Joss Whedon has a little bit of a history with superhero movies, and for creating layered female characters. After his well-documented frustrations with Wonder Woman, he's getting another chance at the DC Extended Universe and Warner Bros., closing in on a deal to write, direct and produce a Batgirl movie.
It's a somewhat surprising, but welcome move, given that Whedon has taken a long break to write something original, but has now pivoted to focus on developing the Batgirl project. First appearing in 1967 in Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino's story run The Million Dollar Debut Of Batgirl, she's the superhero alias of Barbara Gordon, daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon. So we can likely expect J.K. Simmons' take on Gordon to appear along with other Bat-related characters.
This marks Warners' latest female-focused superhero outing after this June's Wonder Woman and the in-the-works Gotham City Sirens to focus on Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn and other heroes and villains. There's a chance Batgirl could crop up there first before she appears in her own spin-off.
Wonder Woman is next out of the gate for DC, arriving June 23, followed by Justice League on 17 November. But it's exciting to contemplate what the man behind Buffy, Firefly and two Avengers films might be able to bring to a slightly underserved character, on the big screen, and in non-animated form at least.