Joss Whedon is still very early in his Batgirl pre-production, but it sounds like he knows where he’s going.

It seems Whedon became a whee bit obsessed with Batgirl, and that’s how his movie came about. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the Buffy-creator explained how he got involved.

She came up, and I started getting obsessed with how a young woman could get hardcore enough to need to put on the cowl. Like, what’s her damage?

She didn’t have her parents killed in an alley. Who is this person, who decides — rather than being forced to by their childhood trauma — decides to pick up this life How intense and driven that person is … I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

He makes a good point. Most of the women to become Batgirl/Batwoman did it without a childhood trauma. Barbara Gordon – the best known Batgirl – did it when she dressed as a female Barman for a costume party and ended up stopping a crime. Whedon is apparently going with the Stephanie Brown incarnation which, in the comics, became Batgirl due to discovering her father was a supervillain. It sounds to me, though, as if Whedon will be taking her somewhere else with his origin.

Either way, I like where Whedon is heading. It sounds like he plans to bring some depth to the DC Extended Universe, something it desperately needs.