Joss Whedon, he of Serenity and Firefly fame, has been slated as being “the man” for an upcoming Wonder Woman film adaptation for quite some time, now.

That time is no longer “now.” It’s come out today in Whedon’s official blog that he’s off the project:

“You (hopefully) heard it here first: I’m no longer slated to make Wonder Woman…. [The studio and I] just saw different movies, and at the price range this kind of movie hangs in, that’s never gonna work…. It happens all the time. I don’t think any of us expected it to this time, but it did. Everybody knows how long I was taking, what a struggle that script was, and though I felt good about what I was coming up with, it was never gonna be a simple slam-dunk. I like to think it rolled around the rim a little bit, but others may have differing views.“

Despite being the third longest-running superhero still in active publication (only Superman and Batman predate her), Princess Diana of Themyscira has never graced the big screen, and only sporadically appeared on the small one. There was, of course, the infamous 1970s TV series (that, despite its cheesiness, is still considered by many fans to feature the definitive Wonder Woman in Lynda Carter), and she’s had major supporting roles in cartoons ranging from Superfriends to Justice League Unlimited. A mercifully aborted 1967 TV pilot by the producers of the Adam West Batman series — and done in the same campy post-modernist style — was Wondy’s lone other foray into the third dimension.

Whedon, in the eyes of many the “last best hope” for intelligent and witty sci-fi, was tied to the Wonder Woman project at an early stage. Claiming he had a unique vision for the original female superhero, and making the now-famous comment that his vision did not include “star-spangled panties,” Whedon seemed to imply that he’d be taking Wondy in a new direction - or, perhaps, rather an old one, as between the lines there appeared to be a suggestion that this direction would be similar to the comics of the early ’70s (where a de-powered Diana became something akin to a feminist Bruce Lee) that are still somewhat controversial with fans today. He also didn’t ingratiate himself to longtime comics followers with his comment that “Wonder Woman doesn’t really have any good villians” to base a movie around; while it’s true that her rogues’ gallery is very small compared to other superheroes’, Whedon’s choice of words seemed calculated to ruffle some feathers here and there.

Not much is known about Whedon’s vision for Wonder Woman (indeed, given the vagaries of Hollywood politics and studio legalities, much may never be known about it), but given his track record it’s entirely possible that he could have revitalized a franchise that has for far too long been taken for granted. Or, he could have produced a film that had fans of the original comics up in arms and rioting in theaters. We’ll never know now, but it’s fun to speculate on what might have been.

(Oh, and if you check out the blog post, you’ll find out at least one name who Whedon had in mind to take the mantle of Wonder Woman. That only makes the speculation even more fun.)

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