The DC Extended Universe is always expanding, with Warner Bros. planning new movie and TV projects for HBO Max. One of these is the upcoming Batgirl movie, which stars In the Heights actress Leslie Grace in the title role. New set photos reveal references to Birds of Prey’s Black Canary, so bring on the DC crossovers.
Actress Jurnee Smollett joined the DCEU by playing Dinah Lance/ Black Canary in Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). She’s set to reprise her role in a developing HBO Max flick, and now it looks like she’s being referenced through set pieces on the upcoming Batgirl movie. You can see for yourself below, thanks to some images from Twitter. In the images there are various posters for Black Canary, although it's unclear if they're advertising her superheroic capabilities or her former residency at Black Mask's club. Either way, fans are going to be pleased.
As a fan of Birds of Prey, I’m definitely intrigued. While these images don’t actually show Jurnee Smollett, it looks like Batgirl is very much set in the same Gotham City as Birds of Prey. And with so many DCEU stories happening in that iconic location, fans are no doubt going to be hoping for some crossover action in the future.
The above images come to us from social media, and are sure to pique the interest of moviegoers out there. Batgirl will mark the first time that a Batman protegee will be seen in the DCEU, which is something that the fandom has been patiently waiting for. And with it already connected to other movies thanks to the J.K. Simmons’ return as James Gordon, there’s no telling how integral Batgirl will be to the overall shared universe.
While it’s unclear if Birds of Prey will ever get a sequel, fans were delighted to learn that Jurnee Smollett would be back in her very own Black Canary movie for HBO Max. The project will be helmed by Misha Green, who previously worked with Smollett on Lovecraft Country. The developing Batgirl movie will be the first streaming release of this kind, we’ll just have to see how many times Canary is referenced throughout its runtime.
The Black Canary movie will mark the second time a Birds of Prey character has returned to the big screen, following Harley Quinn’s starring role in The Sucide Squad. Unfortunately there’s not much more information about the developing spinoff, or when we’ll see the return of other characters like Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Huntress or Rosie Perez’s Renee Montoya. Wouldn’t it be awesome to see the Birds of Prey and Batgirl fighting bad guys together? One can only hope.
The Batgirl movie is currently expected to arrive on HBO Max sometime in 2022, but there is no concrete release date. The next DC movie hitting theaters is The Batman on March 4th. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
