Brendan Fraser celebrated his 53rd birthday on Friday, which also happened to be his first day on the set of Batgirl and co-director Adil El Arbi shared an onset video with his followers on Instagram in which he is seen wishing the actor a happy birthday and also giving us our first look at Fraser’s villain…although not exactly in all his glory. Fraser plays Firefly in the movie, a master thief who uses wildly distracting lighting effects or excessive flamethrowers to escape his crime scenes, depending on when in his comic book origins you dip. However, in the video shared in honor of his birthday, he looks more like an out of work clockmaker than a supervillain.

Batgirl stars Leslie Grace as the titular heroine, playing Barbara Gordon alongside everyone’s favorite J.K. Simmons as her father Commissioner Jim Gordon, reprising his role from Justice League. While Grace has been filming for a little while now, and Fraser is clearly also getting into the action, Simmons was reported recently to not be filming his scenes until he joining the shoot in Scotland in January.

But getting back to Brendan Fraser, you can see the video shared by Arbi below, and while Fraser is not suited up as Firefly in the post, the costume is likely what he will be wearing when not in the middle of a big action sequence. We are putting out money on that long-sleeved shirt and apron being flame-retardant.

While DC movies are coming thick and fast now, with The Batman, The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods all coming in the next couple of years along with others, Fraser hasn’t been seen on screen that much recently, especially in big mainstream blockbusters like his previous role in The Mummy franchise. However, he has already dipped into the DC pool, providing the voice of Robotman in HBO Max series Doom Patrol, which is now heading into its fourth season after wrapping its third earlier this year.

Whether his role in Batgirl will lead to us seeing more of the actor on screen is something we can only wait and see, but his name has been connected to a number of upcoming projects in the last few months, suggesting that he may be heading into something of a career renaissance. While the star best known for his comedy roles is taking on something new in Batgirl, playing one of DC’s iconic roster of villains, showing off his range of talents is one sure way of getting himself some more juicy roles in the coming years. As many actors have noted recently, heading into the later years of a career seems to bring fewer and fewer opportunities at the moment, so Fraser is probably hoping to make a mark while he can.

There is currently no release date scheduled for Batgirl to make her premiere appearance on HBO Max, but with filming clearly set to continue into early next year, it is unlikely we will see the finished project until the end of 2022 at the very earliest.