Originally Posted by
Ascended
It doesnt matter if people outside of the fandom know who she is. I mean, who the hell knew who Rocket Raccoon and Groot were before the movies? Even within Marvel fandom those weren't well known characters.
Now, you're right that any Batgirl we get is almost certain to be Babs, because she's the classic flavor and she's an easy sell as Gordon's daughter who puts on a cape. However, Cass has some hooks you could set. The Autistic daughter of an assassin who can dance and kill like a pro but can barely communicate? If you get the right people behind the camera that's a fascinating character to explore. I mean, look at how much people loved Laura in Logan. You could totally construct a movie around Cass. Hell, you could do it without involving Batman at all (though why you'd want to is beyond me).
A low budget action-drama exploring Cass' character as she kicks the crap out of people and learns where she comes from, culminating in a battle against her father (or better yet use her mother Shiva)? That's not even an original plot, we've seen that how many times in various genres? And this has the added benefits of the Bat logo and an Autistic hero, which is something we've never seen despite dozens and dozens of superhero movies being made over the last twenty years.
Fun fact, when the first Guardians of the Galaxy came out, a lot of people who were Autistic really connected to Drax because he didn't understand metaphors (and probably some other things, but that's what I remember). And for a lot of kids that had a really big impact. I think if you did it right, Cass would see a groundswell of support.
I think we're starting to see studios (other than Disney-Marvel) slowly start to realize that they can't compete with the MCU on its own ground, and are starting to (slowly) explore other avenues that allow them to capitalize on superhero popularity while providing movies that aren't direct competition with Marvel. Joker, Deadpool, Logan, Venom, etc. Even Man of Steel's art-piece vibe can be seen as WB attempting to provide a completely different experience than the standard Marvel film. So I think, sure, it could work. Even a small movie budget is going to allow for some fantastic effects and cinematography, and with the Bat roster you don't have to deal with crazy cgi powers, aliens, monsters, etc. So yeah, I think you could totally do it and make it work.
Unfortunately, without all the flash and bang, you're going to have to rely on the quality of the acting, writing, and directing. It's easy to ignore flaws in a movie when there's a lot of explosions and cool effects that'll entertain regardless of how bad the story is. Without all that? You need a really tight script and people who know what they're doing behind and in front of the camera.