New fan art is imagining what the recently cast Leslie Grace might look like in Batgirl. A solo movie about Batman’s female counterpart had been trying to get off the ground for years with multiple writers and directors attached to the project. One of them was Joss Whedon, who officially signed on to write, direct, and produce the project in 2016, but left years later because he was having trouble with the story.
After Whedon’s departure, Warner Bros. expressed interest in hiring a female director, but instead went with Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson to pen the screenplay and Bad Boys for Life’s Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah as directors. The project took another major step forward recently when the In the Heights star Leslie Grace was cast as Barbara Gordon, the film’s titular hero. This version of the character was introduced in the comics in 1967, popularized in the Adam West Batman series, and later appeared in the 1997 Batman & Robin movie, albeit as Barbara Wilson.
Now, fan art is imagining what the latest live-action portrayal of the character might look like. The art comes from Instagram user artkin and its caption reads, “Leslie grace as batgirl, drew this as fast as i could because I absolutely love the casting.” With this casting announcement just being made yesterday, the turnaround time here is impressive. Check out the fan art below:
This costume seems to be more in line with Alicia Silverstone’s version of the character from Joel Schumacher’s notorious Batman & Robin rather than Yvonne Craig’s from the Batman series, the latter of which was meant to be cartoonish and campy. Though the movie itself was much-maligned, Silverstone’s performance as Batgirl is remembered as the only live-action film appearance of the character, although she was changed to be Barbara Wilson, Alfred Pennyworth's niece, rather than the daughter of the Gotham City Commissioner as she is in the comics.
So far, the upcoming Batgirl movie seems to be remaining loyal to the comics. It will mark plenty of milestones for DC, as it will be the first live-action film appearance of Barbara Gordon and the only other female-led superhero movie in the DCEU besides Wonder Woman. Leslie Grace beat out a diverse and competitive field of actresses to be cast in this role and now that fans have an idea of what she could look like in costume, excitement for the Batgirl movie will begin mounting at a rapid pace.
Source: artkin/Instagram
