Batgirl lives in a new fan trailer that sees Jenna Ortega taking on the role of the titular heroine in her Gotham City adventure that never was. As one of the stars of the moment, Ortega could be a perfect choice to play Barbara Gordon in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU continuity, but for now she is just a piece of cleverly constructed wishful thinking from KH Studio.

Like many before it, the partially AI-generated trailer is an impressive, if slightly imperfect, feat, and gives a good idea of what the Wednesday star could look like in the role of Batgirl. If Gunn and Safran are looking for a little inspiration on that front, then they could well find it in the video that has gone viral with DC fans, drawing in over a million views in its first five days. With a blend of some AI-generated and deepfake impressions of Ortega as Barbara Gordon, Dark Knight-esque sound design, and some clever editing, the trailer has sparked an idea of the casting becoming a reality in the future. Check out the video and decide for yourself below.

Although this is clearly not a project heading to cinemas anytime soon, the inclusion of clips featuring the ever-popular JK Simmons as Jim Gordon and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, the end result is impressive in its execution and sparks the question of who could actually play Batgirl the next time she is seen on screen.

Batgirl Almost Had a Chance to Shine in 2023

The resurgence of interest in Batgirl comes amidst lingering disappointment over the canceled movie directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. The film, which was tossed back and forth between being a potential theatrical release and a streaming exclusive for months before finally biting the dust, would have seen Leslie Grace take on the role of Batgirl. What made the cancelation even harder to take was the inclusion of Michael Keaton reprising his role as Batman, and Brendan Fraser as Firefly.

Falling foul of Warner Bros. Discovery’s brutal tax write-offs, Batgirl’s cancelation proved to be a harbinger of doom for the entire DCEU franchise, which was subsequently wrapped up as a new era for the comic book saga came into being with the creation of DC Studios and the installment of Gunn and Safran as the new keepers of the DC flame.

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While this fan-made trailer for Batgirl is just a speculative project, its viral success proves that there is still a lot of love out there for the character. So far, there has been no indication that Batgirl will be a feature of the new DCU, especially in her own project, but with the new regime just getting started, there will be plenty of opportunity for Batgirl to soar again, somewhere down the line.

You can see directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah discussing their lost Batgirl project while talking to MovieWeb about their movie, Rebel.