WB has an endless stream of movies on the slate, as they aim to get the DCEU back into working shape after the troubled earlier years of the franchise. One thing they seem to have decided to double down on is female-led films, following the success of Wonder Woman and the popularity of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. As such, it’s not too surprising that we’re now hearing of another superheroine who could get her own movie: Vixen.
If you’ll recall, we first reported on this news back in June, but we’ve now had an update on the project from our sources – the same ones who told us Black Mask will be gay in Birds of Prey, which has since been confirmed. According to them, the Vixen movie is still happening and the studio’s top choice to lead it is Aja Naomi King, most known for How to Get Away with Murder and The Birth of a Nation. However, given that she’s just on a wishlist at the moment, there’s no guarantee that she’ll end up in the role.
As we said in our initial report though, a Vixen movie could become the first superhero film of the modern era to star a woman of color in the lead. Technically, 2004’s Catwoman was the very first but neither the MCU or the DCEU to date have followed up on that. Marvel has a few African-American heroines in their universe, such as Monica Rambeau and Shuri, but we haven’t heard if they’re getting their own films yet. A Ms. Marvel Disney Plus series is on the way, too, but it looks like DC will break this cinematic milestone before the House of Ideas does.
Of course, Vixen is already familiar to TV fans thanks to the Arrowverse. Megalyn Echikunwoke played Mari in the animated CW Seed series as well as in live-action for one episode of Arrow. Maisie Richardson-Sellers then portrayed Mari’s grandmother Amaya Jiwe, who also possessed the Anansi totem, on Legends of Tomorrow. It doesn’t sound like either actress will be involved in the big screen adaptation of the character, but we’ll keep you posted when more on this story comes to light.