Warner Bros. and DC are officially doubling down on the Bat Family with the long-awaited, big-screen arrival of Batgirl. But wait! It gets even better: The director shepherding Batman's fiercely smart protégée, Barbara Gordon, into the DC Extended Universe is none other than Joss Whedon.

Confirmed by Variety today (March 30), Whedon is in the process of closing a deal to write, direct, and produce the Batgirl flick. While there's no other information on the movie at this time, the report does confirm that the film will feature some of Gotham's familiar faces. This isn't surprising, seeing as the studio currently has three Gotham-centric films in the works: David Ayer's Gotham City Sirens (starring vixens Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman), Chris McKay's previously announced Nightwing movie, and Matt Reeves's The Batman, starring Ben Affleck as the Dark Knight (for now). The thought of seeing Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson onscreen together is already making my heart race.

Of course it would also be a rad opportunity to introduce the Birds of Prey, Batgirl's popular team-up with Black Canary and Huntress, and expand the DCEU. Honestly, there can never be enough heroines. And while you're at it, DCEU, please give me Cassandra Cain, too.

As for Whedon, his involvement in this is somewhat unexpected. A longtime comics fan and writer (do yourself a favor and check out his Astonishing X-Men series), Whedon knows the mythology, and he has a knack for writing complicated, kick-ass female characters (see: Buffy Summers, Black Widow, Echo). He's also the guy responsible for one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's greatest achievements: The Avengers. But after burning out on the Age of Ultron press tour — and receiving some backlash for the treatment of Black Widow in the film — he publicly took a step back from big-budget studio flicks. And it's not like Warner Bros. and DC have historically been easy to work with.

Still, this is exciting for so many reasons. (1) Barbara Gordon is awesome. She's a genius with an even-keeled temperament, a strong sense of justice, and badass fighting skills. (2) This brings us even closer to a Batgirl and the Birds of Prey movie because a female-fronted superhero movie starring more than one woman (hey, Rogue One) is always a good thing. And (3) The idea of Whedon writing quippy Batgirl dialogue is just SO EXCITING. Give it to me now, Warner Bros.