as bgirl was deep into postproduction it was infamously shelv in favor of a tax write off with reports stating that the film was unreleasable leaving many to wonder if it was really that bad and what it would have been about so let's dive in and find out why it was never released and what could have been Batgirl DC originally explored introducing Batgirl in Birds of Prey but decided to give the character her own Standalone film based on a pitch by Jos Weeden as they'd hire The Avengers filmmaker to write and direct shortly after that Weeden
would put Batgirl on hold as he was asked to rewrite scenes for justice league re- shoots before taking over the film completely after Zack Snyder stepped down when Weeden turned his attention back to badgirl however a number of things had happened first his work on Justice League was heavily criticized and ultimately didn't help the film with critics or at the box office like he promised Warner Brothers it would not only that but reports began to surface from galado and Ray fiser that weeden's conduct on the set of Justice League was unprofessional and abusive at one
point even threatening to ruin gau's career if she didn't do what he wanted this was compounded by a punishing essay his ex-wife published claiming that Weeden had cheated on her repeatedly during their marriage as she called him a hypocrite preaching feminist ideals additionally an unproduced Wonder Woman script he wrote in 2006 surfaced on the web which was heavily criticized for being sexist it was at this point that DC had a change in leadership as Walter Hamada the producer overseeing new lines hely with hits like The Conjuring and it was appointed head of DC film to
try and write the ship what exactly happened next isn't publicly known but it's possible Hamada asked Weeden to step down or he did so voluntarily as he would publicly claim that he couldn't crack the story which turned out wasn't necessarily true it had been a year since I had first pitched a story A lot happened in that year and I felt some of the elements might not work as well and and the story kind of just crumbled in my hands I there were there were elements that I just hadn't mastered that I after long time
felt like I wasn't going to as Hamada proceeded to try and fix DC his vision was simple release up to four big budget theatrical releases a year complemented by two lower budget films on HBO Max Warner's fledgling streaming service the first of these streaming films was to be Batgirl made at a cost of 75 million which while cheaper than the quarter billion it usually costs to make a theatrical superhero film like Batman vers Superman is still a pretty large budget and nothing to sneeze at the cost of the film would eventually balloon to 90 million
allegedly due to co expenses and delays Christina Hansson writer of Bumblebee and birds of prey would be hired to pen the script while Bad Boys three directors Adil and Bal would be hired to direct uh Adil and Bal did the bad boys movies are really good at blowing up and they love doing it you know like right practical fire effects making stuff go bang they're all over it and so Firefly was right out their wheelhouse obviously Brenan Frasier was cast as Firefly Michael Keaton returned to play Batman due to the Multiverse shenanigans that happened in
the Flash and JK Simmons reprised his role as Commissioner Gordon last but not least singer turned actor Leslie Grace was cast as Barbara Gordon AKA Batgirl after filming wrapped and well into post-production the film would be shelled however the plot has since been pieced together thanks to a few enterprising fans online Batgirl would have opened in ballet class as were introduced to a young Barber Gordon watching a martial arts class next door before sneaking out of her class and into that one once inside not only does she meet her future lifelong friends Jason and Alicia
but she uses a move she saw to take down a bigger kid after her mom and dad pick her up from class they debate whether to allow Barbara to join Jim on patrol reluctantly Jim agrees but comes to regret it as he's almost killed by a gang in front of his daughter before being saved by Batman later that night while still out on patrol with Barbara Jim gets a call over the radio that his home is on fire after racing across the city he not only finds his home in Flames but his wife screaming for
help from ins side as he opens the front door to sa he's greeted by a fireball that sends him flying backwards knocking him out as Barbara sees a mysterious figure committing the arson fast forward to the present day and we meet a grown-up Barbara stuck working a des job for the Gotham Police Department wishing she was out on patrol her dad is long since retired after suffering a heart attack and relies on Barbara to take care of him she also spends time with her best friend Alicia and her now boyfriend Jason who works as a
firefighter across town we meet Ted Carson AKA Firefly military veteran and former firefighter who gets fired from his job as a butcher at a grocery store for his fiery temper he tries to get his old job back working for the brei crime family but is turned down as the family is trying to go straight with the head of the family running for mayor later unable to get medication for his terminally ill wife because his benefits have been cut Carson burns down a pharmacy it was a story about a guy who uh had uh been in
the service and his benefits were cut and he was very angry with system and what else is he going to do but Burn It To The Ground that's all you need to know super villain right there you've got some sympathy to them you've also got some Humanity to him and on top of that a screw loose cuz you know he's a bad guy but is he really like all the best bad guys you kind of like him a little bit yes that that was this role meanwhile Barbara attends a Halloween party hosted by Bruce Wayne
