Holy female empowerment, Batman! Variety is reporting that none other than geek legend Joss Whedon (Avengers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) has signed to write, direct and produce a Batgirl movie for Warner Bros. and DC Films!
Whedon, of course, directed The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron for Marvel Studios, grossing nearly $3 billion dollars in the process. He also co-created/shepherded the ABC series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now he’s jumped over to the competition, as it’s confirmed that his Batgirl movie will be part of the ever-evolving DC Extended Universe that includes the upcoming Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman and The Batman solo film, as well as another female-centric entry in David Ayer’s Gotham City Sirens.
No other producers are attached to the Batgirl movie, though Toby Emmerich, Jon Berg and Geoff Johns will oversee the project for the studio, which apparently only came into being within the last month.
Batgirl’s first comic appearance in 1967 was as Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner James Gordon, and she later became an ally of Batman and Robin in Gotham City. She was previously portrayed by Yvonne Craig in the campy ’60s Batman series, then by Alicia Silverstone (as Barbara Wilson, Alfred’s niece) in the equally-campy 1997 flop Batman & Robin. She was recently voiced by Rosario Dawson in The LEGO Batman Movie.
Whedon, who had previously written a treatment for his own Wonder Woman movie a decade ago, was last said to be working on a World War II horror movie, but he has stated previously that he would like to make a Batman film. Whether he will take a larger role overseeing the DCEU as he did during Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe remains to be seen, but for now that role belongs to Geoff Johns.
