Joss Whedon has stepped down as director for the DC Extended Universe’s proposed Batgirl movie. The cult filmmaker had been attached to the project since March 2017, but ran into narrative issues throughout the creative process.
“Batgirl is such an exciting project, and Warners/DC such collaborative and supportive partners, that it took me months to realize I really didn’t have a story,” Whedon informed The Hollywood Reporter.
Whedon’s history with comic book movies is a page-turner in itself. He forever changed the game with Marvel’s crossover event, The Avengers. Whedon returned to helm its 2015 sequel, Age of Ultron, although he seemed burnt out following production, telling The Guardian, “I couldn’t imagine doing this again.” The director announced his exit from Marvel in early 2016, but would ironically end up co-writing and directing the reshoots for DC’s Justice League, another big budget superhero crossover with a lot riding in its success.
While tackling Justice League, Whedon was also expected to develop the Batgirl movie. Many felt Whedon was the ideal choice for the project, seeing how he previously gave us Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fans started to lose faith, however, when Whedon’s script for his unmade Wonder Woman movie surfaced. Many deemed the screenplay “sexist,” especially when stacked up against director Patty Jenkins’ 2017 interpretation of Wonder Woman.
Speaking of which, industry sources also supposedly told THR, “that even as Whedon faced story issues, in today’s cultural entertainment environment, a male filmmaker may have faced greater public scrutiny if he were to have tackled a movie with such feminist importance such as Batgirl or Wonder Woman, much like a white filmmaker would have seen backlash if they were to take on the Black Panther movie.â€
Between the disappointing box office returns for Justice League, the poor reception to his Wonder Woman script, and the entertainment industry’s changing landscape, Whedon’s exit isn’t all that surprising. Two questions remain, however: “Is Whedon done with DC for good?” and “Will the Batgirl movie still happen?”
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