Earlier this week, Warner Bros. announced that Birds of Prey will be getting a February 7th, 2020 release date. We also learned that the roles of Huntress and Black Canary will be portrayed by Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jurnee Smollett-Bell, respectively.
It’s been rumored that Black Mask, aka Roman Sionis, will be the lead villain of the film, which has been more or less been confirmed by those involved.
That leaves us to wonder, with characters like Black Mask, Harley Quinn, Huntress, Black Canary, and likely many others, where is Batman? After all, Gotham is his city so one would think that he would be out there trying to stop Black Mask himself.
Well apparently, Batman’s absence in the will be explained through a line in the script since this will be a Gotham that “isn’t protected by Batman” and that “no one has seen” him in two years.
From what I understand there is a line in the script that someone mention how no one has seen Batman in Gotham for two years and that's about it. He's probably with The League or maybe they'll answer it in his solo movie somehow 🤷♂️ https://t.co/1fD4dwT3w8
— Daniel Richtman #BlackLivesMatter (@DanielRPK) September 27, 2018
No More Batman?
Given the timeline of the DC Universe on Film, it’s safe to assume that the events of Birds of Prey will take place after the events of Justice League. So it can easily be explained that since Batman is a founding member of the Justice League, he’s off with them protecting the Earth from more cosmic threats, leaving his city under the protection of his allies.
Batman’s absence also helps the studio dodge the Ben Affleck question of will he or won’t he be returning to the role. Given the fact that neither WB nor Matt Reeves have confirmed if he’ll be back, the fact that Affleck himself hasn’t seemed interested in the role since the Whedon reshoots, not to mention he’s currently in rehab for alcoholism, not including Batman and simply saying he’s been gone is probably for the best.
Plus, this will give the film the breathing room it needs, and deserves, to focus on its female-centric heroes instead of having the shadow of the Bat loom over everything.
Once we learn more about Reeves’s Batman film, maybe then will we learn of where Batman has been. Perhaps he returns to a Gotham in ruin and chaos. Perhaps it’s a prequel set before the events of Man of Steel and it won’t matter. Or perhaps it’s not even in the continuity of the DCEU. No matter the answer, we’re just going to have to wait and see.
What do you think of Batman having no role in Gotham during Birds of Prey? Let us know!
