Until Joss Whedon directed "Marvel's The Avengers," that kind of director/geek flick pairing existed, for the most part, only in the minds of fanboys. But Whedon isn't the only filmmaker to top comic book movie wish lists: Another popular name that gets tossed around as the perfect superhero helmer is Quentin Tarantino. So when MTV News caught up with him over the weekend, we got him to talk nerdy business.

The man respects the genre like no other, and he's sure to have a unique spin on a classic set-up. Way back when, Warner Bros. apparently approached Tarantino when they were first considering turning Green Lantern into their next big superhero project. Though the director turned them down, the idea of a Tarantino-directed superhero flick is a hard one for geeks to shake.

Our correspondent Josh Horowitz sat down with the writer/director during the junket for his latest film, "Django Unchained," and asked Tarantino whether he had seriously considered taking on a superhero story over the course of his 20-year career.

As it turns out, he had. Shortly after the success of his first film, Tarantino toyed with the idea of making a film starring one of Marvel's most popular heroes. He even had a leading man in mind.

"After 'Reservoir Dogs,' I had considered doing a 'Luke Cage, Hero for Hire' movie. [Producer] Ed Pressman owned the rights at that time, and we talked about it," he told us. "I talked to Larry Fish [Laurence Fishburne] about being Luke Cage, and he really liked that idea. Then I ended up writing 'Pulp Fiction.' "

Since then, nothing has quite tempted Tarantino back into the realm of comic superheroes, largely because he'd rather make one up himself: "My feeling is if I wanted to do something like that, I'd want to create the superhero myself," he admitted.

And though he's never worked with comic book heroes, Tarantino has done some work with comics. When Robert Rodriguez made his first "Sin City" movie, he asked his friend to direct a short sequence. Though there's another installment ramping up, Tarantino hasn't gotten the call to return. "I think it's all Robert," he said. "He hasn't gotten in touch with me about anything, so probably not."

Check out everything we've got on "Luke Cage."