Batgirl Behind The Scenes Images Reveal Links to More Batman Characters

MovieWeb

By Anthony Lund

Published Jan 14, 2022

Batgirl will hit HBO Max later this year, and thanks to some behind-the-scenes photos, there could be more familiar characters than first thought.

When it was announced that Warner Bros. would be pulling out all the stops for their live-action HBO Max DC output, there was no way of knowing just how much of an evolution the DCEU would go through when it comes to linking back to the history of DC on screen. In the case of the Batgirl movie, it looks like the production will not only feature Michael Keaton as Batman and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, but new behind the scenes images have hinted at two more links to Batman lore, with both reporter Vicki Vale and the Court of Owls being name-checked on some prop magazines used in the film.

While the magazines don’t confirm that either of these will appear in the movie, it does show that Warner Bros. is working hard to create an interconnected world around the characters they are moving forward with, which can only mean a richer storytelling environment in the future. If Vicki Vale did appear in the movie, it would be her first appearance on screen since being played by Kim Basinger in 1989’s Batman.

Batgirl is turning out to be one of the highlights of the DC projects heading to HBO Max in the near future, as along with Simmons and Keaton, Leslie Grace’s Barbara Gordon is also being joined by Brendan Fraser as the villain Firefly, with Jacob Scipio, Rebecca Front, Corey Johnson and Ethan Kai, who have all been cast in undisclosed roles. The question many fans have is which canon characters may turn up in the movie that have not yet been revealed.

Batgirl Will Be A Cinematic Movie Made For The HBO Max Streaming Platform

The DCEU is expanding rapidly this year, with Black Adam, The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom all arriving this year, followed by Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Blue Beetle in 2023, and that is not to mention the fifteen other projects being discussed for the future. While Batgirl is heading straight to streaming on HBO Max, that does not in any way mean that the production values of the movie will be any less than those on the big screen blockbusters coming in the next few years.

The rapid increase of streaming subscriber numbers has put pressure on the likes of HBO Max, Netflix, Disney, Apple TV, Amazon and others to create content that will not only draw audiences in, but keep them on side afterwards. Where only a few years ago there was a gulf of difference between the worlds of cinema and streaming, the Covid pandemic has sped up the inevitable and virtually erased the boundary line both in terms of budget and acting talent. Stars who would have previously only been seen on the big screen are now happy to appear in a Netflix exclusive, and Oscar-winning directors such as Steven Spielberg, who have in the past had some doubts about the world of streaming versus a cinematic experience, have had a change of heart and signed deals to make exclusive streaming content.

As Warner Bros. continues to expand the world of DC in a way that they failed to do in the first few years of the DCEU, as well as offering stand-alone projects with movies like The Batman and its subsequent spin-offs and sequels, there has never been a better time to be a fan of both DC and Marvel. The rise of streaming budgets and productions has allowed both comic book giants to create the kind of content that would not have been possible via cinema and network television alone.