Brendan Fraser's impending movie comeback is long overdue, but does his casting as the villain in Batgirl create a problem for the DCEU due to his beloved status off-screen? Brendan Fraser is portraying the pyromaniac Firefly in the HBO Max DCEU original movie and has started filming his scenes. A set video from the Batgirl production shows Fraser being surprised with a birthday cake by the crew, and his humble and affable reaction highlights the potential issue with his casting as the bad guy.
After a string of comedic roles in the '90s, Brendan Fraser earned his status as a leading man in 1999's The Mummy and its sequel The Mummy Returns. He also proved his worth in more prestigious films such as The Quiet American and the Oscar-winning Crash and was a regular on cinema screens throughout the early 2000s. However, following numerous problems in his personal life Fraser took a break from acting for a number of years. His celebrated re-emergence on television in shows such as HBO Max's Doom Patrol has re-ignited Brendan Fraser’s career, staging a Hollywood comeback. He's got upcoming roles in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, Darren Aronofsky's The Whale, and a return to franchise territory with the DCEU's Batgirl.
Brendan Fraser's career resurgence is thoroughly deserved as he is a talented actor. The level of love and goodwill that fans have bestowed upon him is also heartwarming, and he himself has been genuinely moved by it. But by being so widely beloved now may prove to be jarring with him playing such a potentially vile villain in Batgirl. Firefly is a dark and violent criminal in the comics who's obsessed with fire and wants to burn Gotham to the ground. It's a role far removed from Fraser's cinematic heroic and comedic characters (such as in The Mummy franchise), as well his genuine "nice guy" status off-screen. While playing against type can work for actors, at this stage in time audiences may well want to see Brendan Fraser in roles that are reflective of his loveable off-screen brand. The potential problem for the DCEU is that audience goodwill for Fraser will be carried into the Batgirl movie, conflicting with what on paper is a disturbing and menacing character.
There is no rule of course that says nice actors can't play bad guys, and Brendan Fraser has played a villain/antagonist in the past. His turn as a prison guard in Showtime's The Affair was particularly unsettling. The DCEU has had villain problems in the past through miscasting, poor/strange character choices, and motivations. Working in Brendan Fraser's favor though is that Firefly isn't as well known as some of DC's more famous rogues such as The Joker and Lex Luthor, allowing for a greater creative license in playing the character. Brendan Fraser has the acting range to pull off an intimidating DCEU villain, though equally, the role could be tailored to play to his strengths, with his effortless charm and amiable persona incorporated into Firefly.
Whatever direction is chosen for the character, Brendan Fraser's portrayal is likely to be a key talking point when Batgirl is released. Notwithstanding this, Batgirl will be a test for Brendan Fraser as to whether audiences are ready to detach the beloved actor from the role he's playing. Hopefully, they will, and the DCEU will have an iconic villain to add to its ranks.
