ROSIE PEREZ as Renee Montoya, MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD as Huntress, MARGOT ROBBIE as Harley Quinn, ELLA JAY BASCO as Cassandra Cain and JURNEE SMOLLETT-BELL as Black Canary in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN),” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Claudette Barius

Things We Saw Today: We Now Kinda Know the Plot of Birds of Prey

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We won’t see the full film until February 2020, but today we know a little bit more about the actual plot of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). After a trailer that left us interested but not quite sure what the story would be, the official instagram for the film has launched a fan art contest which includes a pretty clear rundown of the plot.

Here’s what it says:

You ever hear the one about the cop, the songbird, the psycho and the mafia princess?Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is a twisted tale told by Harley herself, as only Harley can tell it. When Gotham’s most nefariously narcissistic villain, Roman Sionis, and his zealous right-hand, Zsasz, put a target on a young girl named Cass, the city is turned upside down looking for her. Harley, Huntress, Black Canary and Renee Montoya’s paths collide, and the unlikely foursome have no choice but to team up to take Roman down.

For those that aren’t steeped in comics lore, Roman Sionis is the human name of supervillain Black Mask. Black Mask is a foe of Batman in the comics, but like the line up of the Birds here (which didn’t include Harley in the first comics either), we’re straying from the source material here.

What’s more interesting is that it looks like the story will, as is alluded to in the trailer, be told from the perspective of Harley Quinn herself. That makes sense. This very much seems to be a movie about Harley finding her confidence and her voice and we have two characters joining her whose comic origins at least have a lot to do wit their voices: Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) whose voice is her weapon, and Cass Cain (Ella Jay Basco) who in the comics was trained to fight before she was allowed to speak.

Will Harley and co. be on a mission to emancipate another girl from a narcissistic man who wants to keep her voiceless? Will she be narrating the whole film in that, uh, interesting accent? Could be, and it’s certainly got our interest.

Here’s a few other things that caught our eye today:

  • A South Dakota woman decided Sarah Dessen YA books weren’t good enough for a curriculum and the author and allies aren’t having it. (Via Jezebel).
  • Oliver Queen’s tech girl Friday was initially supposed to be a guy Friday. (Via CBR)
  • Patrick Wilson’s Ocean Master will be back in Aquaman 2. (via GeekyRant)
  • We stan one (1) perfect couple.

  • Nebula is getting her own comic! (Via Refinery 29)
  • These Good Omens fan made sculptures are AMAZING!

  • Daisy Ridley when asked to describe The Rise of Skywalker in three words, gave four: “Dark…scary…sad…joyful.” (via EW)
  • Gail Simone is the most powerful woman on Twitter. She got #BestCartoonThemeSongs trending and people have thoughts. (via AV Club).
  • Dogs. Man.

That’s it! We’re officially halfway through November! It’s forty days until Christmas! But more importantly: it’s the end of the week! Congrats to all of us for making it through.

(via ComicBookMovie.com; image: Claudette Barius/Warner Brothers)

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Jessica Mason
Jessica Mason (she/her) is a writer based in Portland, Oregon with a focus on fandom, queer representation, and amazing women in film and television. She's a trained lawyer and opera singer as well as a mom and author.