In a surprising piece of news, Joss Whedon, who helped sculpt the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the writer and director behind The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, has seemingly jumped ship to write, direct, and produce a Batgirl movie for the DC Extended Universe.
According to Variety, this would be the second DC Films project to star a woman after the Gal Gadot-led Wonder Woman, which premieres on June 2. This would also be the first movie that Batgirl was ever given, even though she's been a fan favorite. Batgirl is also said to feature other Gotham City characters.
It's also interesting to note that while Marvel's only woman-led movie will be 2019's Captain Marvel, DC will already have Wonder Woman, with the Harley Quinn-led Gotham City Sirens and now Batgirl already in development.
There's no word on what drove Whedon to the DC Films camp, but after Age of Ultron's release, Whedon was quoted as saying that there "were things that did not meet my expectations of myself and then I was so beaten down by the process. Some of that was conflicting with Marvel, which is inevitable." He did say he was generally "very proud" of the movie.
During a conversation with Whedon that we had last fall, Whedon compared the worlds of Marvel and DC, saying that while "Marvel has been more successful systematically," he felt that "DC has been more cinematic—their stuff looks amazing." You have to wonder, with Whedon hopping on board to write, direct, and produce this movie, if he'll be able to help better steer the DC vehicle, at least in terms of what strands might spin out of this particular piece.
One thing no one has talked about yet is who the hell they'll be able to cast as Batgirl. We're thinking they need to holler at Maika Monroe, who starred in It Follows and was also in Independence Day: Resurgence, although Rose Leslie (a.k.a. Ygritte from Game of Thrones) might be a good look as well.
