Birds of Prey Breaks a Weird Tradition for Modern Female Superhero Movies

DC’s Birds of Prey movie stumbled in its opening weekend, but that doesn’t mean fans that have seen the movie aren’t loving the results. Birds of Prey has a certified fresh score from critics, and a high score (81%) from audiences, which is testament to just how well the female superhero-meets-antihero is connecting with those who see it. However, it needs to be noted that one of Birds of Prey‘s achievements is breaking the mold of modern female superhero movies in a considerable way, by keeping its story set during the present day!

For context, the quick rundown of female superhero movies in the modern era include Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984, Captain Marvel, Black Widow and Birds of Prey. And indeed, out of that list, only Birds of Prey sets its events in the present.

Wonder Woman used the era of WWI to reflect how women were treated as second-class citizen’s in that era, a year before the 19th Amendment to US constitution, giving women the right to vote. The upcoming sequel, Wonder Woman 1984 seems to be tapping into Orwellian nightmares about capitalism, media, and misinformation; it also happens to be the year the first female Vice President nominee on a major party ticket, as well as the Supreme Court ban on sex discrimination in major all-male groups and clubs. In short: The Wonder Woman movies hinge their respective thematic cores on key moments of history for women.

Captain Marvel and Black Widow aren’t that tied to major historical events in women’s suffrage – their respective storylines are set in the past due to the tight narrative constrictions of the Marvel Cinematic Universe saga. Captain Marvel went to the ’90s to explain how Carol Danvers was a superhero that could return to help win the Infinity War; Black Widow is going back to the mid-2010s because… Natasha is now dead in modern day.

Birds of Prey being set in modern day may just seem like a minor thing, and the only logical progression from Suicide Squad, but the film doesn’t just treat its setting as arbitrary: by telling a female superhero story of today, Birds of Prey nails so many key topics and themes of the “Time’s Up / Me Too” era (from toxic masculinity, to rape culture, to gender discrimination in the workplace) – and blessedly never makes any one of those social topics feel heavy-handed or shoehorned into the story.

While Birds of Prey may be the only female of superhero movie of 2020 set in present day, the future of the genre seems to buck the trend. Captain Marvel II is confirmed to be a modern day story, while Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson is working on a Batgirl movie that will presumably be set in modern day, as well. It will be interesting to see if and how those films incorporate modern feminine concerns into their respective stories.

Upcoming DC movies include Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) now in theaters, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5th, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, Black Adam on December 22, 2021, Shazam! 2 on April 1, 2022, The Flash on July 1, 2022, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.