Batgirl, no longer to be directed by Joss Whedon

Well, there ya go.

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/batgirl-movie-joss-whedon-warner-bros-1202018544/

more women in headlining roles = good
handing the reins to a decent creative pair of hands = also good
working in the dc cinematic universe as it currently stands = real bad feeling about this, 50/50 chance whedon walks out after clashes with execs before this shoots an inch of film

The studio is also developing a “Suicide Squad” sequel and “Gotham City Sirens,” a spinoff to “Suicide Squad” with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn character; “The Batman,” starring Ben Affleck with Matt Reeves directing; a “Shazam” film and a Black Adam spinoff starring Dwayne Johnson; and projects based on the Flash and Cyborg characters.

five bat-bucks says at least half of these will never happen

xpost Seriously. Whedon had issues working with Feige & co. and he makes this move? Unless it's like a deal where they plan to bump Snyder and Johns and install Whedon as the new creative head of the franchise, IDGI.

'I can't stand making lattes at Starbucks, it's so corporate and soulless. So I've accepted that middle management position at Comcast.'

maybe dc are like. hey let's make a movie that isn't all ponderous and dark for a change. and they give whedon reasonably free reign.

then they make the rest of their super twisted and dark movies, and it's just like an anomaly

Whedon already had a shitty experience with Warner/DC trying to get a Wonder Woman movie off the ground years ago, so he must be asking for a LOT of control here. Like if he gets any studio notes he's allowed to strangle an intern, or something.

I'm sayin'. Maybe he, like, owns the character of Batgirl now. Something like that.

a “Shazam” film and a Black Adam spinoff starring Dwayne Johnson

The million dollar question here is "who plays Billy Batson?" I wouldn't use either Marcus Scribner or Miles Brown (Junior and Jack from black-ish) in conjunction with The Rock but I'm not sure who else is out there.

"'WB' now stands for 'Whedon Brothers.' It's in my contract."

xpost I honestly don't think they've gotten that far. They announced Johnson as Black Adam ages ago and...just figured the rest would eventually sort itself out?

Conversely, I'm trying to imagine what WB might be using to blackmail Whedon into working for them.

Maybe The Rock has a nephew?

'the pebble'

xpost I honestly don't think they've gotten that far. They announced Johnson as Black Adam ages ago and...just figured the rest would eventually sort itself out?

still time for marvel to swoop in and lock him into a nine-picture deal as simon williams, wonder man

the rock has a shitload of nephews and cousins

http://elitedaily.com/sports/the-rock-family-tree-infographic/1282191/

Conversely, I'm trying to imagine what WB might be using to blackmail Whedon into working for them.

There's this thing called money

more women in headlining roles = good
handing the reins to a decent creative pair of hands = also good

handing the reins to a decent creative pair of hands who is female and not joss whedon = better

IDK, I think Age of Ultron's genuinely one of the best Marvel movies (really!) but maybe it would be nice to give female genre stories to people who are not Joss Whedon for a change

xpost I'm sure Marvel would've been happy to continue throwing money at him (they gave his brother and sister-in-law their own TV show to run, ffs). There's more than money influencing this deal.

Whoops!

https://io9.gizmodo.com/joss-whedon-quits-the-batgirl-movie-i-really-didnt-hav-1823240290

so does he give his fee back to the studio now or what

I was going to posit that this would likely sound the death knell for DC's incoherent cinematic universe, but I guess I'd missed the news that they were already slowly backing away from the endeavor: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/29/16387706/wonder-woman-batman-dc-expanded-cinematic-universe-warner-bros-standalone