Today brought the news that DC are pushing ahead with a Birds of Prey movie, as director Cathy Yan has been contracted to helm the team-up film which will feature a bunch of Gotham’s female heroes and anti-heroes. One of those is, of course, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. And another, it’s been reported, could be Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl. In fact, it seems the film will have the responsibility of introducing her to the DCEU.
Variety’s Justin Kroll shared the scoop, telling us on Twitter that Birds of Prey is going to take Suicide Squad 2‘s slot of going into production in 2018. This is so that Batgirl can be introduced into the franchise sooner, ahead of her own solo movie. The link between the two projects is screenwriter Christina Hodson, meaning Warner Bros. has a lot of faith in her if they’re entrusting such a potentially lucrative hero to the scribe twice over.
Kroll’s Tweet also reminds us that the practice of introducing a character ahead of their own solo film is becoming a common technique in this age of shared universes. Marvel did it with both Black Panther and Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War and DC themselves did it with practically all the Justice League in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Kroll’s scoop seems on the level to us, as it just makes too much sense that Batgirl will appear in Birds of Prey. Babs has always been a leading member of the team, which also frequently features Black Canary and Huntress. Traditionally, the Commissioner’s daughter has served the group in her guise as Oracle, when she lost the use of her legs because of the Joker, though more modern comics have seen her operate as Batgirl as well (a retcon wiped away her time as Oracle).
If everything goes to plan, Birds of Prey will head before the cameras either later this year or very early in 2019, and no doubt Warner Bros. – and the fans, too – will be hoping for another Wonder Woman-sized hit here. As always, watch this space for more.
