Tag Archives: Batgirl

February 26, 2018

Filed under General

Monday Musings - Batgirl Movie

Last year, I wrote about the upcoming Batgirl movie. I spoke about how happy I was that Joss Whedon had signed on as the director. And examined some of the storylines I would like to have seen included in the movie. I posted this before Whedon’s ex-wife published her open letter. My post was also written before I had seen experienced seeing the Amazons, Valkyrie and Dora Milaje on the big screen. My opinions have obviously changed since writing the blog post.

Last week, news broke that Whedon had walked away from the project. Initial articles stated he was “unable to find a story” Of course, this is ridiculous. Over the years many comic book storylines have featured Batgirl. Anyone one of which could be adapted into a feature film.

The news instead seems to point to yet more problems in with the DCEU franchise. The success of the Wonder Woman movies last year was a high point for the franchise. However, the Justice League movie (which Whedon worked on), was meet with mixed reviews, was a low point.

According to Wikipedia, there are over twenty possible films planned in the DCEU. Whilst some like the Wonder Woman sequel and Shazam movie, have tentative release dates. Over a dozen more are all in the planning stages. These include a Gotham Siren adaption, Flashpoint and The Batman reboot. Production on the Batgirl movie was due to start later this year. I’m assuming this will still happen. The success of Wonder Woman, shows audience want to see female lead superhero movies. Batgirl is one of the best know DC women, along with Supergirl she is the obvious choice for a next movie.

All over the weekend, I have seen several blog posts featuring lists of “female directors who should direct the Batgirl movie.” I am not going to re-hash them here (but have included a few of the links at the end of this blog post). I will go on record as saying I am hoping Lena Dunham isn’t involved in the project, I am not a fan of her work.

Batgirl (New 52)

On Twitter, several authors expressed an interest in the project. Of course, we would all love to see Gail Simone write this movie, most comic book fans are familiar with her work. The New 52 reboot of Batgirl, with Barbara Gordon, once again redonning the cape and cowl. Is one of the more popular storylines and, is the obvious choice for the film. Similarly, I would love to see Hope Larson work on the movie. As the current writer of the Batgirl comics she is someone very familiar with the character, and personally, I love the ‘Summer of Lies‘ storyline.

Batgirl Summer of Lies

Whilst it looks like the movie is still moving forward, which of course I am happy about. I do still have so many issues around its place with the DCEU as a whole. The Wonder Woman movie could exist outside of the franchise. Her storyline is not intertwined with other characters from the DCEU. Yes, there was the package from Bruce Wayne at the beginning, which served as a plot point. But she could have just as easily found the photo herself.

Batgirl’s origin story includes Batman. In both versions, young Batman intrigues the young Barbara Gordon. Originally, in the Detective Comics (which was later retold in Year One), she idolized Batman and Robin and saves them from Killer Moth. In the New 52 storylines, Batman is an important part of the plot.

Which leads me to my problem. Can this movie work whilst the DCEU is a mess? Ben Affleck has expressed an interest in leaving the franchise. And the standalone Batman movie is on hold. Can they make a Batgirl movie with a new Batman, will that work? Should this movie be made after the new Batman reboot? Or will the Flashpoint storyline reboot the franchise, so recasting a new Batman would be possible.

Overall, I am happy Joss Whedon has left the Batgirl projects. I am excited to see a female director making another superhero movie and the possibility of a female writer. However, as with all projects in the DCEU at the moment, this news has left with more questions than answers.

What I would like to see?

Originally, I had hoped Barbara Gordon would be introduced into the Arrowverse. As I mentioned before I like the DC television programmes, I would have liked to see a Batgirl programme added to this franchise. Arrow has already introduced Black Canary and Huntress. I imagined taking these characters and adding them to a Batgirl and Birds of Prey TV Show. But a feature film, would be incredible.

As for the storyline, it is unclear where in Batman’s timeline the DCEU is taking place, yes he appears to be an older version of Bruce Wayne. In Suicide Squad they hinted that the Joker had killed a Robin (assuming Jason Todd). So I am guessing around three years into Batman’s career, around the time of Killing Joke. Of course, the Batgirl film could be set out of the timeline and be an origins story.

