Good news: Batgirl has finally been deemed worthy of a solo movie, and is getting her own DC Extended Universe film! Other news: Avengers Assemble director and Buffy creator Joss Whedon is helming it.
Like with Avengers, Whedon is set to write and direct the film, but this time he’s also stepping up to the plate as a producer. According to Variety, no other producers are currently attached to the project, but Toby Emmerich (president and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Pictures Group) is overseeing it alongside Jon Berg and Geoff Johns. The only woman involved so far is titular fictional character Batgirl.
Warner Bros. probably thought they were off the hook after booking Patty Jenkins to direct Wonder Woman, which hits cinemas this June. But it doesn’t really mean anything if you only do it once, Warner Bros. Whedon is great and everything, but you have to keep hiring women if you want to make a change…
For those unfamiliar with the character, a little history: Batgirl (alias Barbara Gordon) first appeared in DC Comics in 1967 in ‘The Million Dollar Debut Of Batgirl‘ by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino. In the story, she was the daughter of Gotham City’s police commissioner James Gordon.
Technically, Barbara Gordon wasn’t the first Batgirl to feature in DC Comics canon: a character called Betty Kane was introduced in the Batman comics as ‘Bat-Girl’ in 1961 by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff. However, Kane was later replaced by Barbara Gordon, who would go on to become the most iconic version of the character.
Based on how popular Batgirl is, it seems weird that she should be getting her first solo movie after the likes of Aquaman and Cyborg, but we guess that’s just how things go. Whedon’s interpretation of the character won’t be the first to feature in a film, however: Alicia Silverstone played Barbara Wilson, a various of the Batgirl, in Batman & Robin, while Barbara Gordon starred in The LEGO Batman Movie, voiced by Rosario Dawson, earlier this year.
Batgirl doesn’t yet have a release date. Get all the latest superhero movie news with every issue of SciFiNow.
