Last March, before he was announced as taking over from Zack Snyder on Justice League, it was revealed that Joss Whedon had signed on to develop and direct a Batgirl solo movie for Warner Bros. and DC Films.
However, some eleven months later Whedon announced that he was no longer attached to the project, having been unable to find the right story, and now he’s elaborated on that during an interview with Variety.
“It had been a year since I first pitched the story,” said Whedon. “A lot happened in that year and I felt that some of the elements might not work as well and the story kind of just crumbled in my hands. There were elements that I just hadn’t mastered and after a long time, I felt like I wasn’t going to. So, I told people that I didn’t have an idea, which isn’t exactly true. I had an idea and it just didn’t fit into the space that was left for it. It was a little heartbreaking because I was so excited about it but I’m currently working on something of my own and there’s nothing more exciting to me than that.”
SEE ALSO: Joss Whedon is “a little jealous” of the Russos and Avengers: Infinity War
If reports are accurate, Whedon was said to be considering an adaptation of ‘The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl!’, which marked the character’s first ever appearance Detective Comics #359 back in 1967 and saw Batgirl teaming with the Dynamic Duo to defeat Killer Moth.
Warner Bros. still intends on developing its Batgirl movie post-Whedon, having tapped Christina Hodson (Transformers: Bumblebee) to pen the script. Meanwhile, the studio has also announced a Birds of Prey film, which is being directed by Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) and will feature Batgirl alongside Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn.