A behind-the-scenes look at Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) just debuted at CinemaCon — and in the process, it might have added an interesting bit of context surrounding the film’s ensemble.
The footage for Birds of Prey, which you can check out ComicBook.com’s detailed description for here, focused on the upcoming team-up between the titular girl group and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). As Robbie confirmed within the footage, Harley is not actually an official member of the team.
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The first footage of Birds of Prey (and the emancipation of one Harley Quinn) shows how Margot Robbie’s Quinn is not an official member of Birds of Prey but Harley Quinn stirs the pot for the Birds; we’re not pulling any punches, they declare. February 2020 #CinemaCon
— Fandango (@Fandango) April 2, 2019
For DC fans, this probably isn’t much of a surprise, as Harley has only sporadically teamed up with the Birds of Prey in the comics. In most versions of continuity, the group is formed by Barbara Gordon, Dinah Lance/Black Canary, and Helena Bertinelli/Huntress, with various other characters factoring into the group here and there.
When it was revealed that Barbara isn’t expected to appear in the film, some began to wonder if Harley would be filling her role in creating the Birds, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. And with Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hodson also penning a Batgirl solo movie – and rumors of a “Birds vs Sirens” trilogy already popping up – it will be interesting to see what that means for the DCEU’s version of the group.
Birds of Prey will follow Harley crossing paths with Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) joining forces, as they try to rescue Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) from the villainous Black Mask (Ewan McGregor).
“It’s always fun introducing audiences to a new character,” Hodson previously told ComicBook.com. “It’s great doing a deep dive into into all the different characters, doing my research on the characters collectively bit also individually and getting to know them a bit more, and then feeling free to go off leash a little bit and do something new and different and bring them to screen in a way that felt right alongside Harley.”
Shazam! lands in theaters on April 5th. Other DC movies include Joker on October 10th, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.
