Here is the frontrunner for Batgirl - and 3 other reasons to be excited

News on the Batgirl solo film is developing rapidly. Less than a day after reports about it even existing and we already have a rumored frontrunner for the part of Barbara Gordon - AKA Batgirl. Lindsay Morgan, known for her role as Raven Reyes on The 100, posted on Twitter that she's "ecstatic" about a "new project on the horizon."

Now, while that could mean anything, Morgan has since been retweeting pretty much every article about the Batgirl film since the news broke. Either she's in talks to play the lead or she's just coincidentally a big Batgirl fan.

Morgan is a talented actress who looks like she can give a beating (seriously, go watch The 100 and see for yourself - you're gonna think it's boring preteen sci-fi drama but it very much is not), so this is some seriously good news if true. In fact, a lot of the buzz surrounding Batgirl is sounding quite positive. Along with this (possible) casting choice, here's three other reasons to look forward to it.

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It's being helmed by Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon is the man behind two of America's gone-too-soon TV series (Firefly and Dollhouse), one of its most endearing TV series (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and the first two Avengers films. Not a bad resume. He's known for giving female characters more depth and complexity than Hollywood usually afford them, even though that's been hotly debated in more recent years.

Regardless of how you feel about Whedon's gender policies, the man is a master of bringing out the essence of a character - especially in an ensemble. We can argue about the pacing of Age of Ultron all day, but nobody should debate the excellence of the first Avengers film, particularly the moment the team begins to argue and we get this fantastic exchange:

One thing Whedon doesn't tend to do is overly serious and drab movies. His involvement could signal a larger shift at WB away from their more grim-dark portrayals.

It's following Gail Simone's New 52 run

If you're not neck-deep in comic books, the name Gail Simone may not mean much. But if you are… hoo boy. Simone has written for Deadpool, Secret Six, Villains United, Red Sonja, the Tomb Raider comic adaptation, and of course, Batgirl. She's beloved by fans, so much so that when she was fired from DC in December 2012, the outcry led to her re-hiring within the month. Her 2011 version of the character - which debuted as part of DC's "New 52" initiative - was widely hailed as a wonderful fun-yet-dark take on the character.

Supposedly, this solo Batgirl film is taking most of its inspiration from that New 52 version of the character. In that continuity, Barbara was taking up the cowl again after she'd already given the superhero sidekick thing a try and wound up paralyzed after an encounter with Joker (she got better *waves hand* comic boooooooks). If accurate, this could provide a great hook to explore a more human side of DC's heroes - not too many of them are dealing with issues like PTSD and survivor guilt.

It's a female-led superhero movie

Creating a female-focused superhero movie wouldn't be a first - hell, we're about to get a solo Wonder Woman film later this year - but these types of film are rare. Having a male or female lead doesn't necessarily impact the film's quality one way or the other, but the simple fact is that we have just four superhero flicks led by ladies to look forward to in the near future (Wonder Woman, Gotham City Sirens, Batgirl, and Captain Marvel). Compare this to the at least 14 male-dominated ones currently planned, not to mention a myriad of male superhero films already out, and it's not hard to see there's an imbalance there.

This isn't about a political agenda that demands you applaud movies starring women just because they're women - you should be excited because in a genre that is rapidly becoming quite saturated, these offer a new perspective and flavor. It's kind of like how there's a million buddy movies that blend together, but only one Thelma & Louise.

Images: The CW