Why? Supposedly… “”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 told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement.” No story? No story? Since when has ‘lacking a story’ been even a speed bump on the Hollywood journey?
Look, I’m not some big Hollywood big shot, but I can tell you what Batgirl should be about. Batgirl should be about being Batman with neither the nigh-crippling sense of alienation from normal society, nor the driving need to control the darkness inside of you. Batgirl is absolutely about wearing the cape and the cowl without the scowl, jumping and flipping and using the Bat-gear to have fun. Batgirl doesn’t have an origin story*, really. She just thought it’d be cool to dress like her dad’s weird friend and then go fight crime.
And now Batgirl’s in Gotham City, which is not really a place for cheerful banter and quips and happy-go-lucky acrobatic martial arts. How do you resolve that conflict? How do you make Gotham accept that you’re not going to be broken by it? How can you not make this into a serviceable two hour movie? — And really: by now when it comes to the DCEU I’ll take ‘serviceable.’ As somebody who grew up DC instead of Marvel, yes; it pains me to say it.
Moe Lane
PS: Some people might say that Joss Whedon is actually dropping Batgirl because of fallout from the allegations last year that his behavior towards women was often appalling, but I couldn’t possibly comment.
*Oracle has an origin story, yes.
I’m used to press releases not making sense.
But this…
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It’s like it would dramatically explode upon contact with reality.
Agreed. How hard can it be to come up with a Batgirl story? You have basically twenty years of classic Batmans (60s to 80s) with Barbara Gordon in the role. Is there nothing in there anyone could use?
Whedon was given the job to write and direction a Wonder Woman movie 10 or so years ago. He took a year and then dropped it because he couldn’t get a handle on the subject. A preliminary script eventually leaked and it was a piece of trash.
I suspect a reason for him backing out was the fiasco of “Justice League”. Who knows if Synder’s original would have been successful but Whedon’s chopped up mess stunk.
I know, since I attended a fairly packed screening of Justice League. And as a longtime Whedon aficionado, I could pick out what was his and what was Snyder’s fairly easily, I think. Somewhere between 70% and 90% of what the crowd vocally liked came from Whedon. I’d stake a lot on that.
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Chopped-up? Yes. Mess? Yes. Stunk? No. It was barely passable, which is still miles ahead of Batman v Superman.
WAs, you say, with all the current nonsense, Batgirl really doesn’t fit the Narrative: She’s far too happy and independent, which is the opposite of Wheedon’s “Strong Woman” Mary-sue of an angsty, violent nymphomaniac. Am I the only one that found him creepy *before* he got #MeToo’ed?
You’re not alone.
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I got in a few internet fights when he was invoked as a shining example of “strong female characters”.
True Grit? Strong female character.
The African Queen? Strong female character.
Buffy? NOT a strong female character.
I just don’t like how he makes every show/movie exactly the same. Avengers was what ruined Whedon for me.
He lost me at Serenity.
The genre flip from Western to Superhero Origin was not executed well.
I bought the deus ex machina for Wash’s death.
But to trot it out again five minutes later to make River dominate a room that would have been nearly instant death for Mal, Zoe, Book, Jayne, and The Operator all working together…
Had it been a book, it would have left a dent in my wall.
This comment makes no sense to me. Seriously, it’s like you just said every Brandon Sanderson book is the same.
“Didn’t have a story” might translate into “don’t have a story that TPTB wanted to turn into a movie.” Especially in this day and age.