Batgirl star Leslie Grace reveals that Batman is not set to appear in the DC Extended Universe solo film in the works for HBO Max. The In The Heights actress is set to lead the cast as Barbara Gordon, better known as Batgirl, after having beat out Isabela Merced, Zoey Deutch and Haley Lu Richardson for the role. The film will also see the return of J.K. Simmons as Jim Gordon, Commissioner of the Gotham City Police and father to Grace's character, after having debuted the character in Justice League.
Development on a Batgirl film has been in the works since early 2017 when Justice League reshoot director Joss Whedon tapped to write, direct and produce the project for Warner Bros. and DC. Despite production set to begin in 2018, Whedon would ultimately step down from the project and the studio would bring on Christina Hodson to pen the script after being impressed with her work on Birds of Prey, though she wouldn't begin work until after finishing the long-in-development solo Flash film. Batgirl would finally gain new steam earlier this year as Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were hired to direct the film for HBO Max, with Grace being cast a few months later and a tentative 2022 release window set.
While chatting with the In The Heights star to discuss an upcoming music vide of hers, Grace opened up to ET Online about Batgirl. In reflecting on Margot Robbie's reaction to Grace's casting in the role, the actress sent the Harley Quinn performer a message back asking for her and their fellow DCEU actresses to assist Batgirl as a certain Dark Knight won't be present in the film. See what Grace said below:
"Miss Margot, hi. I just want to say I'm a huge fan and if you think it's a good idea for Harley Quinn to stop by, we're welcoming all of the help. Batman's out -- he's doing a whole bunch of stuff -- so I'm going to need some of my ladies to help me out on this next run, you know what I'm saying? We love you."
Given the ambiguous status of Batman in the DCEU, it makes sense that the creative team behind the film would elect to keep the Gotham vigilante out of the story of Batgirl. The Dark Knight was brought to life in the universe with Ben Affleck donning the cowl, however he would retire from the role and is set to briefly return in The Flash alongside previous actor Michael Keaton as an alternate-universe version of the character. With Affleck's tenure past the Scarlet Speedster's solo film seemingly through, it would make sense for the studio to refrain from offering any permanent answers that The Flash doesn't answer in regards to Batman's existence in the universe.
Additionally, should The Flash elect to retire Affleck's Batman, it would serve as a nice setup for the still-unknown plot of Batgirl. Though most versions of the character in comics had her being trained by Batman, there have been the occasional portrayals of Batgirl in which Gordon elects to become a hero in her own right and either join up with the Dark Knight's family later on, or become a solo act in his absence much like her appearance in HBO Max's animated Harley Quinn series. With at least a year remaining until Batgirl is likely to premiere on the streaming platform, it's certainly anyone's guess as to how the film will address Batman.
Source: ET Online
