Batgirl Fan Art Imagines Leslie Grace in Classic Costume
Warner Bros. and DC Comics are getting ready to reboot the DC Extended Universe when The Flash hits theaters in 2023, so they have already begun filming projects that are set in that new universe like the recently wrapped Batgirl and the currently in production Blue Beetle. When Batgirl was announced fans didn't know what to expect until the studio revealed who would play the titular character. Leslie Grace was announced to join the film as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl with Michael Keaton and J.K. Simmons returning as Batman and Commissioner Gordon respectively. We finally received the first look at the actress in costume when the film began filming, but it wasn't really what fans expected. The suit is reminiscent of the costume the character wore during the New 52 era of DC Comics and features a leather jacket, a black-and-yellow cape, and a pretty decent cowl. Fans weren't really loving the biker look, so one digital artist gave Grace a more classic Batgirl look.
An Instagram artist that goes by the handle of @Smartsheep.Art created a Batgirl design that gives Leslie Grace the classic costume from Gail Simone's New 52 run of the character. The costume is more streamlined and looks like something that someone at Wayne Enterprises' R&D Department created. It features yellow gloves and boots as well as some pretty awesome gadgets. You can check out the fan art below!
Batgirl will do a lot of new things for Warner Bros. and DC Comics. It'll be their first live action film that was made to premiere on their HBO Max streaming service. The film will also mark another first. Grace will be the first Afro-Latina actress to play Batgirl in a major motion picture, and in a recent chat with E! News, she detailed what that means to her.
"It's such a thing, we haven't seen a lot of Latino superheroes, or actors of Latin descent within the superhero world, so it was such a beautiful opportunity to be granted and a big responsibility as well" Grace said. "I will say one of my favorite things about our script and the heart of our movie is that you get to see Babs and this alter-ego, that she summons up, Batgirl, vacillate between the nuances of life and good and bad and black and white, and that there's so much in between. At the end of the day, in Gotham, so there's always a case, right? It's kind of like an investigative story, it's a detective story, so she does have a case that drives her into these crazy situations."
Batgirl is directed by Bad Boys for Life's Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi, with a script written by Christina Hodson, whose work includes Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and the upcoming The Flash movie. The film is expected to see JK Simmons reprising his role as Commissioner James Gordon, Michael Keaton reprising his role as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Brendan Fraser joining the cast as Firefly, Ivory Aquino as Alysia Yeoh, and Jacob Scipio, Rebecca Front, Corey Johnson, and Ethan Kai cast in currently-unknown roles. The film is currently expected to be released on HBO Max, but does not have a release date. With The Flash, which is expected to fold Keaton's Batman into the main DC universe, now delayed until the summer of 2023, it will remain to be seen if that impacts Batgirl's release date.
What do you think about the fan art? Let us know in the comments section below or by hitting our writer @NateBrail up on Twitter!