Joss Whedon’s Explanation For Why He Left ‘Batgirl’ Wasn’t The ‘Exact Truth’

Joss Whedon has dipped his toes in both the Marvel and DC cinematic/extended universes, with The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron for the former and Justice League for the latter. His relationship with DC was supposed to continue with a Batgirl movie, but in February, he left the project after realizing he “really didn’t have a story.” That’s was Whedon’s explanation at the time, at least, but while speaking on the red carpet for Avengers: Infinity War, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator opened up about his departure.

“It had been a year since I first pitched the story,” he told Variety. “A lot happened in that year, and I felt some of the elements might not work as well. The story sort of crumbled in my hands. There were elements that I just hadn’t mastered.” Whedon also admitted that he wasn’t telling the “exact truth” with his initial statement: he did have an idea for the movie, but it “didn’t fit in the space that was left for it. It was a little heartbreaking because I was so excited for it.”

There’s a lot that’s being left unsaid — is the “a lot” that happened a reference to his personal life, or did the ever-expanding DC Extended Universe blow past the point where his Batgirl idea was no longer feasible? Or maybe both?

Either way, Barbara Gordon is getting the big-screen treatment, while it’s unclear what Whedon’s next film will be. But it won’t have anything to do with Wonder Woman following the backlash to his “surprisingly terrible” leaked script. Whedon has a different take on the outrage, though. “People say that it’s not woke enough,” he said. “I think they’re not looking at the big picture. It’s easy to take one phrase out of context. Not that I was the most woke individual that ever lived at that time ten years ago, but I was in there swinging and the movie has integrity and the characters have integrity and I stand by it.”