David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was mostly maligned by fans and critics back in the summer of 2016. Jared Leto’s Joker was seen as a betrayal of the character at his core; the script was rushed, as Warner Bros. forced Ayer to complete it in just six weeks; and the dialogue was agonizingly on-the-nose.
The only thing that fans unanimously enjoyed about the movie was Margot Robbie’s portrayal of Harley Quinn. So, with the studio in her debt, Robbie is now producing her own female-led DC spin-off, Birds of Prey. Here are 5 things that have been confirmed for Birds Of Prey and 5 Fan Theories.
Confirmed: Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Rosie Perez will also star
Alongside Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Birds of Prey will star Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the mobster’s daughter and vigilante Huntress, Rosie Perez as tough-as-nails detective Renee Montoya, and Jurnee Smollett-Bell as the gliding, ass-kicking Black Canary. Ewan McGregor will play Black Mask, the primary villain in Birds of Prey.
In the comics, Roman Sionis is a crime lord who wears a terrifying black mask, hence the nickname. The new movie will also feature Chris Messina as Victor Zsasz, another B-list DC Comics villain. Zsasz is a serial killer who keeps a running tally of his victims carved into his skin.
Fan theory: It’ll set up the events of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad
Warner Bros. has been less than forthright in categorizing James Gunn’s upcoming Suicide Squad movie, aptly titled The Suicide Squad. It’s not a straight sequel to David Ayer’s 2016 original, but it’s not a reboot that will start fresh, either. It seems to be somewhere in the middle: keeping what worked and replacing what didn’t.
An example of what worked is Margot Robbie’s performance as Harley Quinn. With Harley’s presence in the DCEU expanding via Birds of Prey, it seems like a no-brainer to include her in Gunn’s new Suicide Squad movie. Birds of Prey’s ending might set up how Harley fits into The Suicide Squad.
Confirmed: The depiction of Harley Quinn is “less male gaze-y” than in Suicide Squad
Although Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn was arguably the best part of Suicide Squad, she was unfortunately unable to escape that movie’s male gaze. She was framed from objectifying angles and sexualized at every opportunity. There was even a scene where her male teammates stand around and watch her get changed, played uncomfortably for laughs.
According to Robbie, who is attached to Birds of Prey as a producer, the portrayal of Harley Quinn in the new movie will be “less male gaze-y” than the previous installment: “That’s what happens when you have a female producer, director, writer…It’s definitely less male gaze-y.”
Fan theory: It’ll be entirely standalone
Harley Quinn explains that she broke up with the Joker at the beginning of the Birds of Prey trailer, but maybe this line is a quick excuse to gloss over the continuity between Suicide Squad and this film, to allow the filmmakers to make a totally standalone piece.
DC has found success recently with movies that have little to no connection to other DC movies, like Wonder Woman and Aquaman and Shazam! – and, of course, the one getting all the Oscar buzz and breaking all the box office records, Joker – so there’s every chance that it has the same intention with Birds of Prey.
Confirmed: Cathy Yan is in the director’s chair
Warner Bros. and DC have hired Cathy Yan to helm Birds of Prey. Yan is best known for her smaller-scale work in the dark comedy genre. She’ll be bringing a sharp, cynical edge to Birds of Prey, explaining that when she first read the script, she “could not put [it] down. It had so much dark humor to it, which a lot of my work does, and there are themes of female empowerment, which are so strong and relatable.”
With Birds of Prey, Yan will become the first Asian woman in history to direct an American superhero movie, which is pretty astonishing, considering how many American superhero movies there are and how tolerant, open-minded and diverse Hollywood claims to be.
Fan theory: It’s setting up a bunch of solo movies
DC fans are excited to see characters like Black Canary and Victor Zsasz on the big screen. They’ve been hidden in obscurity for years, but they’re really interesting and fun, and their movie adaptations, if faithful to the source material, will be a treat for audiences.
As with most superhero team-ups, there’s a chance that Warner Bros. is secretly setting up a bunch of solo movies, similar to all the spin-offs from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse that Sony has in development. There are certainly more than enough comic book storylines about these characters to draw on in potential future installments.
Confirmed: It’ll be released on February 7, 2020
Birds of Prey will be the next installment of the DC Extended Universe to hit theaters. It’s slated to arrive at multiplexes on February 7, 2020, so it’s only a couple of months away now.
From the previous week, Birds of Prey will face the Blake Lively-starring thriller The Rhythm Section and the dark fantasy-horror movie Gretel & Hansel, starring It’s Sophia Lillis. Also arriving on February 7 is the low-budget horror flick The Lodge.
The following week, Birds of Prey will have to contend with the Sonic the Hedgehog movie (complete with a fan-warranted character redesign), romantic drama The Photograph, Jeff Wadlow’s upcoming Fantasy Island movie, and the American Force Majeure remake, Downhill.
Fan theory: It’ll fill Gotham City with B-list Batman villains
It’s been confirmed that the Birds of Prey screenplay was tweaked to accommodate Matt Reeves’ intentions for The Batman. The DCEU is slowly reintroducing interconnected elements. The Gotham City presented to us in Birds of Prey will be the same Gotham in which Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader fights crime in The Batman.
With Black Mask and Victor Zsasz making their big-screen debut in Birds of Prey, perhaps it will set up a Gotham City filled with Batman villains on the loose. Usually, Batman movies have one-and-done villains, but in the comics, the Bat’s huge rogues gallery is constantly hanging around Gotham. The DCEU’s rebooted Batman franchise could lean into that to distinguish itself from The Dark Knight trilogy.
Confirmed: Christina Hodson is writing the script
It was important for Birds of Prey’s producers – including Margot Robbie herself – that this female-driven movie have a female director and a female writer. With Cathy Yan in the director’s chair, the screenplay for Birds of Prey has been written by Christina Hodson.
Hodson has had three of her scripts featured on the Black List (the annual list of the most-loved unproduced screenplays) and made script contributions to both the surprisingly well-made Transformers spin-off Bumblebee and Andy Muschietti’s upcoming Flash movie for the DCEU. She’ll be receiving a sole writing credit on Birds of Prey, which is great, because one writer’s singular take on the story and characters will be more focused.
Fan theory: Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker will have a cameo appearance
With Harley Quinn mentioning her breakup from the Joker in the Birds of Prey trailer, the spin-off is clearly acknowledging the events of Suicide Squad and Jared Leto’s incarnation of the Joker. But Warner Bros. did just pull in a record-breaking $1 billion haul with an R-rated take on a totally different Joker.
Joker’s director Todd Phillips and its star Joaquin Phoenix have vehemently denied that their movie has any involvement with the wider DC Extended Universe. However, that doesn’t mean that other DCEU movies can’t connect to it from the outside. Some fans are expecting Phoenix’s Joker to have at least a cameo appearance in Birds of Prey.
