After the critical and financial failure or Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey, I am glad to see that Harley at least will be getting another chance with James Gunn's The Suicide Squad (which looks to skew more closely to her animated roots, a good thing). But how long before Huntress and Black Canary get another chance at the big screen? People responded positively to Mary Elizabeth Winstead's portrayal of Huntress, but the role was very small, so maybe she is still relatively unscathed. Jurnee Smollett's Black Canary was not very close to the character from the comics (she faints after her one and only use of the canary cry?) There is the new Green Arrow and the Canaries CW series in the planning stages, maybe we'll see a more faithful version of the Blond Bombshell if that comes to pass.
Actually, the film fared better with critics than audiences, as it scored a RT score of 78% and I do think DCEU Dinah will eventually become more like her comic book counterpart in future films.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, while I enjoy the film, I do understand why it divided audiences, especially how it's more of a Harley Quinn film, not to mention the first live-action depiction of Cassandra barely resembles her comic book counterpart plus Green Arrow and the Canaries is a sequel series to Arrow as it focuses on Oliver's daughter Mia along with Laurel and Dinah and unlike Superman and Lois, it hasn't yet been picked up for a full series and it will be a while until we get confirmation on this due to the coronavirus.
*did enjoy the film. This commentboard needs an edit button for users to edit their own comments.
DeleteMaybe so, Ross. But, I don't think either of us should hold our breath waiting for immediate realization of same.
ReplyDeleteBlack Canary was a part of Arrow, both Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) and Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy), both quite effectively in my opinion. Those two characters are, of course, the "Canaries" in Green Arrow and the Canaries, which I do hope is officially picked up for a full season; I thought the "backdoor pilot" episode on Arrow showed a great deal of promise. In fact, until Mateus' comment prompted me to look it up, I'd thought it had been picked up.
ReplyDeleteI've only seen trailers for the Birds of Prey film, but I too am disappointed in how Cassandra Cain is handled; when introduced in the comics, she was non-verbal, and that became as much a central part of the character as a wheelchair was for Barbara Gordon at the time. Cassandra is someone I'd like to see show up on Batwoman some time, and if she does, I hope she's a bit more comics-accurate.
And speaking of Barbara in a wheelchair, her existence as Oracle was teased at least once on Arrow, so I do hope to see her brought in on Batwoman at some point. At the very least, she could provide information to Luke and Kate by text, in somewhat the same way that Clark advised Kara on the first season of Supergirl.
I also still think that it would be appropriate to see Oracle in a "split-screen" cover with Professor X. Not only do they both work from a wheelchair, they both use information-gathering technology, but in ways that are different enough that they could complement each other nicely.
I really enjoyed Birds of Prey. I do miss the character Cassie could have been, but I don't think that overshadows how good the rest of the movie was. For me, it was everything that Suicide Squad could have been. I've got my fingers crossed to see Montoya become the Question some day.
ReplyDeleteThe TV series co-starring Shemar Moore (pre-CRIMINAL MINDS & pre-SWAT) was far better.
ReplyDelete@Cary: While I can't speak to the film (I'm waiting for it to come out on home video or streaming), I do agree that the Birds of Prey TV series is a worthwhile watch. I'm only three episodes into watching it on CW Seed, and while I'm not crazy about how far it digresses from the characters in the source material, most of the changes do spring from the stories being told, and the writers did well with it. I only wish that the Crisis on Infinite Earths writers had decided to include Rachel Skarsten; she practically volunteered to reprise her role, and I don't think it would've cost anything more to do that and put her moment in the Batwoman segment, but she didn't get so much as a single frame. (Nonetheless, Ashley Scott and Dina Moore did quite well in their parts on the cameo.)
ReplyDelete*Dina Meyer. (I don't know where "Moore" came from!)
ReplyDeleteThe Bat, the Bird and the Storm.
ReplyDeleteProblem with Arrow & The Canaries. Dinah was on current time on Earth Prime and then got moved to the future where she has no formal identity. By Oliver? How?
Future 2 part cover request; Thor on 1960's style Krypton and then Superman in Asgard. Thanks.
@Fishing: That's a mystery even to Dinah herself. She didn't understand it, and I think that if the series is ordered we'll be finding that out. (We might even find out without a series; there's still Legends of Tomorrow, and it was the Waverider that brought Laurel forward.)
ReplyDelete@Bob Greenwade: from the actor who played The Huntress' love interest on BoP: TOS? ;-)
ReplyDeleteEverybody knows that Storm is already a member of a different team of superheroines (together with Rogue and Phoenix): Charlie's Angels.
ReplyDelete