Avengers director Joss Whedon takes the reins for a Batgirl movie
The latest DC hero to get a film is Batgirl.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon has switched from Marvel to DC and has signed on to a solo movie on Gotham's heroine.
Whedon, known for creating Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will also be writing and producing this upcoming feature film.
There have been many characters in the comics who have taken up the mantle of Batgirl thoughout the times. But Whedon takes one the first Batgirl, who is also the fan favourite; Barbara Gordon.
What's interesting about this upcoming movie is the choices Whedon has taken for direction of the film.
Barbara Gordon leaves her title of Batgirl in award winning graphic novel The Killing Joke in which the Joker shoots Barbara (Not knowing she's Batgirl, but to torture her father Commissioner Gordon) leaving her paralysed indefinitely. After this she becomes the Oracle and, although in a wheelchair, continues to fight crime from behind a screen.
However, not only is Whedon not going for a typical origins story about Barbara Gordon, he is also not using this original version. He hopes to show the New 52 version, where several years after Joker's attack, she has fully recovered and while she fights crime, she is haunted by that near death experience.
While Whedon is a surprising choice for a DC movie, considering that he has worked on Marvel comics and films, he is an interesting option for a female oriented superhero film. He is known for writing strong female characters and is not a noob in defending his writing. A 2006 speech had him revealing how many times he had been asked "Why do you write these strong female characters?" to which he'd respond, "Because you’re still asking me that question." Go Whedon!
So far, Batgirl is in line after Wonder Woman and may be the second female hero to headline a DC movie.
