Joss Whedon isn’t just a screenwriter and director. For his fans he has become an icon of his own distinctive genre. He is inventor of the Whedon world, where girls kick ass and everyone is born with an innate knowledge of pop culture.  With The Avenger: Age of Ultron the talk of the town, we take a look at our five favourite Joss Whedon projects and what it is that makes them quite so unique.

Toy StoryDid You Know Joss Whedon Was A Screenwriter on Toy Story?

5. Toy Story (screenwriter)

Back in the 90’s Whedon took a risk, penning the script for what would become the first feature-length computer animated film. This was unchartered territory, would the graphics look creepy? Would children react to them in the way that they did to the tried and tested Disney style animations? The creators of Toy Story did something really special. They imbued the now beloved Woody the Cowboy and Buzz Lightyear with a palpable sense of heart, it was all too easy to feel personally invested in poor usurped Woody. The animation of the movie is evidently the finest of its kind, but it’s Whedon’s script that really makes you fall in love with the characters.

Best quotes:

Woody: What chance does a toy like me have against a Buzz Lightyear action figure?

Rex: What if Andy gets another dinosaur? A mean one? I just don't think I can take that kind of rejection!

Buzz: I am Buzz Lightyear; I come in peace.

Rex: [shaking Buzz's hand] Oh, I'm so glad you're not a dinosaur!

AngelWhedon Also Created, Wrote and Directed 'Angel'

4. Angel (creator/writer/director)

Angel, a vampire cursed with a soul by Romani gypsies, moves to LA and sets up his own supernatural detective agency. While Angel battles his own conscience and struggles for redemption, his team tirelessly fight a surge of demons and an array of other superhuman threats. It’s as good as it sounds (and it starred dreamy David Boreanaz).

Best quotes:

Angel: We live as though the world were as it should be, to show it what it can be.

Angel: Gone. What does it mean that she's gone?

Spike: Well, in the world of men, a person dies, they stay that way.

Angel: Unless you're a vampire.

Spike: Or the ghost of one that saved the world.

Angel: Or Buffy.

Next page: Did The Avengers make the list? Of course it did.