Joss Whedon is getting an official co-writing credit for his contributions to the upcoming DC Extended Universe film, Justice League. The Avengers director is credited alongside Chris Terrio as the writer of the film's screenplay.

Justice League, similar to The Avengers, is an event film that brings together DC superheroes Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg to take on the evil Steppenwolf - a lieutenant of Darkseid, who decides Earth is ripe for conquering in the wake of Superman's death at the end of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. Director Zack Snyder left the production earlier this year to deal with a family tragedy, bringing on Whedon to oversee Justice League's reshoots and assist with post-production in his absence.

Related: Justice League Reshoots Are Following Zack Snyder's Plan

In addition to running the reshoots, Whedon has been helping out with the Justice League script. The latter contribution of his is now being officially reflected in the film's press material. In Warner Bros. Pictures' 2017 Fall Movie Preview press release, Snyder and Terrio are credited for Justice League's screen story, while Terrio and Whedon share credit for writing the movie's screenplay. This was expected, as at the very least Whedon contributed scripted material that has been added during the film's reshoots, per Snyder's request.

Although Whedon has been serving as the director on Justice League during its reshoots, it was not generally expected that he would receive an actual co-directing credit on the film. The situation is reminiscent of what happened on last year's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, when Tony Gilroy was brought in to oversee the film's reshoots and ultimately received co-writing credit for his efforts, while Gareth Edwards was listed as the sole director on Rogue One. It appears that history will repeat itself in that respect, on Justice League.

While Whedon may not get a directing credit on Justice League, it appears that he could have more influence over the future of the DCEU than Snyder will. It's been reported for some time now that Snyder will next work on one of the non-DCEU projects that he's been keeping on the back-burner, after Justice League is all done. Whedon, by comparison, will start moving forward with development of his Batgirl film next year and it's plausible that his role in the DCEU will continue to expand, going forward. Although Whedon stepped away from the Marvel Cinematic Universe after what was described as a strenuous production on Avengers: Age of Ultron, he is a lifelong comic book obsessive and has written several of his own, too. For those reasons, it's not so surprising that he didn't stay away from the world of superhero films for long.

NEXT: What is the Official Future of the DCEU?

Source: Warner Bros. Pictures