Warner Bros. has its Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) movie costumes on display at New York Comic Con 2019, revealing Harley's influence on another team member. While it's not exactly a sequel to David Ayer's Suicide Squad, the upcoming Birds of Prey marks the return of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, following her introduction in Ayer's DC film. Described as an R-rated girls gang adventure, the movie follows Harley as she leaves the Joker firmly in her rearview mirror and tries to form a far less toxic relationship with her newfound friends, the Birds of Prey.
Directed by Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) from a screenplay by Christina Hodson (Bumblebee), Birds of Prey is led by a cast that, on top of Robbie, includes June Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain, and Rosie Perez as Gotham City police detective Renee Montoya. The film's marketing (including, the official trailer that dropped this week) has focused primarily on Harley so far, and her deranged personal aesthetic seems to heavily inform Birds of Prey's look and style as a whole. In fact, Harley's "brand" is even apparent in her teammates' outfits.
Naturally, Birds of Prey has a presence at the ongoing NYCC, and the costumes for Black Canary, Huntress, Cassandra Cain, and Renee Montoya are all on display, along with one of Harley's many, many zany outfits from the film. As you can see in the gallery below, the pattern of Harley's classic jester suit has actually been incorporated into Montoya's clothes.
In all likelihood, this detail will probably amount to little more than one of the many easter eggs for comic book fans to spot in Birds of Prey. It's a fun nod all the same, and even provides a subtle visual indicator that Renee has more in common with Harley than she might like to admit. Some probably recall that Suicide Squad gave an even more explicit shout-out to Harley's classic jester costume by briefly showing her wearing it while she danced with the Joker in a flashback (or possibly a dream sequence - it's always hard to tell with Harley). Still, the design of Renee's outfit is a nice reminder of just how much Harley's fingerprints will be visible all over Birds of Prey.
Some fans have fairly expressed concern about just how much Birds of Prey seems to be paying attention to Harley, to the point where it almost appears to be ignoring the rest of the team. Of course, it's worth remembering that WB's marketing is designed to appeal to people who aren't necessarily familiar (or, in some cases, haven't ever heard of) the Birds of Prey until recently, and only know about Harley because of Suicide Squad. Harley also seems to serve as the genesis for the formation of the Birds of Prey team during the movie, which would further explain why its trailers and posters haven't shown them being a fully operational group of vigilantes just yet. No doubt, Renee and the Birds of Prey are in for a wild ride once they find out what it's really like being pals and fighting criminals with Harley Quinn.
