Should Batgirl be a movie?

[sorboares]

It wouldn't hurt to have some fun with it. She's one of the few heroes not defined by tragedy, after all.

Yes having a little joke here and there I don't mind. I just mean I don't want it to be immature and silly. It would be great if it was just like Wonder Woman movie, serious but light hearted as well.

[WonderScott]

I really don't think Batgirl should be a movie, before the whole Bat mythos gets a proper reboot in the DCEU.

We need a new auteur's take on the epicness of Gotham and it's heroes, villains, supporting characters, and concepts. A Jackson and team type set of visionaries that can deliver a saga, that some of the other characters can then branch of off into their own films.

[kjn]

I really don't think Batgirl should be a movie, before the whole Bat mythos gets a proper reboot in the DCEU.

I agree that the Bat environment needs a reboot, after the clusterfuck that is the DCEU. But I'm not sure such a reboot necessarily needs to start with Batman himself. Wonder Woman showed that DC heroes can be successful without and outside Batman and Superman, and if they decide to focus on more single-character films, then Batgirl is one of their stronger cards. So reboot Gotham and introduce the new Batman slowly, by first doing a Batgirl movie.

I'm not saying it's the only way to do it, but I think it's a viable way to do it. And the advantage is that they can build directly upon the positive buzz from Wonder Woman.

[MajorHoy]

I really don't think Batgirl should be a movie, before the whole Bat mythos gets a proper reboot in the DCEU.

We need a new auteur's take on the epicness of Gotham and it's heroes, villains, supporting characters, and concepts. A Jackson and team type set of visionaries that can deliver a saga, that some of the other characters can then branch of off into their own films.

So, in other words, Batgirl should be "fridged" (though not in that sense) / stuck on the sidelines until cinema-Batman can get his Bat-$#!t together?

Yeah, that's a good example of female empowerment.

[Shadowedeyes]

To answer the original question, only if it's a good movie. As for which Batgirl, eh, I'm a big fan of Cass, but honestly any of the three(Babs, Cass, and Steph) could headline the movie and still be enjoyable. I suspect they'd choose to go with Babs though. The ambitious part of me says that seeing all three would be great, but it would probably end up too cluttered of a film story wise.

[WhiteQueenEmmaFrost]

I can't think of any "young" actress at the moment who has the gravitas to play Batgirl

[Carabas]

Gravitas is not a word that immediately comes to mind when thinking of any Batgirl except Cass.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I think a Steph-centered Batgirl film would take a few cues from Batman Beyond. Basically Steph suits up as Batgirl without Barbara's knowledge to stop a bad-guy plot. Barbara finds out and tries to stop her because of her own reasons. Eventually Steph saves the day and wins Barbara's blessing to be the next batgirl, formalizing their partnership.

Her role as Spoiler could make an appearance in a flashback. She was originally her father's unwilling accomplice when he was Cluemaster and eventually got cold feet. She helped Batman stop him and he was sent to prison while she was sent to juvenille prison (?).

That's how I saw Steph's intro as Batgirl going.

[RedQueen]

I can't think of any "young" actress at the moment who has the gravitas to play Batgirl

I'm praying for a more seasoned Babs. I just want her to be 25+ because I want her to have the implied history with the Batfam but I don't want to see another origin. I believe you can tell someone's origin without making a whole movie about it.

[WonderScott]

I agree that the Bat environment needs a reboot, after the clusterfuck that is the DCEU. But I'm not sure such a reboot necessarily needs to start with Batman himself. Wonder Woman showed that DC heroes can be successful without and outside Batman and Superman, and if they decide to focus on more single-character films, then Batgirl is one of their stronger cards. So reboot Gotham and introduce the new Batman slowly, by first doing a Batgirl movie.

I'm not saying it's the only way to do it, but I think it's a viable way to do it. And the advantage is that they can build directly upon the positive buzz from Wonder Woman.

I'm thinking more along the lines of introducing and premiering multiple characters at once in the Gotham setting in the first film, similar to LotR that I referenced that gave us Bilbo, Sam, Aragorn, Gandalf, etc. all as protagonists with storylines, chararization, and subplots that followed them over the course of several films. I can imagine characters like Batgirl playing a central role in the films and also branch out into her own adventures too.

Out of all the DC IPs, I think Gotham and the Bat characters have epicness of character and setting to do something along these lines and serve it up to audiences.

[WonderScott]

So, in other words, Batgirl should be "fridged" (though not in that sense) / stuck on the sidelines until cinema-Batman can get his Bat-$#!t together?

