Batgirl Movie Casts Bad Boys For Life’s Jacob Scipio

Jacob Scipio has joined the cast of HBO Max’s Batgirl, the feature film set to star Leslie Grace in the title role. There are no details yet on what role he will play in the film, which is set to be directed by Bad Boys For Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. Scipio appeared in that film before moving on to appear in Pieces of Her for Netflix and the upcoming fourth installment of The Expendables, which will see Sylvester Stallone step away from the franchise, making only a brief appearance before turning the keys over to Jason Statham.

According to Deadline, who broke the news, J.K. Simmons is also set to return as Commissioner Gordon. We knew he was in talks, but this sounds fairly definitive. Simmons was cast in Snyder’s Justice League, and had signed on for three movies, which at the time was expected to include both The Batman and the Justice League sequel, neither of which came to pass in the way the studio expected at the time. So far, his only follow-up to Justice League was in its expanded director’s cut, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, on HBO Max.

Simmons previously told ComicBook.com “Listen, I’m willing to look at anything in the future. I’m just glad that Zack finally was able to have his vision realized, and that it’s out there and people can see the movie that he had hoped to make originally.”

Grace will play Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham City police commissioner James Gordon, in the film, which is set for a release sometime next year on HBO Max. So far, there have been no details about the movie’s plot or its potential connections to other DC films. Since the upcoming film adaptation of The Flash is rumored to bring in Michael Keaton’s Batman to the main DC Films universe, replacing the departing Ben Affleck, it will be interesting to see what another 2022 movie will have to say about the world of Gotham City, assuming Batgirl does indeed take place on the same Earth as movies like Aquaman and Wonder Woman. 

This weekend at DC FanDome, fans got their first look at some concept art for the film, revealing that Barbara will have red hair, and that the iconic clock tower that Barbara used to operate the Birds of Prey out of will apparently appear in the film.

Batgirl is expected to hit HBO Max in 2022.