The recent cancellation of Batgirl when it was all but finished is a tragedy in many ways, but losing Brendan Fraser as the film's villain is a huge mistake made on WB's part. Brendan Fraser was set to star opposite Leslie Grace's titular character as the film's main villain, Firefly. Firefly is a character from DC Comics who often appears as part of Batman's central rogues gallery, with Fraser set to portray a different take on the character.

However, with Warner Bros. opting not to release the film in any capacity, audiences will no longer get to see Fraser's portrayal of the character. This would be unfortunate in any situation, however, given that Brendan Fraser is seeing a career resurgence after some serious past struggles, the loss of his portrayal due to Warner Bros. Batgirl cancellation is tough to take. It would have been great to see Fraserback in a big-budget, Hollywood franchise portraying a different take on a famous supervillain, and it is beyond disappointing that his performance won't be seen.

Related: WB's Batgirl Cancelation Makes Superman's DCEU Return Certain, Right?

While the cancelation of Batgirl is unlikely to completely derail Fraser's renaissance, as he will be appearing in Darren Aronofsky's The Whale and Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, it would've been amazing to see Fraser in another Hollywood movie after many grew up watching him in franchises like The Mummy, for example. Regardless, the cancellation of the film is now causing issues across the board, with the directors' work, the cast's performances, and the continuation of Gotham in the DCEU now taken completely off Warner Bros. slate.

How Good Could Brendan Fraser's Firefly Have Been In Batgirl?

Now that it is official that Batgirl won't be released, potentially spelling trouble for the upcoming The Flash movie, it is worth exploring how Brendan Fraser's version of Firefly would've come across and just how good it could have been. In the comics, Firefly was a criminal who utilized lighting effects to commit crimes, before being reimagined as a pyromaniac with an obsessive compulsion to start fires. It seems like Fraser's version of Firefly would've fit more closely with the reimagined version of the character.

According to Fraser, his version of the character would've been a retired army veteran named Ted Carson. After his benefits are cut, Carson becomes disgruntled and decides to take out his personal injustices on the city of Gotham by burning the city to the ground. This would've naturally attracted the attention of Batgirl and Batman (played by Michael Keaton), with Fraser hinting that the duo weren't necessarily fully against Carson. This proves that Fraser's character would've been much more morally complex than a lot of the typical superhero movie villains seen today, offering Fraser the chance to play the role with a lot more nuance than initially expected. With Carson and his motivations challenging the morality of what is right and wrong, Fraser's performance would've likely reflected that, allowing him to put on a great, subtle performance.

Exploring that moral divide of what is right and wrong in a city like Gotham has always been integral to the world of Batman on screen, and it would have been a treat to see that explored through Grace's Batgirl and Fraser's Firefly. With this no longer being part of the DCEU, with WB facing many questions about the franchise's future, it is hard to see a benefit to the cancellation of the film in terms of losing Fraser's performance, amongst that of his cast members. With Warner Bros. apparently stating that they would be happy to work with the cast and crew of the film again in the future, a slight glimmer of hope remains that Fraser's Firefly can be seen in all its glory eventually, even if that won't come in Batgirl that would have been released in late-2022.

Next: What Batgirl's Cancellation Means For The Snyderverse

Key Release Dates
  • Black Adam (2022)Release date: Oct 21, 2022
  • Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2022)Release date: Dec 21, 2022
  • Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)Release date: Mar 17, 2023
  • The Flash (2023)Release date: Jun 23, 2023
  • Blue Beetle (2023)Release date: Aug 18, 2023
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