Margot Robbie reveals the full title of DC’s upcoming Harley Quinn spinoff, Birds of Prey. Robbie became a pop culture icon her for portrayal of the DC villain in Suicide Squad, which inspired thousands of comic-con geeks, cosplayers, and even Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Halloween costume. Co-starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress and Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, and directed by Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs), Birds of Prey marks the DCEU’s first R-rated and all-female team-led project.

Casting and production announcements for the films have been rapid over the past few months. Fresh face Ella Jay Basco was recently announced to be playing Cassandra Cain, and Ewan McGregor was cast as main bad guy Black Mask. Story details involve Harley Quinn, Huntress, and Black Canary, as well as pursuant Gotham City detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) teaming up to protect Cassandra, who eventually becomes Batgirl in the comics. Winstead, revealed in an interview that the basis of Birds of Prey is following Harley Quinn’s initiative to form a team of her own. The film is slated to begin shooting in January 2019, with the theatrical release aimed for February 2020. It now appears that the premise of Harley Quinn’s transformation into a team leader will be everything fans have hoped for.

Robbie took to Instagram to share the full script title: Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Warner Bros. has since confirmed this is, in fact, the film’s official title, and not Robbie’s annotation for her script copy. Check out the post below:

The post has already gotten over half a million likes from Robbie’s 14.8 million following. The title strongly suggests that Birds of Prey will involve at least part of DC’s 2016 Harley Quinn comic series (featuring the Robbie costume design), in which she leaves the Joker for good.

For many fans, this development is everything they’ve hoped for. Since the character of Harley Quinn was introduced in Batman: The Animated Series, the Joker’s abusive treatment of her has been compared to domestic violence issues. Some fans objected to the Joker/Harley Quinn relationship storyline in Suicide Squad as romanticizing or condoning intimate partner violence. But by looks of it, Birds of Prey definitely marks Harley Quinn’s freedom from prisons imposed by both the Joker and Amanda Waller. It’s likely that she’ll be seen not only as her own kind of hero, but as someone completely in charge of herself. Since fans were first introduced to Robbie’s version of the character dangling from a prison ceiling with Leslie’s Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me” playing in the background, the promise has been a long time coming.

MORE: The DCEU Can Start A New Type Of Shared Universe

Source: Margot Robbie/Instagram

  • Aquaman Release Date: 2018-12-21 Shazam! Release Date: 2019-04-05 Joker Release Date: 2019-10-04 Birds of Prey Release Date: 2020-02-07 Wonder Woman 2 Release Date: 2020-12-25