What There Is To Gain From The Birds of Prey!

We finally have our first all-female team-up comic book film with the Birds of Prey. Honestly, I do not think people know how big of a deal this is. A film based on this premise, along with its vast array of characters has quite a future to offer. Sadly, many are already claiming it a flop, even before its release. In addition, many non-viewers want it to flop to essentially keep their fragile egos in flux. Here’s a list of what a successful Birds of Prey box-office run could give us!

More Birds of Prey

This is just a duh, a successful Birds of Prey will lead to a sequel. Dare we take it a bit further and perhaps give the orthodox bibliophiles more of what they want? We see this in the end of the film with Black Canary, Renee Montoya and Huntress fighting together, gaudy costumes and all. Strangely, the film is an origin film for the team, using Harley Quinn’s fame as the springboard. I do believe this was Margot Robbie’s train of thought going into this project. We can do a Birds of Prey movie with no Harley Quinn whatsoever and instead bring in other well-known favorites such as Oracle and Lady Blackhawk. Hate, trash and wish for this film to fail as bad as you want. If you want your version of Birds of Prey to come to fruition, support Cathy Yan’s film. Unless, you want to wait eight years like in the case of The Batman franchise.

Black Canary

Puzzling how Black Canary has been around since 1947, only two years shy of Wonder Woman, yet her market share of comic book culture is miniscule in comparison. Our favorite little bird has had four short-lived volumes, quite a history with Green Arrow, and decent exposure in Batman: The Brave and The Bold. Most of the character’s recognition now outside of comics comes from the Arrow television series. Still, she is one of the main echelon female DC comic characters. Imagine Jurnee Smollett-Bell leading her own film, where they can follow off of the character’s last run, where she headlines her own band. On top of that, we are talking about a woman with just as much physical training as The Dark Knight.

What can be great about a Black Canary solo film is that would be led by a woman of color! Keep in mind, many of our flagship comic book movies are led by white males. Yes, we did get Black Panther and we should definitely stick that feather in our cap. Still, we need our pop culture to reflect our actual culture and demographics. We can look at other films such as Atomic Blonde or Red Sparrow as a win for woman, but mainly for white women. One central film woman of color that most people can only name at best is Foxy Brown. When it comes to fictional, independent, black women, she seems stuck in blaxploitation it feels.

The Question

Detective Renee Montoya is no longer around by the end of the film. Personally, it only makes sense to keep pushing and give her the mantle of The Question from Vic Sage like in the 52 series. Orthodox Vic Sage Question is probably never coming back. His character in the New 52 is dramatically different and split between two people. Meanwhile, Renee has already returned as The Question quite recently in DC Comics. Plus, since Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, we see that the DCEU is an already pre-established universe with a history built in. The board is not fresh like that of Marvel in 2008. Hence, it makes all the more sense to have Vic Sage possibly already dead or handing the role down to her in a film or two.

Birds of Prey does not come out (har har) directly and say it, but Renee Montoya is gay. A lesbian, woman of color headlining a film? Such a concept kind of trumps a Black Canary film now. Another defining trait of Montoya is her past relationship with Kate Kane, Batwoman. DC can borrow off of them from the 52 series, maybe even making the two head-line their own detective, team-up film. Strangely enough, we owe our knowledge and introduction to Batwoman more to Montoya than Kate's own cousin, Batman. Hence, it only makes sense to repeat this in film, if we choose to go down that route. Unfortunately, this is probably off the table given the CW series and DC Comics has a history of this. For example, Suicide Squad was quickly shooed off the stage from Arrow when the film went into production.

Gotham City Sirens

I think it is fair to say that most people want this more than anything! Originally, it was said we were getting a Gotham City Sirens film from David Ayer at one point. Birds of Prey has had several runs spanning over two decades now. Gotham City Sirens is a one run series that lasted two years. By no means is this to bash Gotham City Sirens. No, in fact, this shows how much the fan demand for this property is. After all, people love Harley Quinn and Margot Robbie, it can only get better when we bring two other beloved characters – Catwoman and Poison Ivy! Some critics are questioning the R-Rating choice for the Birds of Prey, even citing it as a reason for its low opening weekend. Perhaps, a film that follows what people usually know and understand as ‘the villains’ may make the push for an R-Rating work better.

Say what you want of Suicide Squad, it made money and gave us Margot Robbie. That film and others like Deadpool show that anti-hero/villain movies can exist. Joker certainly proves this as well! Poison Ivy and Catwoman are beloved characters from the pages of Batman and on their own as well. Plus, it will do much more justice to these characters rather than just be relegated to supporting roles in another Batman film. Lastly, Poison Ivy still deserves justice on the silver screen!

The Blackhawks

Here is where I probably piss off a good chunk of people. This idea crossed my mind in the middle of this. We have The Blackhawks, the old WWII era ace pilots. After the war we got Lady Blackhawk, Zinda Blake, who’s goal was to become the first woman to join this team of pilots. Keep in mind, this was the fifties! We’ve had several women take the title of Lady Blackhawk now. Do we need this moniker anymore? Understand that Blackhawk is the name of the team and its founder, all of the other male team members have their own names and not Boy Blackhawk, Dude Blackhawk and so on.

More and more women are joining the armed forces! Matter of fact, 20% of the Air Force is composed of women! Hence, I dare say ‘Lady Blackhawks’ are not a far cry. Something with a cast of female pilots may resonate more today than just some WWII era flick, we have an ample supply of them. Can we continue to milk it much longer? The concept of a Lady Blackhawk on the Birds of Prey is a bit odd, when you look at it in hindsight. Can you think of any other superhero team that has or requires a token ace pilot? Does Dinah need aircover as she storms the Middle Eastern front? Perhaps part of me just wants to see a team of women in uniform udder the same words Blackhawk said to Superman in Justice League: The Animated Series - ‘We Blackhawks bow down to no authority.’

Again, look at the possibilities! Birds of Prey is only the beginning. Assuming the film takes off, it could bring in a lot for us. More comic book movies based off of properties and characters with little to no Hollywood history join the fray. Our tent becomes even bigger as we welcome in more women and women from different walks of life. I don’t know about you, but I personally want my fellow sisters at the table celebrating and revering these beloved characters with us.

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