March 17, 2005 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon has signed to write and direct the Wonder Woman movie for Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver, according to today's Hollywood Reporter.  Recent online chatter had linked Whedon with the project, claiming that he became the WW frontrunner when Fox seemingly hooked up with Layer Cake helmer Matthew Vaughn for X-Men 3, a gig that Whedon had been previously linked to. Of course, it's possible that the sequence of events was the other way around.

"Wonder Woman is the most iconic female heroine of our time, but in a way, no one has met her yet," Whedon said in a statement. "What I love most about icons is finding out what's behind them, exploring the price of their power. When Joel and I began discussing the character, I realized there is a woman behind the legend who is very fascinating, very uncompromising and in her own way almost vulnerable. She's someone who doesn't belong in this world, and since everyone I know feels that way about themselves, the character clicked for me."

Joel Silver also expressed his excitement at signing the deal.  "There's no one better than Joss to adapt the legendary Wonder Woman comic book character created in the 1940s into a dynamic feature film for 21st century audiences," he said. "Wonder Woman was the first great female superhero to emerge from comic books and later inspire millions of fans in her television incarnation, but unlike her counterparts Batman and Superman, this groundbreaking heroine has yet to be reinvented for the feature film arena."

There's still no word on who might play the Amazonian superheroine. A ludicrously varied assortment of actresses have been associated with the role over the years including Jessica Alba, Lucy Lawless, Minnie Driver, Sandra Bullock, Kim Basinger and Jessica Biel.

Wonder Woman helmer Joss Whedon

That's all the news for now, but keep it here for the latest Wonder Woman developments!