and dresses up as Batman that's why her cowl is different in this behind the- scenes photo is it's not the one she'll eventually wear when she becomes Batgirl but we'll get back to that in a second the party gets interrupted by killer moth and his goons Barber jumps into action and begins fighting off the goons alongside Bruce and while Killer Moth is able to escape he's eventually incinerated by Firefly who knew he was on The bry's Hit List and took him out in order to get back in their good graces as the Bry try to
tie up any and all loose ends in their plan to go legit Barbara empowered by the experience of fighting criminals breaks into the evidence Locker at Gotham PD and seals an old batarang as well as Catwoman's cowl which she uses to make her own cowl after making her bat suit she goes on patrol for the first time eventually running into Batman who cautions her about being a vigilante as he turns to leave she covertly steals one of his grappling guns believing Firefly is the one who killed her mother Barbara begins to investigate him which leads
her to the Bry crime family where she meets the son of the head of the family Anthony bressie who's working to help Gotham's homeless who live in the sewers as she begins to develop feelings for Anthony it threatens her relationship with Jason when she returns home she finds Firefly there trying to tell her dad and discovers that Firefly used to be a firefighter she's able to stop him before he flees then she heads to the Gotham fire department for answers where she confronts the corrupt head of the Gotham fire department and learns that she sent
Firefly to kill Jim that fateful night but his wife Barbara's mom was there instead Barbara then goes to Jason to tell him about this as they discover Firefly's plan to burn down Gotham during a mayoral speech by the head of the brasty crime family Firefly kills him with fire burning him alive Batgirl arrives on the scene as does Jason with a fir truck but Firefly commandeers it and escapes while Batgirl chases after him on her bike as fire bursts out from all of the sewer grates eventually the truck crashes revealing an opening leading to an
underground Village for the homeless which a badly injured Firefly descends into Batgirl follows but is held back by Anthony bry's goons and helplessly watches as Anthony shoots Firefly in the head for killing his father not knowing Anthony's role in all of this just yet Batgirl tells him that one day she'll stop him leaving room open for the sequel we cut to Barbara and Jason back together celebrating Christmas as Jim tells Barbara that he feels comfortable with her going out on patrol with the gcpd now but Barbara declines as she secretly plans to use the database
she has access to at her desk job to catch criminals the film ends with Batgirl working from the old Cathedral as Batman arrives and gives her a new armored suit to replace her homemade leather one she accepts as they discuss their shared trauma bonding over it before they jump off the roof together Gliding Over Gotham as watchful protectors and Dark Knights so what went wrong well according to reports of people who were able to attend a test screening of the movie it was apparently really bad and felt like a cheap CWTV show with poor acting
low production values and a very small scope the film is mostly a mob story and crime procedural as Barbara investigates the arson in Gotham Batman is semi-retired and in the short screen time he has serves mainly a summon for Barbara to seek advice from with the mentor mentee dynamic between the two lacking the depth or dynamic seen in the Spider-Man film between Peter and Tony brn and Fraser's performance is apparently good but underwritten reportedly resembling more of a cartoon villain and finally the finale has been described as very small scale and self-contained consisting of a
brief Chase around a few blocks of the city based on these reports combined with now DC Studios co-head Peter saffron calling the film unreleasable suggests it must have been pretty bad thing about it was is it was screened in a garden variety test screen it was the director's cut first cut it it wasn't finished I mean I don't know about you but I don't eat half baked cake and while brenon Frasier is correct that an unfinished cut of badir was scream for test audiences that's generally how test screenings work with unfinished versions of films screened
usually without completed music or effects in order to get audiences feedback during editing to see what changes need to be made and to leave time for re-shoot if necessary at this point Warner Brothers was left with two options either invest additional Millions into the film to try and turn chicken into chicken salad or just write it off Warner Brothers Under Pressure to cut cost ultimately chose to do the latter you know I think it was a business decision I'm going to assume it was a good one I really don't know I don't follow that that
much allegedly DC president Walter Hamada was not even consulted about this and found out at a test screening for Black Adam angering him as he debated resigning not long after ham would be asked to resign anyways as Warner Brothers was eager to find a Kevin feige like presence to shepher the DC Universe eventually hiring Peter saffron and James gun do you think it'll ever be seen have you seen the actual have you seen the fil not for those of you hoping that Batgirl will be released in the future it seems highly unlikely that will ever
happen as Peter saffron who wasn't even running DC at the time has since seen the film and agreed with Warner brother's decision suggesting in the most diplomatic way possible that it was so bad that it would have hurt not only DC but everyone involved in making it as the poor quality of the film would have hindered everyone's careers however the good news is that saffron is on record saying that he and gun plan to include Batgirl in their rebooted DC Cinematic Universe thanks for watching everybody and don't forget to like And subscribe to bullets and
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