Former Batgirl comic book writer Gail Simone says that she has the perfect story for a Batgirl movie. Simone's declaration comes hot on the heels of a fan-movement petitioning Warner Bros. to hire the popular comic book author to write the script for the upcoming film in the wake of Joss Whedon's departure from DC's Batgirl.
Described by some as "the most powerful woman in comics", Simone first found fame writing humorous commentary and comic book parodies for the CBR column You'll All Be Sorry!, which eventually led to Simone's writing for The Simpsons comic book and a brief run on Deadpool, before she signed an exclusive contract with DC Comics. It was there that Simone revitalized the Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman monthly comics before being tapped to bring Barbara Gordon back into her original role as Batgirl, after decades as the white-hat hacker Oracle following the events of Batman: The Killing Joke.
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Gail Simone expressed her interest in the Batgirl movie on Twitter. Earlier in the week, Simone voiced her desire to work on the Batgirl movie as either a writer or a consultant, but waved off suggestions that she should direct the movie, pointing out to enthusiastic fans that she has no experience as a director.
It should be noted that while Simone also doesn't have any experience as a screenwriter, she is far from inexperienced when it comes to writing superheroes for a Hollywood production. Simone penned episodes of the animated series Justice League Unlimited and Batman: The Brave and The Bold. She also provided the story for the 2009 Wonder Woman animated movie. Most recently, Simone adapted the first six issues of her run on Red Sonja into a animated movie and her independent action-comedy series Crosswind was just picked up for adaptation into a live-action TV series by Piazza Entertainment.
Given the online buzz surrounding Simone's name, it might be foolish for Warner Bros. to dismiss the fan demands in this case. While not as big a name as Whedon, Simone also lacks the baggage that Whedon carried given recent accusations of inappropriate conduct. Hiring Simone as a writer would do much to win over those fans who were skeptical of Warners' commitment to depicting Batgirl properly - both feminist comic fans who were skeptical of any project involving Whedon's creative input and those who felt that the DCEU had gotten too far away from the core concepts of the basic characters under Zack Snyder's leadership. It seems clear that the most surefire way of the studio catching lightning in a bottle once again, and seeing the success that they saw with Wonder Woman last year, is to place Batgirl in the care of a female director with a script written by Gail Simone... or another comic book writer.
More: Why Joss Whedon Left Batgirl – Explained
Source: Gail Simone
