The superhero genre has been dominating the entertainment industry for years, and is showing no signs of slowing down. The DC Universe has had plenty of twists and turns, including James Gunn and Peter Safran being named co-CEOs. Fans were disappointed when it was revealed that the Batgirl movie was scrapped, despite it being filmed and nearly completed. The movie’s director thinks Brendan Fraser’s performance as Firefly was “Oscar-worthy” and my FOMO is so real. Give us Batgirl, you cowards!
Brendan Fraser’s professional comeback was lovingly named the Brenaissance, and centered around both his Oscar winning performance in The Whale and portraying the villainous Firefly in Batgirl. Unfortunately, it’s unclear if we’ll ever actually get to see that DC movie. Director Adil El Arbi spoke to Yahoo about that superhero flick, and why fans like me would potentially love the project. In his words:
People do love the Bat family: they love Batgirl, they love Gotham City, they love Michael Keaton and Brendan Fraser gave an Oscar-worthy performance in the movie. And the movie was supposed to be for streaming, which allows you freedoms that you don't get in theaters. If it was a theatrical movie, we might have needed to have had bigger action sequences than we had. But we'll never know! Hopefully we can come back to DC and show what we can really do. It's like unfinished business — we've got to prove ourselves one day.
Do you hear that sound? It’s me and other DC fans crying out about the scrapped blockbuster. Because on top of finally seeing the title character join the DCU in live-action, Fraser also may have given yet another Oscar-worthy performance in Batgirl. And we never got to see one frame of footage.
El Arbi’s comments make some solid points, especially related to what DC fans have gotten to see in the DCU so far, and what could have been brought to the table with Batgirl. As he mentioned, fans love the Bat-family. While Batman himself has been adapted for film a number of times throughout the years (The Flash had three different ones including George Clooney), the DCU has yet to bring the Bat-family into the fun. None of Bruce Wayne’s protegees have shown up so far in the shared universe, with the one exception being the mysterious dead Robin’s suit in Batman v Superman.
Of course, this will change with the new shared universe that Gunn and Safran are forming. The first chapter is called Gods and Monsters, and includes a movie focused on both Batman and Robin. Titled The Brave and The Bold, we’ll follow as Bruce Wayne works with his son Damian, who was trained by assassins from a young age. So even if Batgirl is scrapped, we’ll finally see the Bat-family back on the big screen. But it's unclear when my Fraser-related FOMO will subside.
The next DC movie hitting theaters is Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom on December 20th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
