We just learned that Joss Whedon, director of Marvel Studios' first two Avengers movies, is set to write, produce, and direct a new Warner Bros. Batgirl movie (Aquaman is sure to be overjoyed when he sees someone else "dressed like a bat"). And now, Entertainment Weekly has provided additional information about the project.
The upcoming DC Extended Universe installment won't adapt Cassandra Cain or Stephanie Brown as Batgirl. EW’s sources report that the movie will feature the fans’ favorite version: Commissioner James Gordon's daughter Barbara Gordon. But that's a no-brainer, considering that introducing anyone other than Barbara as Batgirl would enrage fans, and that’s something the studio can't afford to do right now.
Now we’re wondering which version of the character we’ll see in the Joss Whedon flick. Barbara Gordon took on the Batgirl persona in the 1967’s Detective Comics #359, aka The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl. That continued until a violent encounter with The Joker left her paralyzed in Alan Moore's 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joker.
Confined to a wheelchair, Barbara served as a tech expert and information broker under the codename Oracle for 23 years. Then, DC Comics revamped all of its titles as part of 2011’s New 52. Barbara recovered from the spinal injury, and once again donned the cape and cowl to fight crime on the streets of Gotham City.
According to EW's sources, the new Batgirl flick will use this New 52 version of Barbara as "a starting point":
It's unclear how much of that series, written by Gail Simone, will be incorporated into Whedon's film. But sources tell EW the movie will follow Simone's harder-edged storyline, rather than the more comical, playful "Batgirl of Burnside" series that was rebooted in 2014, featuring the hero as a social-media obsessed student living in a hipster neighborhood of Gotham.
Neither Barbara Gordon nor Batgirl has been mentioned in the DCEU to date. We did see Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne using the Oracle Network to decrypt LexCorp files in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Of course, they could just ignore the Barbara Gordon/Oracle connection altogether.
