Batgirl (film)

**Batgirl** is a 2017 superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name. It is also a spin-off of *Batman 2*. It was written by Christopher Nolan and directed by Joss Whedon. It stars Katie Cassidy, Jack O'Connell, Jon Hamm, Alexa PenaVega, Tom Cruise, and Kenneth Branagh. The film ran 135 minutes and was released on March 3, 2017.

## Plot

Five years after *Batman 2*, Barbara Gordon/Batgirl and Dick Grayson/Nightwing have moved to Keystone City where they have taken up protecting the city. Harvey Bullock of the Gotham City Police Department has transferred to Keystone and regularly helps Batgirl and Nightwing. Barbara is now a desk worker at the KCPD where she has befriended Detective Ivy Pam, who is obsessed with plants. One day in spring, Barbara's father, Jim Gordon, comes down for a week-long visit. Dick decides to finally propose to Barbara, and gets the blessing of Jim. However, just as he is about to, Gordon gets a call from Diana Prince, the Director of A.R.G.U.S., alerting him that the Joker has escaped custody and has been spotted in the Keystone area.

Dick puts his proposal on hold to catch the Joker with Barbara. The heroes find the Joker in a chemical factory, Ace Chemicals. He is pushed into a vat of acid and presumed dead. However, he shows up the next day, without a scar. Nightwing and Batgirl decide to get the help of the KCPD and Gordon to catch Joker. However, Barbara, Dick, Gordon, and Bullock are all put through mental and physical tortures in the Joker's game. Barbara is shot, paralyzed, and raped by the Joker, Dick is put through a maze to find Barbara's torture room, Bullock must complete several complicated tasks or else he loses a limb, while Gordon is forced to watch live video of Barbara being tortured.

In the end, Barbara is left permenantly paralyzed in a wheelchair, Dick suffers from brain damage after being drowned in the maze, Bullock has lost both arms and a leg, while Gordon is left with a form of PTSD from his event. Barbara comes up with the new superhero name, Oracle, working from a desk and a computer. Dick tries to go out into the field again as Nightwing but is severely confused and unable to do simple tasks. Bullock does not want new arms or legs and is forced to retire from the force, while Gordon is admitted into a mental hospital for the time being. The Joker, thinking he has won, begins taking over Keystone's underworld. However, Ivy, learning of Barbara's secret identity, works with her to find the Joker. Ivy then tries to kill him, though he exposes her to deadly plants and the acid he was dumped into.

Ivy wakes up several days later with the powers of controlling plants and a deadly kiss. Ivy uses her powers to express her inner desires, which first includes her secret love for Barbara, kissing her, which sends Barbara into shock due to Ivy's powers. Ivy is able to defeat the Joker, though her powers get the best of her and she becomes the supervillain, Poison Ivy. Barbara survives and finds the engagement ring Dick had. Despite everything that has happened in the past week, she accepts his engagement. Gordon is able to snap out of his situation and goes back to Gotham. Ivy is also arrested by the force and sent to Arkham Asylum, while the Joker is sent back to A.R.G.U.S. custody. In a mid-credits scene, Barbara sets up the technological company, Oracle.

## Cast

* Katie Cassidy as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl
* Jack O'Connell as Dick Grayson/Nightwing
* Jon Hamm as the Joker
* Alexa PenaVega as Ivy Pam/Poison Ivy
* Tom Cruise as Harvey Bullock
* Kenneth Branagh as Jim Gordon

Gal Gadot makes a cameo appearance as Diana Prince.

## Reception

### **Box office**

*Batgirl* grossed $327.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $370.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $698.1 million.

### **Critical reception**

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 85% based on 288 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted and fiendishly frightening with an emotionally affecting story at its core, *Batgirl* begins a new division of DCEU R-rated films." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.