Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) opened in February 2020. While it underperformed from the start, COVID-19 meant we never got to see what the Suicide Squad spin-off was truly capable of at the box office.
The movie received positive reviews (it's "Certified Fresh" at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes), and pitted Harley Quinn against an extremely sinister villain in Ewan McGregor's Black Mask. However, it turns out that she was originally going to face Ozwald Cobblepot, a.k.a. The Penguin.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly about their new film, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell admitted that they hadn't previously discussed their respective DC roles. It was then that Robbie confirmed that The Penguin was removed from the movie's script due to Matt Reeves' plans for him in 2022's The Batman.
Here's an excerpt from the interview:
Robbie: "Did we ever talk about Harley and the Penguin?"
Farrell: "I don't believe so. I don't think it came up once. No, we never mentioned, never spoke about it at all."
Robbie: "We've done so much talking, and I don't think we've ever [discussed that]. That's so weird. The first draft that Christina [Hodson] wrote of Birds of Prey, the villain was the Penguin. And then [director/writer] Matt Reeves said, 'Don't use the Penguin. I'm going to use him in my thing.' And so we swapped it to Black Mask [played by Ewan McGregor]." [Birds of Prey's The Penguin was] amazing."
Looking back at Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey—the new title it was given after a so-so opening weekend—it's easy to see how The Penguin and his Iceberg Lounge once factored into the movie.
While DC Studios has since launched, we can't help but wonder whether The Batman Part II and The Brave and the Bold will run into similar issues, especially if there are plans for them to use the same villains.
Hush is currently expected to take centre stage in Reeves' sequel, though we've also heard that Robin could make his Batverse debut. If so, what does that mean for Batman's planned DCU team-up with his son, Damian Wayne? That remains to be seen.
Asked if Robbie could reprise her role as Harley Quinn in the DCU, Gunn recently said, "That will be revealed down the line." He added, "I definitely am always looking for a place to put [Idris Elba's] Bloodsport and figuring that out. So we'll see what happens."
The Batman Part II is set to be released in theaters on October 1, 2027.