Barbara Gordon is finally answering her bat call. After five years in development hell, including the exit of Joss Whedon and scarce updates from Warner Bros, the Batgirl movie is finally moving forward with a pair of directors now on board. Bad Boys For Life’s Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who recently dabbled in Marvel Studios for the Ms. Marvel series are reportedly set to helm the upcoming superhero movie.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah became one of the most exciting breakout filmmakers of last year with Bad Boys For Life. The pair of directors will be adapting the script of Birds of Prey and The Flash writer Christina Hodson, per The Hollywood Reporter. The movie will be produced exclusively for HBO Max.
The pair of directors are Belgian-Moroccan filmmakers who have been working as a duo known as Adil & Bilall since 2011. They started off by making numerous critically-acclaimed short films before working in TV and nabbing Bad Boys For Life. After bringing Will Smith and Martin Lawrence back together for the blockbuster action sequel, they are also expected to direct Eddie Murphy for Beverly Hills Cop 4, now as well as Batgirl.
The premise of Batgirl is still being kept under wraps by Warner Bros, but it will introduce the hero’s most iconic version Barbara Gordon to the DCEU in a live-action movie for the first time since Alicia Silverstone’s 1997 version. The project’s producer Kristen Burr said this with the announcement:
With Batgirl, we hope to take the audience on a fun ride and see a different side of Gotham. Christina’s script is crackling with spirit. Adil and Bilall have an excited and joyous energy which is infectious, making them the perfect filmmakers for this Batproject. And I’m just psyched I get to be part of the DC universe, which is super cool.
Barbara Gordon is famously the daughter of Commissioner Gordon, who is being established in the DCEU in the near future with Jeffrey Wright’s role in Matt Reeves’ The Batman starring Robert Pattinson. It’s unclear at this point if the projects will be connected, but it sounds like the Batgirl production is looking to be oozing with character and a lively energy.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are just coming off their work with Marvel for Ms. Marvel, which will have the Disney studio introducing Kamala Khan to audiences on streaming ahead of the young hero, goes off to star in the Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels with Brie Larson. The directors are certainly building a high-profile resume for themselves just in the matter of two years and Batgirl welcomes into the expansive DCEU.
Batgirl plans began in 2016 with Joss Whedon initially expected to produce, write and direct the project. Two years after the announcement was made, Whedon left the movie because his idea for the story fell apart and Christina Hodson jumped on the project soon after amidst her other projects also including Bumblebee.
The movie comes together as the streaming platform also develops content for Green Lantern, Justice League Dark, Peacemaker and a series about the Gotham City Police Department. While we wait for all those projects and Batgirl, James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad is the next upcoming movie in the DCEU, coming to theaters and HBO Max on August 6.
