Joss Whedon has the enviable task of being the go-to guy when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now that he’s officially helming the sequel to ‘The Avengers‘, his three-year deal with Marvel also allows him creative input in what goes on in the other Phase 2 movies as they all will be leading up to his big sequel film.

So it’s no surprise that when MTV caught up with the writer/director that they asked him about the film that will be released directly before ‘The Avengers 2′: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘. While first unsure about the comic series being adapted to film, once he heard that his good friend and colleague James Gunn was involved with the project, he felt certain that the film would be in good hands:

“James is what makes me think it will work. I myself was sort of like, ‘Well, I liked Rocket Raccoon as a kid, but I’m not sure how that plays [to a more mature crowd]. And then they said, ‘Well, we’re thinking about using James Gunn.’ And I said, ‘Oh no, you’re fine.’”

One big advantage Gunn has, according to Whedon, is that he “is so off the wall and so crazy, but so smart, such a craftsman and he builds from his heart.”

Whedon also goes on to say that Gunn “has barely started” on working on the actual script:

“He’s got a very twisted take on it, but it all comes from a real love of the material. It’s going to be hard for the humans to keep up. I know he’s going to come from left field and I’m going to go, ‘What?’ And then, ‘Of course, why didn’t I think of that?’

The news that Gunn would be working on the script was a bit surprising as last heard, the studio had signed on Chris McCoy to scribe the screenplay. But if you look at Gunn’s cinematic history, he has written every film that he’s directed including ‘Tromeo and Juliet’, ‘Slither’, and ‘Super’. Also it seems that Marvel is trending towards hiring writer/directors for their films as this is the same scenario seen with Edgar Wright writing and directing ‘Ant-Man’ and Shane Black writing and directing ‘Iron Man 3‘.

The ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ already have a built in connection to ‘The Avengers’ as they have previously gone against Thanos in the comic series ‘The Thanos Imperative’. Audiences may recall that after the end credits of ‘The Avengers’, Thanos was shown contemplating the resilience of humans, so it would seem like a natural progression for the film.

Of course it will all be up to Gunn, but with such a high endorsement from geek god, Whedon, himself, any doubt about ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ should be put to rest.

Check out the full conversation below courtesy of MTV and let us know what you think about Gunn helming this film!

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ is set to be released in theaters on August 1, 2014.