Here’s more smoke to add to the fire that Jena Malone will re-team with her Sucker Punch director Zack Snyder in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. New reports downplay the role she was initially rumored to play in place of another iconic role in the DC Universe.
Latino-Review has three sources prompting them to go on record that Jena Malone will play Barbara Gordon, i.e. Batgirl, i.e., Oracle in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Last August, the Sucker Punch and Hunger Games star was photographed on the BvS Detroit set, and rumors immediately pointed to her snagging the role of Carrie Kelley, the young female Robin introduced in Frank Miller’s iconic The Dark Knight Returns mini-series, which the upcoming film is taking story cues from.
We learned from the latest BvS trailer that in this dark DC Movie Universe started in Man of Steel, Robin has been likely killed by the Joker (Jared Leto), inspired by 1989’s A Death In The Family comic book story arc. It’s still not known if the film will acknowledge if the second Robin (Jason Todd) is killed by the Joker like the comics storyline, or in fact it’s original Boy Wonder Dick Grayson. Since Dick Grayson has a rich well known post-Batman side-kick future as Nightwing and the leader of the Teen Titans, it’s likely WB will keep their options open with that character.
If Malone will indeed play Barbara Gordon, daughter of Gotham City’s Commissioner James Gordon, that leaves another bag of possibilities in the DC Movie Universe to explore. Darkest story arc scenario: the movie will acknowledge Alan Moore’s graphic novel The Killing Joke, adding more antagonism between Ben Affleck’s Batman and Jared Leto’s Joker. In Moore’s controversial 1989 story, the Joker cripples Barbara Gordon with a direct gunshot to her spine, leaving her bound to a wheelchair (and depending on how you interpret certain comic book panels, sexual assault is also heavily implied). Nevermind Batman versus Superman, there is a whole Batman versus Joker story to be told, especially if Batman’s role in Suicide Squad prove to be true.
If Malone shows up in a wheelchair in BvS, there will be that much more underlying dark backstory between Gotham’s Dark Knight and the Clown Price of Crime that will go straight over the heads of most of the movie going public. Without a multitude of gratuitous flashbacks, a shot of Robin’s costume defiled by the Joker’s graffiti in the Batcave will be more of an Easter Egg than a plot point. There looks to be more than enough characters in BvS already than to spend time fleshing out the backstories of Batgirl and Robin.
There is so much to ponder, especially when left to wonder how far down this dark rabbit hole WB is willing to take with the new Batman movie mythos. We know the new story arc passes over another origin story retelling and instead introduces him retired in his late ’40s, which allows Robin and Batgirl to exist without devoting a lot of screen time to the characters.
Time will tell if any of this with Jena actually plays out. Let’s keep in mind all of this is based Malone being seen in Detroit chatting with Zack Snyder. But in the darkest of places, the possibilities point to a brutal on-screen encounter with Batman and Joker down the line, likely in the Ben Affleck helmed Batman solo film.
SOURCE: Latino-Review
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