A movie based on DC’s Birds of Prey is on the way, but it appears it might be leaving out the one and only Batgirl.
On Monday, TheWrap reported the cast of characters set to star in the DC movie Birds of Prey, a film based on a superhero group of all female vigilantes in Gotham City. Aside from Margot Robbie reprising Harley Quinn, the film will feature the characters Black Canary, Huntress, Gotham City police detective Renee Montoya, and Cassandra Cain, who has operated under many codenames including Black Bat and Orphan.
But the one missing character who should be somewhere in the film? Barbara Gordon, a key character from the Prey corner of the DCU and arguably the most famous individual to ever have been Batgirl. While Cassandra — who was also Batgirl once upon a time — is drumming up strong reactions on Twitter, and rightfully so, the omission of Barbara Gordon in a Birds of Prey film is a strange one considering how integral she is to that particular mythos.
As one of the founding members of the Birds of Prey, Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham City police commissioner Jim Gordon who operates as Batgirl, formed the group with Dinah “Laurel” Lance, better known as the meta-human street scrapper Black Canary. At the time, Barbara had been paralyzed by the Joker and became the super hacker known as “Oracle.” In more recent versions of the comic, Barbara regained her ability to walk and resumed her crimefighting career as Batgirl, still taking charge of the Birds of Prey.
It should be noted that DC/Warner Bros. is also at work on a solo Batgirl film, which had Joss Whedon attached to write and direct until it didn’t. This leaves open the possibility for a version of the Birds of Prey to be without Batgirl, which would be as bizarre as having a Justice League without Batman.
Birds of Prey, which does not yet have a release date, is being written by screenwriter Christina Hodson and will be directed by Cathy Yan.
Birds of Prey does not yet have a release date.
