Just last summer, Warner Bros. grabbed In the Heights star Leslie Grace to play Barbara Gordon for the Batgirl movie they’ve been trying to make for about five years. So far, the big news has been all about the cast, such as internet fave Brendan Fraser potentially as arsonist baddie Firefly and the second (well, third) coming of Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne. On Friday night, Grace released the first official image for the film: her in the pretty cool-looking Batsuit, standing on a rooftop in Gotham, as Bats often do.
“I use their expectations against them,” Grace wrote for the caption. ““That will be their weakness. Not mine. Let them all underestimate me…And when their guard is down, and their pride is rising, let me kick their butts.” The quote comes from 2003's Batgirl: Year One miniseries from writers Scott Berry and Chuck Dixon and artist Marcos Martin, which served as an origin of how she became the first modern Batgirl. The comic’s supporting cast included her father Jim, Firefly, Batman, and Killer Moth, at least three of whom are confirmed or believed to be in this film.
The costume, though, is fairly recent, hailing from 2014's fan favorite Batgirl of Burnside series by Brendan Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, and Babs Tarr. In it, Babs created the costume after moving to the hipster, trendy district of the same name. (It’s also her default costume in the upcoming Gotham Knights game.) It remains to be seen what else from those comics gets brought over for the film, such as Barbara’s roommates or the focus on social media. Hopefully we get some more of Jurnee Smollett-Bell’s Black Canary, since Dinah was a fun addition to that book? Either way, here’s hoping the film is good and does one of Batman’s best partners justice.
Correction: 10:43 a.m. ET: This article previously called Black Canary’s actor Jussie Smollett-Bell. The character was played by Jurnee Smollett-Bell, not her brother.
Batgirl is expected to release as an HBO Max original film in sometime in 2022.
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