The Batman Deleted A Batgirl Easter Egg

The Batman script has revealed a deleted scene mentioning Batgirl Barbara Gordon.

By Sckylar Gibby-Brown | Published 2 years ago

Robert Pattinson’s The Batman captivated fans and became known as one of the most popular renditions of the Caped-Crusader since Christian Bale’s The Dark Knight. However, the grim film noir may have missed the mark, at least in one aspect, by deleting this Batgirl Easter egg recently revealed in the newly released script book.

A tweet from The Batman Film News contained screenshots from The Batman script outlining a scene where Detective Gordon mentions his daughter’s name while on the phone. In the DC comics, Gordon, who is played by Jeffrey Wright in the film, is the father of Barbara Gordon (Leslie Grace), the young woman who eventually becomes the Gotham City hero Batgirl.

The Batman, written and directed by Matt Reeves, is, like most Batman films, a surly and gritty superhero blockbuster. The film follows Bruce Wayne, who must yet again mask up as the Dark Knight in order to stop a terrorist from killing the citizens of Gotham. It stars Pattinson as Bruce/Batman, Wright as Lt. James Gordon, and Paul Dano as the Riddler. 

Reeve’s The Batman clocks in at 2 hours and 55 minutes, making it the longest Batman film ever, even ahead of The Dark Knight Rises, which is 2 hours and 45 minutes long. Reeves said that the film was originally supposed to be longer and that the studio tested a four-hour film with audiences before shaving an hour off for the theatrical release.

Among the scenes left on the cutting room floor was an interrogation scene with Batman’s favorite villain, the Joker. According to Reeves, the scene was supposed to show Batman interrogating an anonymous inmate in Arkham Assylum in an attempt to get into the mind of a madman. Reeves revealed that the would-be character was the Joker, but before he had become known as the Joker.

The scene mentioning Barbara Gordon is just one of many that have been revealed to have been cut. It is unclear if the scene alluding to Barbara Gordon was already filmed and ended up on the cutting room floor or if it was axed from the script before making it to set.

The news of the Batgirl Easter egg has sent fans into a frenzy, not only because of the missed opportunity to mention the detective’s daughter, but also because of DC’s cancelation of the Batgirl film earlier this year. Batgirl, which was written by Christina Hodson, directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and starred Leslie Grace as Batgirl, was canceled for a tax write-off by Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav. To add salt to the wound, the film was almost completed at the time of cancelation. 

The cancelation of the Batgirl movie and the news that Barbara Gordon’s name had been cut from The Batman has only left fans wanting Batgirl included in the DCEU even more. The Batman sequel is currently in production and set to release sometime in 2025, and fans are calling for Grace to play Batgirl in the movie. Currently, there has been no mention of the character being involved in The Batman 2.