Ewan McGregor’s Black Mask Could Face Off Against Batman in Future Movie

Many DC Comics fans were buzzing after news that Ewan McGregor has joined the Birds of Prey movie as Batman villain Black Mask.

The Gotham City gangster will go head to head against Harley Quinn, Black Canary, and the Huntress for McGregor’s superhero debut, instead of taking on the Caped Crusader himself. But that won’t stop the two from squaring off in the future.

According to TheWrap’s Umberto Gonzalez, who was one of the first to break the news on McGregor’s casting, the actor has likely signed a multi-picture deal, which would make it possible for Black Mask to appear in a future Batman movie.

So that should give some fans hope that McGregor could make a cameo in Matt Reeves’ planned movie The Batman, possibly in a quick appearance before getting tossed into Arkham Asylum.

Birds of Prey is being planned as the first R-Rated DC Comics movie to be released in theaters. Director Cathy Yan confirmed the rating earlier this week, and Harley Quinn actress Margot Robbie told Collider as much when she first suggested the movie.

“I pitched the idea of an R-rated girl gang film including Harley, because I was like, ‘Harley needs friends.’” said Robbie, who is also serving as a producer. “Harley loves interacting with people, so don’t ever make her do a standalone film. She’s got to be with other people, it should be a girl gang. I wasn’t seeing enough girl gangs on screen, especially in the action space. So that was always a big part of it.”

Yan herself has praised the film’s script, calling it perfect for her sensibilities.

“I could not put the script down, it had so much dark humor to it which a lot of my work does, and there are themes of female empowerment which are so strong and relateable.” Yan continued. “So I went in with, not with confidence, but at least a sense that I belonged in the room, that somehow magically in terms of timing and luck that this opportunity was open to me and I was definitely going to make the best of it.”

There’s a good chance that the movie could get a new title, however, according to cinematographer Matthew Libatique.

“I’m in preparation on a film currently called Birds of Prey. It’s probably going to have a different title,” Libatique said to GMA News Online.

We’ll see what happens with the upcoming Birds of Prey movie, if that’s really what it’ll be called, when it premieres in 2020.