When news broke back in August 2022 that the long-rumoredBatgirlmovie starring Leslie Grace as the popular DC heroine was ultimately shelved after being completely finished, fans all over the world went up in arms about this shocking announcement. Not only was Brendon Fraser brought in to play the distinguished Batman villain, Firefly, but Michael Keaton would reprise his role as the Caped Crusader.
Onceset photos were releasedto the public, comic book fans were even more shocked at this decision since it was apparent that the budget was put to good use. Costumes for Batman, Batgirl, and Firefly were highly detailed, practical effects were galore in terms of explosions and fight scenes, and the overall atmosphere of Gotham seemed to be tuned perfectly.
While this entire experience was obviously very traumatizing for theBatgirldirectors, Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi, David Zaslav (who is the head of Warner Brothers Discovery) is trying to reclaim his losses by saying that the scrapping of the movie was very brave in hindsight. While this could very well be the case logistically speaking (in terms of finances and such),Batgirlcould have provided some much-needed levity when DC (as a whole) needed it the most.
While Grace was dedicated to the lead part and seemed emotionally connected to what could have been her breakout role, Fraser has been favorably stepping back into the spotlight as of late, and Keaton is always welcome back into therole of Batman. It would have helped build a Gotham-centric world that could have been transplanted in Gunn’s new DCU.
Even thoughJohn Cena’s Coyote vs Acmenow seems to have found a second life with the possibility of an outside distributor, Zaslav appears to be keepingBatgirlfar away from any hope for release. Just imagine if the current president of WB Discovery was around in the 1960s when a certain Bat-film was released.
The Wild World of Batwoman
Sounding like something other than asuperhero movie(if it can even be considered that),The Wild World of Batwomanis considered to be one of the worst films of all time. While it doesn’t necessarily deserve that title, this Jerry Warren production is bizarre, to say the least. Let’s start with the fact that this seemingly budget-less feature that was made in 1966 was not authorized by DC Comics.
Because of that, it was later infamously renamed toShe Was a Hippy Vampiredue to the shadow of a copyright infringement case (even though Warren somehow won). Because he buried the officially madeBatgirldue tobudget cuts and/or poor reception, who knows what Zaslav would have done with this film if he were alive and connected to DC back then? Now that technicalities are out of the way, let’s look at this film’s more story-oriented details and why you can’t look away.
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Actress Katherine Victor’s Batwoman employs the services of numerous Batgirls to help her fight crime. When they’re not busy, they all lackadaisically hang around the dance hall, the beach, or Batwoman’s lavish house doing nothing. Here, they are all defending an invention of the Ayjax company from falling into the hands of the Rat Fink. This device can eavesdrop on any conversation. As a failsafe, though, it can explode when needed.
Besides the crudely designed Rat Fink (black clothing from head to toedefines a villainin the Batwoman world, apparently), there are monsters created by the mad scientist Octavius Neon, which look much more interesting than the main antagonist. Batwoman never even fights them, though, and that’s because all the scenes where they are depicted are actually spliced in from another movie, Universal Pictures’The Mole People, which was released about ten years before this.
The Wild World of Batwoman Is a Strange Batgirl Alternative
Taking inspiration from theBatmanTV series that was on television at the time, as well as the cultural trends of the ’60s,The Wild World of Batwomanis incredibly corny. Villains wield suspiciously named happy pills and create a soup that makes you dance uncontrollably once eaten. To become a batgirl, you must drink a concoction of honey, mint, cherry, and strawberry yogurt for some strange reason.
Rat Fink’s base is also amusingly just behind some rocks on a heavily populated beach. Instead of saving her tranced Batgirl right away, Batwoman sits down with the allies of her enemy to talk to him through a television screen. While the sequence doesn’t go that far (as they were trying to drug her), she was about to have a sit-down meal with them (consisting of milk and macaroons)!
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As time shows, this movie doesn’t even stand up as one of thoseits-so-bad-it’s-goodtitles. Comic book fans don’t even bring this superhero cinematic fever dream of a film up in conversations, and you rarely (if at all) see the movie mentioned in online lists that cover the genre. Considering DC did not subdue the film (even with the court’s help),The Wild World of Batwomancould very well be David Zaslav’s worst nightmare.
If you love everything DC and are interested in the future of James Gunn’s DCU, check out MovieWeb’s video below.