If they are adapting an existing storyline from the comics, I would like to see Year One, up until to Killing Joke. I hated the animated version of Killing Joke, but I still believe it is one of the best Batman storylines and I would like to see it a decent adaption. Whilst leaving the heroine paralysed might not be an ideal ending. The end of Batman vs Superman shows the DCEU aren’t affraid to take risks.

Batgirl (New 52)

Another option could be the new 52 storyline of The Darkest Reflection. A post Killing Joke version of Batgirl, still traumatized by her attack, but trying to find her place back in the Bat-family. This could be darker, more like the Jessica Jones TV show, making the character more interesting than the comical version of Batgirl from the previous Batman movie franchise.

What do you think about the news of Joss Whedon directing the Batgirl movie? What storyline would you like to see in the film? Do you have any ideas who should play Batgirl?

Wonder Woman’s Origins

Wonder Woman Rebirth

The newest “Origins” trailer has also created some interesting discussions with me and my muggle friends. I realised no one really knew that much about Wonder Woman. Whilst most of them knew she was an Amazonian princess, they did not know about her parents or the change to her origin story in New 52. One friend even though her alter ego was Linda Carter, not Diana Prince!

Everyone knows the origins of Batman or Superman and their alter egos. I was concerned why my friends knew so little about Wonder Woman? They also knew very little about Batgirl, but I will save that for another blog post. So why is so little know about The Amazonian princess? I believe it is because Wonder Woman has not been on-screen.

Since the 1970’s TV series, she has only featured in the cartoons. She was a character in the Justice League series and movies. As well as having a standalone animated movie. There have been rumours of her character guest starring on an existing TV show, like Smallville and even an un-aired pilot. Yet we didn’t see Wonder Woman in a live action role or movie for over 30 years, why is that?

I know it sounds like I am complaining, as things are changing. After all Wonder Woman will feature in two movies this year. Both her own standalone movie and the Justice League movie in November. I am just concerned that a generation have grown up without having Wonder Woman (or any other DC female heroes) as part of their pop culture.

The DCEU can change this; the announcement of the Gotham City Sirens, although billed as the Harley Quinn standalone movie will also include Catwoman and Poison Ivy. But why stop there; personally I’d love to see a movie centred around Batgirl or the Birds of Prey. Which DC Comics female characters would you like to see in the big screen?

Recommended Watching/Reading

Wonder Woman The Complete Collection
Wonder Woman Volume 1: Blood TPB (New 52)
Wonder Woman Volume 1: The Lies (Rebirth)
Wonder Woman: Rebirth Begins Diana’s REAL Origin Story (Screenrant article)
Wonder Woman in other media (Wikipedia article)

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January 31, 2017

Filed under Currently, General

Currently Knitting… Pink Pussyhat.
I adored seeing the images of sea of pink hats at the Women’s March. I didn’t have time to knit a hat before the protest, but still want to be part of this amazing project. So I have just started knitting a pink hat.

Currently Reading… Batgirl: Silent Running

This year, I set myself a Goodread Challenge to read 24 books. Their challenges include Graphic Novels so I am planning on reading at least one a month. This month I have re-read the first Cassandra Cain, Batgirl book.

Currently Watching… House of Cards

I think everyone has that one TV programme they have yet to watch. The programme all your friends have watched but for some reason you missed watching. For me it was House of Cards. With all the events happening in U.S. politics this month it seemed like the right time to start watching this award-winning series.

Currently Listeining to… Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
I managed to get tickets for one of the West End performances for Hamilton, since then I have had the soundtrack on a loop at home.
Currently Loving… Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Last week, they released the official title of Star Wars Episode 8. Since then I have chatted to friends and speculating about what the title means. Who is the Last Jedi? As Jedi is also the plural is there more than one last Jedi? Does this mean we will get a major death? Is Leia a Jedi? So many questions we will have to wait until December to get our answers.

via GIPHY

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I will earn a commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link.

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October 28, 2016

Filed under 5 Fandom Friday

The Five Funko I Wish They Would Make

As it’s my birthday next week, instead of blogging about my Funko wish list, I thought I would put together a Funko Fantasy List, the Pop! Vinyl figures I wish they would make.