Yeah, that's a good example of female empowerment.

No, not in other words. It's that the entire Bat mythos needs some work or a reboot before introducing any of the characters. I'm a proponent for including Batgirl, Robin, Batman, etc. all together in a series of films right off the, ahem, bat. Go for broke and include them all right away with their own storylines and plots that work into the overall narrative, of let's say a trilogy, that also gives them the opportunity to springboard into their own films and adventures.

I'm thinking of a Peter Jackson approach to something like the LotR or what they've done with Harry Potter with multiple protagonists and antagonists to varying degrees within the series, including such amazing female characters like Batgirl, Batwoman, Huntress, Flamebird, etc. Gotham is as epic setting in speculative fiction - use it to the benefit of Batgirl and her relationships with these other characters.

DC/Warner Bros. needs to gamble on a different approach than what they've done before and excite audiences with some well-written, well-acted, spectularness.

[Carabas]

I'm thinking more along the lines of introducing and premiering multiple characters at once in the Gotham setting in the first film, similar to LotR that I referenced that gave us Bilbo, Sam, Aragorn, Gandalf, etc. all as protagonists with storylines, chararization, and subplots that followed them over the course of several films. I can imagine characters like Batgirl playing a central role in the films and also branch out into her own adventures too.

Out of all the DC IPs, I think Gotham and the Bat characters have epicness of character and setting to do something along these lines and serve it up to audiences.

That sounds not dissimilar to the Gotham tv show.

[WonderScott]

That sounds not dissimilar to the Gotham tv show.

Kinda of sorta of maybe. I'm toying with the merit of just dropping them into their vigilante roles right away instead of doing origin stories. Limited flashbacks could be used to show how they became the hero they are or hints could be given and then the spinoff films could dive into origins more deeply too...if that's important.

To some degree, I think audiences are over straight origin films and would have origins delivered in a new, more creative (and possibly limited) way. Just something I'm musing about considering the structure of the films and introducing a lot of characters at once.

[kjn]

I'm thinking more along the lines of introducing and premiering multiple characters at once in the Gotham setting in the first film, similar to LotR that I referenced that gave us Bilbo, Sam, Aragorn, Gandalf, etc. all as protagonists with storylines, chararization, and subplots that followed them over the course of several films. I can imagine characters like Batgirl playing a central role in the films and also branch out into her own adventures too.

Out of all the DC IPs, I think Gotham and the Bat characters have epicness of character and setting to do something along these lines and serve it up to audiences.

I think comparing the with LotR films is tricky here. They had the advantage of going over a very well-known storyline and setting, and they introduced the world and the characters very gradually, and culled a lot of the original story. And even so they suffered from feeling both overlong and that they had to leave out lots of story elements.

You can of course set up several characters in a movie, or introduce a wonderful setting, or run complex plots, but you can't do all of them in a single film without it becoming excessively long (and I'd say 2h15m is the practical max you want to reach, preferably no more than 2h). I think there is a reason why films like Logan and Wonder Woman were so well-received: they focused on one character, and one story, and let everything else support that. It shouldn't stop you from introducing other characters, but they should be there to support the main plot or the main character.

So I think trying to introduce several characters at once means setting up the film for failure. It can be done, the first X-Men movie is one such example, but note how much it revolved around Wolverine: in effect it introduced us to the X-Men via his character.

[WonderScott]

I think comparing the with LotR films is tricky here. They had the advantage of going over a very well-known storyline and setting, and they introduced the world and the characters very gradually, and culled a lot of the original story. And even so they suffered from feeling both overlong and that they had to leave out lots of story elements.

You can of course set up several characters in a movie, or introduce a wonderful setting, or run complex plots, but you can't do all of them in a single film without it becoming excessively long (and I'd say 2h15m is the practical max you want to reach, preferably no more than 2h). I think there is a reason why films like Logan and Wonder Woman were so well-received: they focused on one character, and one story, and let everything else support that. It shouldn't stop you from introducing other characters, but they should be there to support the main plot or the main character.

So I think trying to introduce several characters at once means setting up the film for failure. It can be done, the first X-Men movie is one such example, but note how much it revolved around Wolverine: in effect it introduced us to the X-Men via his character.

I agree that it's difficult, but not impossible. If any superhero has the backdrop and epic stories to try it with, it's Batman.

Part of me simply wants to drop us in a Gotham that's already formed and a few years into the Batman's activity, so we can have characters show up as the vigilantes the become instead of endless origin stories.