WB May Cast A Woman Of Color As The DCEU’s Batgirl

Slowly but surely, Batgirl is coming to the DCEU. A solo movie for Barbara Gordon was first announced in 2017, with Joss Whedon attached. Since he vacated the director’s chair, the studio has been working more quietly on it behind the scenes. With The Batman close to production and set to relaunch the Gotham-verse in a big way, though, it might be time for Warner Bros. to finally find their Batgirl. And from what we’re hearing, they may end up casting a woman of color.

Sources close to We Got This Covered – the same ones who told us a Green Lantern show was in development and that an Arrow spinoff was in the works, both of which ended up being true – have informed us that the studio wants the Batgirl movie to connect to Matt Reeves’ Batman franchise. As we know, Jeffrey Wright is playing Commissioner Gordon in the first film starring Robert Pattison as Bruce Wayne and since Barbara is nearly always presented as Jim Gordon’s daughter, there’s an expectation that the casting search will be geared towards people of color.

The idea that Batgirl could be played by a non-Caucasian actress in the DCEU isn’t a new one, of course. Back when Whedon was set to helm, The 100 star Lindsey Morgan was heavily rumored to be in the running for the role. This was never officially confirmed, but it did get us thinking that WB might be moving away from the heroine’s depiction as a red-headed white woman in the comics.

At the time, J.K. Simmons was Commissioner Gordon so fans theorized that if Morgan was cast, Barbara could be reimagined as Jim’s adoptive daughter. The same applies now, of course. If the studio decide to go with a Caucasian star for the role, then that small tweak to the character’s backstory could be made. Think Sue Storm’s altered heritage in the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot. That being said, it does seem pretty likely that WB will start looking at women of color at this stage.

We haven’t heard any specific names of who they may be eyeing just yet, but we’ll let you know as and when we have any further updates about the DCEU’s Batgirl. Until then, though, let us know who you’d like to see in the role by dropping a comment down below.