Birds Of Prey: 10 Major New Details Revealed During The Press Tour
Why isn't the Joker in the movie? And when will Poison Ivy make her DCEU debut?
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is just days away from arriving in cinemas and excitement for the next DC Comics movie is definitely starting to rise. With an R-Rating and a tone which looks more in line with Shazam! than the likes of Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, the movie appears to be another step in the right direction for the DC Extended Universe.
As is the norm for big budget blockbusters like Birds of Prey, the cast and crew have spent the past few weeks touring the world and taking part in interviews to promote Harley Quinn's latest big screen adventure. With that comes some big reveals both about this film and future stories set in this (mostly) shared world.
We've now rounded up the most noteworthy, including behind the scenes, secrets and updates on characters who could appear in a possible sequel. There's even intel on how Birds of Prey links to both 2016's Suicide Squad and James Gunn's upcoming reboot/follow-up, not to mention an explanation for Jared Leto's Joker being absent from proceedings.
In many ways, it seems Birds of Prey has flown under the radar in a year full of major Marvel and DC releases, but this all proves that it's one that you shouldn't let pass you by...
10. Birds Of Prey Isn't A "Prequel" To The Suicide Squad
Margot Robbie will return as Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad so you have to believe that there's a mid-credits scene or something which sets the stage for that movie, right? Unfortunately, Warner Bros.' decision to move away from a shared universe points to there being no sort of direct references to what comes next for the character when she rejoins Task Force X in 2021.
"This was designed to be its own thing, standalone, singular, as is James's Suicide Squad," producer Sue Kroll told ComicBook.com. "But because the world is the world, there are these very interesting organic connections, I think, that end up evolving, but there wasn't any kind of consultation among the filmmakers on the movies. And they, of course, started much later, as we were getting close to wrap, and so things were done pretty much independently."
That's definitely doesn't sound like a great way to build one, cohesive story and even reshoots didn't add any connective tissue. Asked about those, director Cathy Yan explained that it was mostly action scenes which were added as, "That was always there but we kind of boosted it a little bit."
We could be surprised but it's looking doubtful and this feels like a major, missed opportunity. Yes, Warner Bros. struggled to make the DCEU a thing but it's going to be hard getting invested in these characters if nothing we've seen them do before really matters for whatever comes next.