DC Is Still Promoting The Batgirl Movie Even Though It’s Been Canceled
Since the end of last summer saw the scrapping of Batgirl, David Zaslav and the other execs at Warner Bros. Discovery has faced their fair share of pushback from audiences, most recently stemming from the CEO’s comments surrounding the striking SAG-AFTRA and WGA members. While this summer saw the arrival of The Flash with the studio soon releasing Blue Beetle, a picture shared by Twitter user @Croc_Block shows that DC’s marketing team is still getting the word out about Batgirl despite the film being erased from the studio’s lineup almost a full year ago.
Along with the logo simply appearing at the bottom of the promo stand, the writing above it also says “Check out all of the DC films coming soon.”
The image in question sees the DC fan standing next to a display setup that’s prepping audiences for the Xolo Maridueña-led film that arrives later this month. However, if the viewer zooms in on the bottom of the stand, they’ll see that clear as day there’s a logo for Batgirl.
Although the studio decided to axe the Batgirl film even though it was ready for takeoff, clearly they didn’t do their due diligence in removing remnants of it from promo material or – perhaps – just wanted to cut costs, something that has been a major concern for the studio since it merged with Discovery.
This would have been the first time in recent years that Batgirl aka Barbara Gordon, would have received a standalone film.
Along with the logo simply appearing at the bottom of the promo stand, the writing above it also says “Check out all of the DC films coming soon.” But, Batgirl fans shouldn’t get their hopes up as this is certainly just a snafu with the studio and nothing more as recently instituted DC Studios heads, Peter Safran and James Gunn, haven’t shared even the slightest hint that the already filmed project will be taking flight or that another one will go into production.
While, in the past, DC has extensively covered the lore surrounding Superman, Batman, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman, this would have been the first time in recent years that Batgirl aka Barbara Gordon, would have received a standalone film.
Created specifically for a launch on HBO Max, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah-helmed feature was set to star Leslie Grace as the titular crime fighter with performances from J.K. Simmons, Brendan Fraser, Jacob Scipio, and Michael Keaton. Unfortunately, Zaslav and the other heads at Warner Bros. Discovery decided to cut the Batgirl film from their upcoming lineup to make more space for other financial investments.
Twitter users noticed that DC promoted the canceled Batgirl film in a Blue Beetle merchandise stand.
Then, in November of last year, Peter Safran and James Gunn were announced as co-heads of the new DC Studios, giving them absolute power over all titles moving forward. Upon their arrival, the duo gave the boot to the long-running Man of Steel, Henry Cavill, and announced a lineup of new films including a fresh spin on Superman in Superman: Legacy.
While it seemed as though Gal Gadot would be through with playing the role of Wonder Woman, recent news has circulated that puts the Red Notice star back on track for a new feature, however, no news surrounding the potential future of Batgirl has tagged along with this exciting prospect.
As for Blue Beetle, DC’s hoping to pick up the pieces following the box office bummer that was the Ezra Miller-led The Flash. Being the studio’s only other film this summer, they may be kicking themselves for pushing forward with these two titles and not releasing Batgirl after all.
