Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the duo behind 2020’s most successful movie Bad Boys for Life, have signed on to the long-developing Batgirl. The film was announced back in 2017, with Joss Whedon attached to write and direct. Whedon left the project in 2018, saying, “It took me months to realize I really didn’t have a story.†Which certainly wasn’t code for “lots of problematic stuff is gonna come out about me in a few years.†The following year, Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson was signed on to pen a script. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the pieces are finally coming together for Barbara Gordon to make her DCEU debut on HBO Max.
Batgirl has been the name for many crimefighters in the DC universe, but is most closely associated with Barbara Gordon. The daughter of Gotham PD commissioner Jim Gordon, Batgirl leads a double life as an acrobatic crimefighter. In the ’80s, Barbara was disabled in Alan Moore’s “The Killing Joke.†Barbara became the hacker extraordinaire Oracle, and the Batgirl mantle was assumed by gals like Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown. Barbara’s “Killing Joke†assault was later retconned out of existence. Fans looking to see Batgirl onscreen can peep Alicia Silverstone in the camp explosion known as Batman & Robin or hear Briana Cuoco (Kaley’s li’l sis) in HBO Max’s Harley Quinn cartoon.