If you’re looking forward to the Birds of Prey movie as much as I am, then this week has given you much cause to geek out.
To briefly recap, the Cathy Yan-directed flick has finally been dealt a release date, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jurnee Smollett-Bell were both confirmed as Huntress and Black Canary, respectively, and, on top of that, Ewan McGregor could wind up playing the villainous Black Mask. If you were to ask me, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is being given a great cast to work with.
Naturally, any story set in Gotham City will leave audiences wondering just why the heck the Dark Knight isn’t intervening, so that’s something Yan and company may have to explain. When it comes to comic books, we just take it for granted that he’s wrapped up in another case, but moviegoers will still want to know why they aren’t at least being treated to a cameo – and they may very well not get one in this instance.
Chiming in recently was DC film tipster Daniel R, who had this to offer over on Twitter:
“From what I understand there is a line in the script that someone mention how no one has seen Batman in Gotham for two years and that’s about it. He’s probably with The League or maybe they’ll answer it in his solo movie somehow.”
Though the latter portion of Daniel’s Tweet comes off as being speculative, that may be the best option with which to go. I mean, saying the Caped Crusader is out of town works well enough for me. There’s no need to go with the “Batman is missing or in exile” options because Matt Reeves is still in the process of cooking up his own movie.
Personally, I’d rather that the Dark Knight sit this one out entirely and allow for the other characters to shine. I’m aware that Warner Bros. often see him as an easy way of selling tickets, but Harley, Huntress and Black Canary need to be given the chance to stand on their own two legs if a potential franchise is to be spawned from Birds of Prey.