Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is officially in theaters, and it’s taking fans on a one-of-a-kind thrill ride throughout the DC Extended Universe. The female-fronted ensemble introduced audiences to some of DC’s best female heroines, and it’s safe to say that the final act of the film definitely shook things up in Gotham City. Now that Birds of Prey is officially in theaters, it’s time to break down the ending — and what it could mean for the immediate future. Major spoilers for Birds of Prey below! Only look if you want to know!
Videos by ComicBook.com
The film follows the team-up between Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Dinah Lance / Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Helena Bertinelli / Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Renee Motoya (Rosie Perez), and Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). After a wide-ranging series of events – culminating in Cassandra stealing and accidentally swallowing the Bertinelli diamond, which has information leading to an epic fortune – the five women are then targeted by Roman Sionis/Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), a narcissistic crime lord who feels entitled to the money. Sionis sends a series of mobsters to the abandoned amusement park where the group is hiding, and an epic fight ensues.
Ultimately, Sionis briefly captures Cassandra, and uses her to lure Harley out to Gotham’s Founders Pier. Harley tries – and fails – to use the final bullet in her gun to kill Sionis, but the group is ultimately able to get the upper hand on him, when Cassandra slips a series of grenades into his pockets. Roman then dramatically falls into the water, being blown to smithereens.
Over breakfast the next morning, Dinah, Helena, and Renee realize that Sionis’ death will bring more criminals out of the woodwork, and that they should maybe join forces to clean up Gotham City. The group then uses the diamond’s information to fund their operation, which they call “the Birds of Prey”.
Harley, who considers the Birds of Prey to be a bunch of dweebs, pawns off the diamond itself to get a small fortune for herself and Cassandra, who she has now made her apprentice.
The ending is certainly a charming way to leave everyone’s stories open-ended, especially for Harley’s onscreen future in next year’s The Suicide Squad and beyond. It also leaves the Birds of Prey – sans Harley, who has never really been officially associated with the team in the comics anyway – in a position for more characters to join their ensemble.
“Well I think we’ve talked a lot about Poison Ivy and Oracle,” Winstead recently told ComicBook.com of characters she’d want to see in a sequel.
“Oracle, yeah, we have to have Oracle,” Smollett-Bell added. “In the other interview we were fantasizing about Poison Ivy and Harley against the Birds of Prey. I don’t know, there’s so many. Lady Shiva and Black Canary have such great…”
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is in theaters now. Other upcoming DC movies include 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.
