By Creative Media Times

Almost a year after it was announced that Joss Whedon was nearing a deal to write, direct and produce a Batgirl movie, the director is now bowing out of the project, per Hollywood Reporter.

“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. 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’?,” Whedon said in a statement.

Whedon previously wrote and directed The Avengers (2012) and its sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He also co-wrote the script for last year’s Justice League (2017) for the DC Extended Universe. Batgirl was supposedly Whedon’s official leap from Marvel to DC .

Batgirl is the alter ego of Barbara Gordon. In the 1960s, she was portrayed by Yvonne Craig in the Batman TV series and then decades later by Alicia Silverstone in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin as a variation of the character, Barbara Wilson, Alfred Pennyworth’s niece. She was also in The Lego Batman Movie as voiced by Rosario Dawson.