Whedonverse- Cult or fanbase?

When you hear the name Joss Whedon, you may not know who we're talking about but you've definitely seen one of his shows or movies. His imdb pageis filled with familiar shows and movies such as: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dollhouse, the original Toy Story, Serenity. In addition he's also currently working on two high profile box office hits, Captain

America and The Avengers. In addition to these forms of media he also writes comics, mainly about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, as well as an internet show titled Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. His shows are generally praised by critics and fans but, other than Buffy and Angel, tend to be short lived due to expenses, i.e. Firefly, or low ratings, i.e. Dollhouse.

However, over the course of his working career he has garnered a fanbase called the "Whedonverse" these fans follow his every move watching anything his name is attached to. Furthermore, the actors attached to his projects automatically get a following. As seen in the offical Whedonverse website, every actor ever attached to a Whedon project gets news update on what show they're currently on, a gallery, and biographies on them all. For example, two time Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner ( The Hurt Locker, The Town) Guest starred on Angel for one episode. Yet due to that guest spot he gets a blog article whenever he gets a role. This Whedonverse is more than a fanbase as it religiously follows Whedon and any actor associated with his work, religiously follows and comments on his blog , in which he constantly communicates with them, and never accept criticism to any work Whedon has ever created. They are their own subculture, they have certain norms not to be broken such as being a fan of every Whedon product, breaking that is taboo and you would not count as part of the Whedonverse, simply a casual viewer. When attending Whedon related events, in comicon, paleyfest, etc, members of Whedonverse have a certain respect for one another as though they are 'brothers in arm'. As Grazian says in his book Mix it Up, sports is a unifier and how supporters of the same team are feel closer, this is similar to the Whedonverse and how members of the Whedonverse feel close to one another, even if they are strangers.

Proof that this is more than a fanbase is the loads of coverage this group has gotten. Entertainment Weekly has written many articles, even giving it a cover page, many sites create lists of the best whedonverse episodes, and even MTV posts articles related to Whedonverse. Scifi is its own subculture, some may even say culture, that exists all over the world, the Whedonverse is a subculture of Scifi, one of the most dominant and involved cultures.