Batgirl Movie Rumored to Set Up Black Canary Solo Film

A lot of DC fans are excited that Batgirl is finally getting the spotlight in her own HBO Max movie; however, the latest rumors suggest that this Batgirl movie could also be setting up a new DC heroine for her own live-action franchise: Black Canary. This summer we learned that Jurnee Smollett’s Birds of Prey version of Black Canary was getting an HBO Max movie with Smollett’s Lovecraft Country showrunner Misha Green writing the script. Well, now it’s sounding like these DC HBO Max films (which also includes Blue Beetle) are going to be more linked than we may have previously thought! 

Right now, this tweet is all we have to go on regarding any connection between the Batgirl and Black Canary HBO Max movies – but it’s not a hard rumor to swallow. In fact, it seems more like a logical no-brainer that WarnerMedia would steal a page from Marvel Studios’ book and make sure fans get some direct connective threads between the various DC movie exclusives. 

In this particular case, it’s not only logical but pretty much necessary for Batgirl and Black Canary to have some crossover. Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) remains a big cult-favorite film amongst DC fans – a lot of whom want that part of the franchise universe to continue. Smollett’s Dinah Lance/Black Canary movie was a big victory for those fans – but even they have been somewhat critical of the fact that Birds of Prey didn’t truly fulfill the legacy of the DC Comics team. 

The comic version of the BoP had Batgirl teaming up with Huntress and Black Canary as heroic defenders of Gotham City; Harley Quinn, meanwhile, teamed up with Catwoman and Poison Ivy in the more criminal (or anti-hero) squad known as the Gotham City Sirens. The DC Movie Universe conflating those ideas for the Birds of Prey movie didn’t sit well with comic purists, who have been calling for Batgirl’s introduction, and eventually a full-fledged Birds of Prey team. 

We got our first look at Batgirl during DC FanDome this year. Since being cast as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, In the Heights star Leslie Grace has teased fans about what her version of the character will offer: 

“She’s someone who’s been underestimated by even her own dad and being the youngest kid, sometimes you’re insulated from all of the tough stuff of life and she’s so eager to prove to herself and to everybody else that there’s some things that she can handle,” Grace said in an interview. “So, this journey is definitely going to show me a lot of that. I feel like I’m on an endless journey of proving to myself what barriers I can break, what limits I can break for myself and I’m excited to put a little bit of that eagerness and drive and, like, almost a bit of stubbornness into Barbara’s character.”

Batgirl and Black Canary movies are both in development for HBO Max.