"Avengers" director, Marvel consultant and ultimate geek icon Joss Whedon recently had an extended red carpet chat with the folks over at Collider and he revealed a startling secret: He initially thought making a "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie was a pretty bad idea.

"It seemed out there to me," Whedon said. "I sort of went, 'I don't know about this.'"

So what changed his mind? Two words: Rocket Raccoon.

"Then they brought on [director] James [Gunn]," Whedon explained. "As soon as they said James, the movie started to make sense to me in a way it hadn't. This isn't a guy that is going to chase 'Star Wars.' He's going to make a James Gunn movie. And James' first thing was, 'I love Rocket. It's all the raccoon.' And a lot of people were like, 'really, a raccoon?' And he's like, 'the raccoon is the heart.' And knowing that, I felt very safe."

"I was just there before they started production, and seeing all the designs, I got really jealous," Whedon added. "I was like, 'why can't I make this movie?' I really got turned a hundred and eighty on that one."

Of course, anthropomorphic raccoons aren't the only thing on Whedon's mind, as he also discussed the ongoing lack of strong female characters in movies done by people other than himself.

"We're just people," he said. "Obviously there are differences between men and women, but deep down, the same ambitions, the same jealousies, the same fears — they may articulate and be structured differently, but we're all just folk. I don't understand anybody who can't write everybody."

For all this plus much more, check out the clip. And get ready for some major raccoon action.