Ever since Margot Robbie easily stole the show as Harley Quinn in 2016’s Suicide Squad, rumors have been swirling about where we would see the character next. Would it be a solo film? A Joker/Harley movie? The one that kept getting brought up the most was Gotham City Sirens, which would presumably feature Ms. Quinn with her notorious gal pals Poison Ivy and Catwoman. But now, according to Variety, Margot Robbie’s next official outing as Harley Quinn will come in the form of Birds of Prey, which will be directed by Cathy Yan.
Yan is a former Wall St. Journal reporter who made her feature debut with Sundance favorite film Dead Pigs. She will be the third female filmmaker to direct a DC Comics based film, following up on the huge success Warner Brothers had with Patty Jenkins helming Wonder Woman, and the recently announced Ava DuVernay who’ll direct New Gods. In addition, Yan will also be the first Asian woman to helm a movie from the DC Comics universe. The movie has a script already from screenwriter Christina Hodson, who was recently hired to write the Batgirl movie. Birds of Prey is set to go before the cameras by the end of this year, meaning it will likely beat Batgirl to theaters.
So what does this mean for the other Harley movies? A Birds of Prey movie will very likely feature Batgirl, Black Canary, and Huntress, as those are the three most famous members of the team. With three heroines, it makes sense they would be needed to take down three villains, so along with Harley, expect to see Poison Ivy and Catwoman. If this movie does gangbusters business, then maybe a Gotham City Sirens spin-off could still happen. But honestly, from our viewpoint, having the other female Bat-villains introduced this way makes more sense.
It seems this movie is more far along than the Batgirl film, which has no director yet. That is somewhat unfortunate, because I think Batgirl/Barbara Gordon should be introduced in a solo film before a team-up film. But as with Justice League, Warner Brothers and DC Films seem to like to take the backwards approach to this and introduce the characters together in an ensemble film first. Well, it worked for Wonder Woman, maybe it will work here too.
After the massive success of Wonder Woman, and the financial success of Suicide Squad, which we can all attribute to the Harley factor, Birds of Prey should be a pretty huge event. Both Batgirl and Catwoman are cultural icons that have not had live-action representation in the modern cinematic superhero era, and Black Canary has a pretty big fanbase thanks to the character’s appearances on TV’s Arrow. With women behind the camera as well, this movie could be a huge event, as long as they do it right.
Which DC characters do you want to see join Margot Robbie for the Birds of Prey? And should this movie be Ben Affleck’s last outing as Batman? I mean, there has to be at least a Bat-cameo right? Be sure to let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.
Images: Warner Brothers / DC Comics
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