Joss Whedon exits ‘Batgirl’ and now it moves to Warner Bros’ backburner

Director Joss Whedon is making a sudden exit from Batgirl, a shift which directly impacts the movie’s priority to Warner Bros.

“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 on Thursday told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement.

Referring to DC president Geoff Johns and Warner Bros. Picture Group president Toby Emmerich, he added, “I’m grateful to Geoff and Toby and everyone who was so welcoming when I arrived, and so understanding when I…uh, is there a sexier word for ‘failed’?”

Sources close to the situation told The Wrap “there are no imminent plans to attach a new filmmaker to the Batman spinoff after Whedon exited last week.”

Warner Bros. first announced the Batgirl movie was announced in March 2017 with Whedon, who directed Marvel Studios’ first two Avengers films, slated to direct.

Whedon took the reins from Zack Snyder after the Batman vs Superman director stepped down from Justice League following a family tragedy, and many in the industry believed his time working on DC’s superhero crossover wasn’t the best.

THR speculated that Whedon may have faced scrutiny for tackling a female-led movie.

Warner Bros. is having trouble duplicating the success of Marvel Studios in creating a shared comic book universe using the DC Comics characters.