With all the big theatrical films on the Warner Bros. slate for its DC Comics properties, it’s easy to forget some of the smaller ones in the pipeline. One of those is none other than Batgirl. Played by Leslie Grace, Barbara Gordon will finally make her debut in the DCEU, marking the first Bat-Family member to join the universe in quite some time—the defiled Robin suit notwithstanding.
Given that Barbara is only one part of the large Bat-Family, will fans see any more of the close-knit group show up? Many whispers have pointed towards Dick Grayson showing his face for the first time, but it’s all just been rumors up to this point.
In a new interview with Grace, not only did the actress talk about her role, but she also crossed out at least one potential actor who fans thought could be playing the former Robin in the upcoming film.
Who is Jacob Scipio Playing in Batgirl?
In an interview with E! Online, Batgirl star Leslie Grace talked about her leading character and what it was like to take on the role, while also debunking one popular Robin-related rumor.
Grace confirmed Bad Boys for Life star Jacob Scipio will be playing Anthony Bressi, debunking rumors that the 29-year-old actor would be playing Dick Grayson. Anthony Bressi is a Gotham mob boss who joins Brendan Fraser’s Firefly as the second confirmed antagonist.
Grace first addressed how playing the role of Barbara Gordon as a Latino superhero was “such a beautiful opportunity to be granted and a big responsibility as well:"
"It's such a thing, we haven't seen a lot of Latino superheroes, or actors of Latin descent within the superhero world," Grace, who is Afro-Latina, shared… so it was such a beautiful opportunity to be granted and a big responsibility as well…”
She continued on, talking about how Babs (Barbara Gordon) and her alter-ego are “the heart of [the] movie,” and getting to explore the character showcased the “nuances of life:”
"I will say one of my favorite things about our script and the heart of our movie is that you get to see Babs and this alter-ego that she summons up, Batgirl, vacillate between the nuances of life and good and bad and black and white, and that there so much in between.”
The actress confirmed that the movie is “an investigative story,” one which “drives [Barbara into these crazy situations:”
“At the end of the day, in Gotham, so there's always a case, right? It's kind of like an investigative story, it's a detective story, so she does have a case that drives her into these crazy situations."
Finally, Grace made it clear that audiences will “get to see her grow… and mature” as the story progresses:
"There's not a lot of nuance in her thinking at the beginning of the story, and she gets herself into a lot of these sticky situations and has to discover a lot about parts of herself in order to get herself out of them… so you'll get to see her grow from that kind of perspective of the world and I really, really love that. It's like all your favorite superheroes, you get to see their origin story. You get to see them mature."
No Dick Grayson for Batgirl?
Now, just because Jacob Scipio has been revealed to not be playing Dick Grayson, that doesn’t mean the character isn’t in the movie at all. There are plenty of other actors fans hope to see as Batman’s iconic ally, an example being Dylan O’Brian.
Seeing as Barbara and Dick have a significant relationship in the comics, it would be hard to think the story wouldn’t reference him at all. Even if he doesn’t play a big role in the key conflict of the movie, there are bound to be at least a few references to him. At the very least, there's supposedly a Nightwing movie in development, so hopefully, that's still the case.
For those wondering who Jacob Scipio's Anthony Bressi is, there really isn’t much there in the comics. He was simply an underground crime lord who came up every now and again. His last appearance in the comics was in Batgirl Year One Issue 7, which was released in 2003.
Originally, Batgirl was aiming to hit HBO Max around Christmas this year. However, with the heavy delays of Warner Bros. DC slate, there’s a high probability that it has shifted into next year—likely after The Flash in the summer.
Whenever the film does arrive, hopefully, the wait will have been worth it.