Lyanna Mormont from Game of Thrones

For me this 10-year-old head of her house was the true star of the sixth season of Game of Thrones. The way she held her own when approached by Sansa and Jon or stared down Ramsey Bolton before the Battle of the Bastards. Lyanna Mormont is my spirit animal.
Bodhi Rook from Star Wars Rogue One
On Force Friday a few weeks ago. Funko released a new range to tie-in with the release of Rogue One. But one member of the crew was missing Bodhi! This month on the blog I have given a lot of love to Riz Ahmed. So it makes sense that I would want the Funko version of his character to add to my collection.
Ravi Chakrabarti from iZombie
I know they have released a Liv from iZombie Funko and are planning on releasing a few more variations of her character. In the show my favourite character is Ravi, her co-worker and sidekick, If I had a list of fictional BFF’s he would be number one on my list!
Cassandra Cain (Batgirl) from DC Comics

The first Funko I brought was the Batgirl one. Since then I have brought every version of Pop!, Dorbz, or Vinyl Vixen they have produced. However, instead of all the Barbara Gordon varieties, I would love a Cassandra Cain version.
Oracle from DC Comics
As I said I have many version of the Barbra Gordon Funko, which mainly include copies of her classic costume and the new Batgirl of Burnside outfit. But what about her “Oracle” days? This version would complete my “Babs” collection.

What characters are on your Fantasy Funko List? Which Pop! do you which they would make to add to your collection? Which franchise do you wish they would add to their range?

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September 28, 2016

Filed under General

Read at Midnight’s Pokémon Go Book Tag was all the rage over the summer. Combining bloggers love of the game and reading. As I am so behind on my blogging, I am fashionable late at completing this tag.

For my starter Pokémon in Pokémon Go I picked a Charmander as I loved his character in the TV show. Especially when he went through his moody teenage Charmeleon phase.
As for the book that started my love of reading, I adored the Meg & Mog or Amelia Bedelia when I was extremely young, but the series I adored reading were either the Judy Blume books or those by S.E. Hinton, especially The Outsiders.

I still don’t have a Pikachu! I keep hoping to find one in a 2KM egg but even those are getting harder to find. I think I spotted on the radar last week, when we were in Hyde Park but have no luck finding him in the vast area.
The classic book I love to re-read is The Great Gatsby, this book is both a love story and insight into New York during prohibition.

As a Londoner, I was tempted to change this from Zubats to Drowzees, they are everywhere in the city!
Years ago it seemed every single woman was reading The Bridget Jones Diary. They were all claiming they are just like Bridget Jones. I tried to read the book and found the character was rather annoying. In the following years I had to put up with a sequel and the movies. Now yet again Bridget Jones is everywhere and still annoying me!

Has anyone caught I Ditto yet? I have read several possible theories on how to catch one online. But it looks like these Pokémon have not yet been released in the game.
I do love the I Heart… series, I know they are just are cheesy, and a little predictable. But I love the mixed to comedy and name dropping of places in different cities.

If I had the space I would love to buy this Snorlax Bean Bag, it would be prefer to use when I read.
I guess the series I would love to read if I had the time would be the Discworld books. I read one book from the series a few years ago, but they are so many more to read. Plus I would have no idea what order to read them in!

When I started playing this game I seemed to find several Gastly each day. Since then they have disappeared so I am yet to evolved my Haunter to a Gengar.
I tend not to read scary books, horror is my least favourite genre. However, several books have kept me up all night reading, the most recent one being Harry Potter and The Cursed Child.

Nidoran♀ was the first Pokémon I went hunting for after spotting the outline on the radar. Since then I have yet to find another one. So my poor Nidorino is missing his mate.
The obvious answer for me to this question is Babs & Dick, but they are in comics. Do graphic novels count towards this book tag? I am assuming they do!

Image if they allowed you to ride your Pokemon in the game if you selected it as your buddy. I would love to ride my Ponyta.
One book I love for several reasons is Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is also one of my favourite movies, although the ending to the movie is completely different.

Eevee is still one of my favourite Pokémon and I am still hoping to catch a few more so I can have a Jolteon to complete my Eevee set.
I love that J.K. Rowling et al wrote another Harry Potter book, but I am not sure where else this series can go. For a long time the Star Wars Expanded Universe books were my only hope of seeing the further adventures of the Skywalker family, so I will always love seeing a Star Wars spin-off series.

We are lucky to live within walking distance of the River Thames and so our Pokewalks involve catching several Magikarp a day – perfect for trying to get those 400 candies.
The series that I found awesome also centres around the River Thames. I originally started reading Rivers of London as it was an urban fantasy set it London. But quickly, began to adore the characters and I love that I recognise so many places from the books.

