A derivative of The Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) centered on Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, additionally introducing the titular crew to the DCEU, together with Black Canary, Huntress, Renee Montoya, and Cassandra Cain. Set in Gotham Metropolis, the film explored a brand new aspect to town’s occupants aside from Batman whereas that includes the Batman villain Black Masks, performed by Ewan McGregor. It nearly featured the DCEU introduction of the Penguin, however Matt Reeves’ The Batman prevented that.
In line with Margot Robbie, the unique plan for Birds of Prey was to function the Penguin as the principle villain. In an interview with Leisure Weekly to advertise her newest movie, A Huge Daring Lovely Journey, alongside present Penguin actor Colin Farrell, Robbie shocked her co-star, saying that his character was within the first model of Birds of Prey earlier than Matt Reeves requested they not use him. Robbie described the Penguin within the script as “superb,” and Farrell requested if she nonetheless had the unique script and if he may learn it. Relating to the change, Robbie mentioned:
“The primary draft that Christina [Hodson] wrote of Birds of Prey, the villain was the Penguin. After which [director/writer] Matt Reeves mentioned, ‘Do not use the Penguin. I will use him in my factor,’ And so we swapped it to Black Masks.”
What The DCEU’s Penguin Would possibly Have Been
The reveal that the DCEU nearly featured the Penguin is an enormous deal. Throughout the DCEU, lots of Batman’s iconic foes had been revealed to populate the world. The Joker (Jared Leto), Harley Quinn (Robbie), and Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) had been launched in Suicide Squad, whereas Justice League ended with a tease of Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello), who was supposed to be the principle villain in The Batman when it was a DCEU film. Each Riddler and Mad Hatter had been named-dropped in Peacemaker Season 1. Black Masks’s introduction in Birds of Prey was a significant addition to Gotham Metropolis’s legal underworld, nevertheless it may need been very totally different with the Penguin.
By way of improvement timeline, the 2 films did overlap. Christina Hodson was employed to jot down the Birds of Prey script in November 2016, whereas Matt Reeves was employed to jot down and direct The Batman in February 2017. Though Birds of Prey started improvement first and began filming earlier than Robert Pattinson was forged as Batman, it appears that evidently the Penguin’s standing as one in every of Batman’s core villains made it extra becoming to incorporate him of their Batman-led venture. Earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic delayed The Batman again to 2022, each Birds of Prey and The Batman had been due out a 12 months aside from each other, so it made sense on the time to not have conflicting depictions of the Penguin.
Although the Penguin is one in every of Batman’s basic foes, within the early a part of the twenty first century, the character had pale into the background a bit following his exclusion from Christopher Nolan’s Darkish Knight trilogy. Colin Farrell’s portrayal of the character in each The Batman and the critically acclaimed The Penguin has now given the villain a brand new fanbase, one which eagerly awaits his return in The Batman – Half II. Hopefully Robbie’s Harley Quinn stays within the new DCU and sooner or later has an opportunity to cross paths together with her personal model of the character.
Birds of Prey
- Launch Date
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February 7, 2020
- Runtime
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109 minutes
- Director
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Cathy Yan