10 Things You Need To Know About Gotham City Sirens

There's no denying that Suicide Squad was one heck of a divisive film. While critics largely lambasted it, the movie has garnered quite a lot of fans and overall, Warner Bros. was pretty happy with it, seeing as it made nigh on $750 million at the worldwide box office. So happy, it turns out, that they've paired Suicide Squad's director, David Ayer, with its breakout star for a new project. That's right. David Ayer and Margot Robbie will again team up for Gotham City Sirens, a newly announced movie coming to the DC Extended Universe in the next few years. This is presumably the final form of the Harley Quinn solo film that was touted a few months back. We knew that it was likely to feature other female DC characters, but it isn't until now that we knew it would focus on the Sirens. Just who are the Gotham City Sirens, though? Read on for 10 things to know about both the comic book series and the movie based on it. 10) Who Are The Sirens? If you haven't heard of the Gotham City Sirens, don't beat yourself up. They aren't a long-running team by any means, but they consist of Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman - the three major female villains from Batman lore combined. In effect, it's less of an all-star team-up and more of a story about three unusual housemates. Suicide Squad definitely suffered from having to juggle so many different characters, so hopefully Ayer will find sharing screen time between only three central stars a lot more manageable. Especially since we're now familiar with Harley and the majority of the audience will no doubt be familiar with Catwoman and Ivy from previous movies. Other major DC female characters do show up in the book as well, in cameo roles. Most notably, Talia Al Ghul and Zatanna. 9) The Team Was Created By Harley Quinn's Creator As previously mentioned, Gotham City Sirens are far from a major team. Their self-titled comic book series only lasted 26 issues from 2009 to 2011 (when it was cancelled as part of The New 52 studio-wide rebrand). The later run was written by Tony Bedard and Peter Halloway, but the comic was initiated by a name very familiar to fans of Harley Quinn - Paul Dini, her creator. You might know that Dini was the head writer on the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series, from which Harley was spawned. The Sirens comic book series naturally explores Harley as a solo character, as she shacks up with Ivy and Selina during a period of separation from the Joker. If this element is kept for the movie adaptation, it will please those who felt that Harley's character was lessened in Suicide Squad due to her unwavering devotion to Mr. J. In the Gotham City Sirens movie, she might wake up to the fact that her relationship with the Joker isn't healthy. At one point in the comics, she even breaks into Arkham Asylum with the aim to kill her Puddin' (spoilers: she doesn't go through with it). 8) The Morals Of The Team Are Murky Given the team of villains and the similarities to Suicide Squad, you would probably expect the Sirens to be another group of supervillains gone good. However, they're actually more complicated than that. First of all, the Sirens don't join together in an attempt to atone for their past actions nor are they assembled by some authority figure. The three women come together for their own best interests. If it suits them to stop a supervillain or save a civilian, they will. If it doesn't, then it's none of their business. Focusing a movie on such self-interested characters could be really fun and make for a more compelling arc than that of Task Force X in Suicide Squad. At least, that's how it is in the comics. To ramp up the scale for a film, we can see Harley compelling her friends to stop some apocalyptic event, after getting a taste for do-gooding in Suicide Squad. 7) The Comic Has A Complicated Backstory That (Probably) Won't Make It To The Films It's fair to say that the backstory in Gotham City Sirens won't make it to the feature film. The reason? Batman is currently dead in the comics. Sirens began after the Batman R.I.P arc, in which Bruce Wayne perished. At the time of the comic, former Robin/Nightwing Dick Grayson has taken up the mantle of his mentor, in attempt to convince the criminals of Gotham that the Bat still lives. Selina is the one largely affected by this as she's had her heart broken by Bruce's death and knows that this isn't the Batman she knew and loved. Selina also begins the series at a weak point, seeing as she had just had her heart cut out by Hush in the appropriately titled Heart of Hush arc. Thankfully, she was magically healed by Zatanna and was fine again. Because, comics. 