Batgirl Directors Adil El Arbi And Bilall Fallah Didn’t Know Why Michael Keaton And J.K. Simmons Were Playing Batman And James Gordon In Their Movie

JB Augustine |

Jul 20, 2022

In another case that leads us to believe Warner Bros. had no idea what to do with the DCEU under the old regime, it’s coming to light that they didn’t brief Batgirl’s directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah on their Multiverse-colliding plans.

They were left with a few questions such as what Michael Keaton, the Batman of Tim Burton’s films, and J.K. Simmons who played Commissioner Gordon — Batgirl’s dad — in the Snyderverse were doing in their film.

“We would also ask, ‘Oh, you have J.K. Simmons from the Snyderverse and we got Michael Keaton from the Burton-verse. What’s the situation there?’” El Arbi explained in an exclusive with The Direct.

To allay their fears, El Arbi recalls, Warner told them, “Don’t worry about it. We got a plan,” specifying that the studio “never really explained that aspect to us,” referring to Batgirl’s Multiversity.

Why timelines and dimensions become so mixed gets explained in The Flash where, as spoilers indicate, variants of Barry Allen (all played by Ezra Miller create a Flashpoint scenario that reshuffles the continuity and brings old characters into Batgirl’s reality.

“I guess you’re gonna have to see the other movies to understand what happens, why the reason is that we ended up in sort of a spaghetti of Multiverses in that aspect. It’s gonna be a delicious spaghetti, I’m sure of that,” El Arbi said.

To make the explaining easier on viewers, The Flash was supposed to come out first and lead into Batgirl’s streaming premiere on HBO Max. That was the original plan when both movies were meant to release at the end of this year, but The Flash was soon pushed back to next June.

This unexpected change left Batgirl in a Christmas season slot without clarity for a bit, until Warner’s new commanders from Discovery decided to delay the movie as well. The film is likely to see release at some point in 2023.

However, Ezra Miller’s neverending tumult of troubles and accusations has put The Flash in jeopardy.

If he does something more rash than ever or unforgivable between now and next summer, his film might have to be pulled. And even if he doesn’t, the film is a money pit that could predictably come out as a loss to the tune of hundreds of millions for Warner Discovery.

NEXT: Batgirl Movie Now Rumored For A Theatrical Release