Look, I'm not against a team-up between Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey in general. This is not what this is about. But from everything that comes out from the scuttlebutt, this is a team-up made to serve Harley Quinn's character first and only. If the Birds of Prey, including Babs, had been in their own decent movie first, that objection would evaporate. But that's not the context we are in.
Which again would be a form of erasure. It was Oracle who created the team, and she has been one of its faces since the very first cover. And you can't compare this with earlier ensemble movies:
- Justice League bombed, despite having had three of its characters established in prior movies
- Suicide Squad was at best called a "hot mess"; in fact DC has a rather poor record of ensemble movies
- Avengers, again, had four of its characters established in their own solo movies
- The best comparison is arguably Guardians of the Galaxy, but they had a genius marketing effort in their trailers, and a true ensemble cast
- Or to take an even earlier example, the first X-Men movie, where we were introduced to X-Men via Logan. But that was tied to Logan's journey of personal growth and self-awareness, and his relation to the X-Men is extremely well-established; Harley Quinn is not that character
Again, we are getting signals that DC doesn't see this as an ensemble movie, but as Harley Quinn with Birds of Prey as contrast. That's doing a disservice to the Birds of Prey brand. I'd also argue that it can make movie Harley Quinn into a very fragmented character. Now, Harley Quinn can serve different roles and personalities, but doing so within the same film franchise seems odd; I can see Harley her a strong relation to both Gotham City Sirens and the Joker at the same time, and I can see her with a strong relation to both Birds of Prey and Gotham City Sirens. But I can't see a Harley Quinn that is both associated with the Birds of Prey and the Joker at the same time. But with lots of Joker movies coming up, that will also mean a lot of Harley Quinn.
I think a Supergirl movie makes tons of sense, especially if they want to give a soft introduction to a new Superman story, replacing the Snyderverse. I say give Kara a real chance.
Agreed. A drug crime lord fits so much as an antagonist to both Catwoman and Poison Ivy. For Birds of Prey, he's just another replacable bad guy.