Even before the movie hit theaters, Warner Bros. was positioning Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn as Suicide Squad’s breakout star. That push included a ton of marketing, a bunch of Halloween costumes, and even some strong hints that the character would soon be getting a standalone film, with Robbie signing on as a producer. As it turns out, though, those reports were a little premature; the film in question isn’t actually a solo outing for Robbie’s clown princess of crime. Instead, it’ll be based off of DC Comics’ long-running Birds Of Prey.
As reported by The Wrap, the film will focus on the Gotham-based team of female superheroes, with Black List writer Christina Hodson—also the author of the upcoming Transformers spinoff, Bumblebee—handling scripting duties. Given that none of the regular Birds characters—Black Canary, Huntress, and former-Batgirl-turned-crime-fighting-super-hacker Oracle—have been featured in the DC Extended Universe, the announcement raises a number of questions. First and foremost: Is Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke—in which Batgirl Barbara Gordon is paralyzed by the Joker, kicking off her transformation into Oracle—part of DCEU canon? Will all this backstory, which was hinted at in Batman V. Superman, be covered in Ben Affleck’s upcoming Batman movie? Can Warner Bros. find a way to not make it totally gross?
So far, Robbie is the only actress attached to the film. We’ll presumably know more about the movie’s direction and backstory as the project develops.