6) Other Batman Villains Feature In Supporting Roles One of the most promising things about Gotham City Sirens is that it could explore the vibrant underworld of Batman's hometown. That's certainly what the comic series does, with several famous villains featuring in supporting roles. In particular, Hush and the Riddler play a part. At this point, Thomas Elliot is masquerading as Bruce Wayne, which puts a nice spin on Wayne usually being a face we can trust. Edward Nygma, meanwhile, has turned over a new leaf and become an ally of Batman and GCPD, helping them solve tough cases. Naturally, the Joker puts in an appearance as well. Although, there is a mystery over whether he's the real Joker or not... From a villain's point of view, Gotham is painted as a dog-eat-dog world where you have to make uneasy alliances with fellow criminals in order to survive. We've gotten to know Gotham very well from Bruce's perspective, but to see the city from the other side could shine a new light on it. 5) Margot Robbie Is Exec Producing In addition to reprising her fan favourite role as Harley Quinn, Margot Robbie will be working behind the scenes as well as the executive producer of the film. This is an interesting appointment and could have a positive affect on how Harley's depicted in the movie. Previously, Robbie has said that if she has anything to do with it, the character's costume won't be so skimpy the next time around. The actress also has a lot of insight into the history of Miss Quinzel, which might allow for a fuller exploration of her. 4) It Has A Female Writer Apart from David Ayer in the director's chair, Gotham City Sirens has several women behind the scenes, as two female writers have been attached to the script so far. Originally, Christina Hodson was set to pen the screenplay for the Harley solo movie but she has now apparently left the project. This might because she's busy with the Transformers Cinematic Universe instead; Hodson is working on the scripts for both Transformers 6 and the Bumblebee solo spinoff. Instead, Geneva Robertson-Dworet will now be on writing duties. A Hollywood newcomer, she hasn't had a script make it to screen just yet, but she is attached to an impressive seven movies to come this decade. Most notably, she's working on the Alicia Vikander-led Tomb Raider reboot and the mooted Sherlock Holmes 3 starring Robert Downey Jr. Not mention the Dungeons and Dragons movie and a reboot of 80s animated series M.A.S.K. 3) The Movie Could Feature The Birds of Prey Seeing as we know Gotham City Sirens will feature a group of DC's female villains, it makes sense that it might also star the universe's team of female superheroes, too. While we don't know this for sure, it was earlier rumoured that the then untitled Harley Quinn movie would find a role for the Birds of Prey. The Birds of Prey have a longer history than the Sirens, and date back to 1996. Also based in Gotham City, the Birds are led by Barbara Gordon, after her paralysis at the hands of the Joker and in her Oracle guise. The other two primary members are Black Canary and the Huntress (two characters familiar to TV audiences from Arrow). Over the years they've been joined by a bunch of other heroines - including Poison Ivy and Catwoman, funnily enough. Having the Birds of Prey show up in the movie would be a lot of fun, considering characters like Batgirl and Dinah Lance haven't really ever had their due in live-action. The film would also hopefully do the team right, after the short-lived TV show from 2001. 2) It Won't Replace Suicide Squad 2 Though Gotham City Sirens is the first project out the door, that does not mean that it's replacing Suicide Squad 2. DC have clarified that a sequel starring Task Force X is still on the cards and will arrive at some point in the next several years. This won't come as a surprise, given the box office return of the first movie. Though you have to wonder whether a sequel will have the same draw, seeing as audiences will get their fix of the movie's two main stars elsewhere (more on that in a moment). No story details have been discussed so far for the follow-up, but Ayer has stated in the past that he has a couple of ideas floating around for it - assuming he's still connected to the project, that is. 1) It's Not The Only Suicide Squad Spinoff Harley Quinn might be the most bankable character from Suicide Squad, due to her immense popularity, but Gotham City Sirens is not the only spinoff from SS in the works. The film's other star - Floyd Lawton AKA Deadshot - will also get his own solo outing at some point. On the one hand, a Deadshot solo movie makes complete sense. Lawton was by far the most heroic of the Task Force, what with his leadership skills and touching backstory with his daughter. A big draw is also Will Smith, whose star power might have had something to do with Suicide Squad's success (and also why Independence Day: Resurgence completely flopped). On the other, is Deadshot really a strong enough character to lead his own film when he doesn't have the rest of the Squad to bounce off? Couldn't everything they want to do with Lawton be dealt with in Suicide Squad 2? We'll have to wait and see how this one turns out, but for now we're more interested in how Gotham City Sirens develops.