I am hoping they don’t rush introducing the legendary Pokemon as this will mark the end of the game, plus my Pokedex is far from being complete.
Social media seems to overhype several book series at the moment, the ones I am looking forward to reading at The Red Queen books.

Of course the legendary Pokemon I would love to own is a Mewtoo. Like this Pokemon the collector’s edition I am coveting is the Harry Potter Illustrated Edition. I wish they would hurry up and publish the complete set.

All I seem to be getting at the moment is 5KM eggs and they contain duds – if I hatch one more Meowth or Slowpoke!
I never seem to be in loop about new novels, I always discover books months after everyone else. So I have no idea about this question.

One great thing about London is the go to Pokemon Go hangouts – which always have several lures going. It’s amazing to see dozens of people playing the game all getting excited when an interesting Pokemon appears in the game.
I used to have several auto-buy authors but in recent years this list as slimmed down, now I guess I auto-buy series like Star Wars or any graphic novel that features Batgirl.

Do you remember the early days of Pokemon Go when we would always see the server down screen. Now I have to put up with pidgey running away.
Obviously, the book I am eagerly waiting for is The Winds of Winter!

The Pokemon Go Book Tag was the brainchild of Read at Midnight, and the images included in the post at her’s.

DISCLAIMER
Pokemon Go belongs to Niantic and Nintendo.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I will earn a commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link.

Spoiler Warning

The Killing Joke is infamous for two reasons it is seen as the origin story for The Joker and it is the story line that shows when Barbara Gordon was paralysed. Whether the story line part of the Batman canon varies. Pre-Flashpoint tales like No Mans Land or Hush feature Oracle (Barbara Gordon’s new alter ego), where the Batgirl of Burnside story line ignore The Killing Joke.

A post shared by princessdeia . London (@princessdeia) on Jul 25, 2016 at 12:33pm PDT

As you may know The Killing Joke is a short graphic novel, to counteract making a short film. They created an original story line explaining Barbara Gordon’s last days as Batgirl and why she retired her cape and cowl. As a result, almost turns into two mini movies or episodes of the TV show.

The “Batgirl” story line is just awful! Batgirl is regularly dis-empowered and shown as a sexual object. She shown as being desperate for Batman’s approval and affection. The movie begins with Batgirl explaining how she is Batman’s sidekick, there is no mention of the rest of the Bat-family. (I’m assuming this is post-Jason Todd and Dick Grayson is in Bludhaven).

This Batgirl is objectified by the bad guy, Paris Franz. He calls her hot and his special girl. A red-head prostitute explains how Franz made her wear a black cowl during sex. Later Franz manipulates Batgirl into doing his bidding just by flirting with her. Another bad guy proclaims “it must be her time of the month” after she beats him up.

Her relationship with Batman is even worse. He disapproves of her and she desperately tries to please him. When they finally do have a conversation and physical altercation it ends with Batgirl stripping off and kissing Batman.

When Batgirl isn’t shown as a sex toy of the criminals and vigilantes of Gotham she is portrayed as a love sick puppy librarian. There are several scenes where Barbara is chatting to her gay work colleague about her messed up relationship with he yoga teacher (aka Batman). This gay best friend character is based on every gay stereotype that exists.

There were a few good scenes in this part of the story. Batgirl’s fight scene whilst trying to escape from the apartment, and a glimpse of her detective skills as she hacked into the police camera to track down Franz. But for the main part it is just shows Batgirl as a weak, submissive woman.

As for the second half to the story, the one that does not include Batgirl, this does not disappoint. The pages of Alan Moore’s novel appeared on the screen, his words are transformed into the dialogue of the movie. Bruce Timm recreated many of the iconic images of Brian Bolland artwork perfectly onto the screen. Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy reprise their roles as The Joker and Batman wonderfully.

As in the graphic novel the rape of Barbara Gordon is implied at and not seen. Jim Gordon’s torture and systematic humiliation are sinister but not terrifying. The story line is still extremely disturbing, it is definitely not safe for children.

Whilst watching this film, I kept asking myself “is this why I haven’t had a Batgirl movie?” I know producers know how to make movies with decent female characters. I have even seen female comic book characters portrayed well onscreen like Black Widow or Hope Pym. The Jessica Jones TV programme also showed a female lead comic book adaption can work. So why was this so bad.