants to make a Star Wars spin-off film.

The 52-year-old filmmaker, who directed both smash hit Avengers movies for Disney subsidiary Marvel Studios, initially did not think getting involved in the company's other major franchise was a good idea.

Joss' involvement with the Marvel superhero films as well as a reluctance to stick to the franchise's episodic structure scuppered any possibility of him taking the reins of Star Wars when Disney bosses decided to reboot it with last year's (15) The Force Awakens.

However, he has revealed that he wants to direct a spin-off film like the franchise's forthcoming film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

"Do I want to make a Star Wars movie? Yeah," he told Complex magazine. "I was like, 'I don’t want to make a Star Wars movie. Like, god dammit, why?' But I saw the trailer for Rogue awhile ago and I was like, 'I want to do that.' To make a Star Wars movie and not be wed to the bigger picture."

The director currently has no plans to direct any more Marvel movies, after admitting he was exhausted by making the second Avengers film Age of Ultron.

However he's now keen to put his own spin on some of the film world's most famous characters, and even wants to make a Catwoman movie with Anne Hathaway which would see her reprise the role she played in Christopher Nolan's final Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.

"I mean, it’s a fun thing to do, to put yourself in the service of something if you think you can add an interpretation," he explained. "It’s no different than any other storytelling.

"There are some times when you get micro-managed to death but with Marvel, they let me make two movies that were very much mine. So do I want to make James Bond movie? Yeah. Anne Hathaway does Catwoman again? Sure, I’m in."

Released in December (16) Rogue One will tell the story of how a squad of rebels stole the plans for the Death Star space station. The Death Star featured prominently in the original 1977 Star Wars film Episode IV - A New Hope.

Bosses at Disney plan to release one Star Wars film a year, with Episode VIII following Rogue One in 2017 and a spin-off featuring the franchise's charming space smuggler Han Solo is due in 2018.