Yesterday brought news of the full line-up for Birds of Prey, DC’s upcoming all-female team-up movie which we previously only knew for sure would feature Margot Robbie reprising her role as Harley Quinn. As the details were corroborated by two separate reports that largely match, we can presumably trust this info as being fact.
So, alongside Harley then, we also have Black Canary, Huntress, the Cassandra Cain version of Batgirl (surprisingly, Barbara Gordon apparently won’t have a role in the film after all) and Renee Montoya. So far we don’t know if Montoya will take on her comic book alter ego of the Question in Birds of Prey but, as she’s being talked about alongside these other vigilantes, that seems like a safe bet.
If that’s the case, then, it stands to reason that Montoya will be the DCEU’s first ever openly LGBT superhero. Though she was initially created for Batman: The Animated Series as a Gotham cop, Montoya evolved in the comics and is notable for being DC’s first lesbian hero. Her sexuality was later explored on Gotham, too. Seeing as this is such a celebrated and important part of her character, then, Warner Bros. would be foolish to sweep it under the rug in Birds of Prey.
Hopefully Montoya’s inclusion has been made as a way of addressing the shameful lack of LGBT representation in superhero films from DC and Marvel. Props to Fox for including the genre’s first ever gay romance in Deadpool 2 earlier this year, but hopefully that’ll just be the tip of the iceberg. This could be the case, too, as Marvel’s Kevin Feige has said his team are also working on better representation in their future movies.
Furthermore, Birds of Prey is making history for having the first Asian female director of a major superhero film in Cathy Yan. She’s working from a script by Christina Hodson, who’s likewise penning the Batgirl solo venture. And if we’re to believe this line-up, it sounds like the pair know exactly what they’re doing.
