New “Birds of Prey” Movie Poster Has Released & I Continue to be Worried

A new poster for the upcoming Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) movie has been released. Considering the featured imagery, I wouldn’t be surprised if such a DC Comics-based film ends up being a complete mess.

Even if you’re looking forward to watching Birds of Prey, you can’t deny the fact there’s something going on behind-the-scenes. Warner Bros. had to call in John Wick director Chad Stahelski to help rework the action sequences. Major reshoots are also being done. Something isn’t right with this movie, and the poster is no different.

On the very first look, I can kind of understand it coming across as quite appealing. Margot Robbie looks amazing in the image. Having the rest of the characters flying around Harley Quinn’s head is very on-brand.

But on closer inception, there’s a whole lot that’s wrong with the poster (in my opinion).

I’m going to ask a simple question and I want you to be unbiased about it.

How many characters (except for Harley Quinn) do you think the general audience is going to recognize from such a poster?

Even comic book fans are going to need some time to figure out which characters are going to be part of this film (if they haven’t been following the casting announcements).

While some might be able to recognize Huntress (because of her crossbow), Black Canary looks nothing like her comic book counterpart. At least have some similarity in the costume or show her using one of her screaming attacks?

The same goes for Cassandra Cain.

Also, I’ve already written about the Black Mask being a stereotypical gay villain in the upcoming film. The way actor Ewan McGregor is posing in the poster makes me think we should get ready for a campy gay guy because campy queers were definitely what’s missing from Hollywood. Sigh!

The film will feature Renee Montoya in a relationship with another woman. So, that might help with some damage control, I guess? I have no idea at this point.

And is it just me, or are some of these characters aren’t even flying correctly? McGregor looks like he was standing on a flat surface and they tilted the image a bit to make it seem as if he’s flying.

At least have the actors use an actual harness for better quality promotional images if you’re going for a flying-birds theme in the poster. What type of marketing is this?

I want Birds of Prey to do well. We need more women-centric superhero films.

But with the rumors about Robbie stealing the Birds of Prey title and making sure well-known characters (Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Barbara Gordon) aren’t a part of it, deliberately reimagining certain characters to ensure Robbie’s Harley Quinn shines, and likely problematic queer representation, this movie already has a lot working against it.

Why not just call it Harley Quinn & Friends! or The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn instead of using a well-liked brand name in the DC Comics’ fandom and changing it in a manner that might alienate certain fans?

Let’s see what happens when Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) releases in the U.S. on February 7, 2020.

Apparently, it isn’t an expensive superhero movie. So, not dealing with the pressure of needing to break box office records might work in this film’s favor (in the long run) as far as profitability is concerned.

Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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