After the success of the female-driven Wonder Woman and the R-rated Joker, Warner Bros. must’ve thought they’d struck gold with the female-led, R-rated Birds of Prey. However, the Margot Robbie-fronted flick has earned the dubious honor of having the weakest opening of any DCEU movie to date, with it now being talked about as a box office bomb. For whatever reason, folks just haven’t shown up for the film and the studio might be thinking that it’s due to a lack of interest in Harley Quinn.
We Got This Covered has been told by our sources – the same ones who said National Treasure 3 is in development and John Cena would be playing Dom’s brother in Fast & Furious 9, both of which are now confirmed – that WB is reassessing Harley’s role in the DCEU going forward. Chiefly, they’re considering reducing her prominence in the franchise and the marketing for The Suicide Squad may even mostly skate over her. This is still just something they’re discussing, but if it did happen, then they would need a new DC anti-heroine to step up and take her place, and they apparently already have one in mind.
Our sources – who also told us a She-Hulk TV show was coming to Disney Plus way back in April – say that Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman could become, for all intents and purposes, the DCEU’s new Harley Quinn. Obviously, this is all dependent on how well she goes down in The Batman, but if she’s a hit, then much more from Selina Kyle could be on the way. With filming underway on Matt Reeves’ pic, the studio must like what they’ve seen of Kravitz’s Catwoman so far to consider pushing her into a leading space already, but it’ll all depend on how audiences take to her.
In any case, as one of the most famous female characters in comics, Catwoman definitely has the brand recognition required for her own standalone adventures. In fact, we’ve already reported that a spinoff for Kravitz could happen and it’s probably been long enough now that 2004’s awful Catwoman movie with Halle Berry wouldn’t deter them from giving Selina another starring vehicle.
Of course, plans can always change and the studio might give Harley Quinn another chance in the spotlight, but for now, at least, it sounds like she might be pushed to the sidelines somewhat after Birds of Prey and we should look out for the fantabulous emancipation of one Selina Kyle instead.