Posted in: TV | Tagged: Birds of Prey (2002), Dina Meyer, Warner Bros

Birds of Prey Star Dina Meyer Shares Batgirl Look from 2002 WB Series

Dina Meyer shared a behind-the-scenes look at her Batgirl costume from when she played Barbara Gordon/Oracle in The WB's Birds of Prey.

Published Fri, 24 Jan 2025 10:45:07 -0600

by Tom Chang

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It's hard to imagine how far along the live-action portion of the Batman universe has come in its 80+ years on screen since the 1943 original serial. As we dive through the decades of the Caped Crusader, several projects have featured the main character with the 1989 Tim Burton Batman as the foundation of how fun and serious the superhero can be. Unfortunately, the live-action franchise experienced burnout with its fourth theatrical entry in the stretch with Joel Schumacher's Batman & Robin (1997). Its box office failure forced Warner Bros. to re-evaluate the hero as a viable commodity on the big screen. Before Christopher Nolan's take in 2005's Batman Begins that would spark the Dark Knight Trilogy, the studio attempted two projects that featured characters within that realm but did not prominently feature Bruce Wayne/Batman himself, with Birds of Prey being one of them. Star Dina Meyer took to social media to share a behind-the-scenes photo of her in the Batgirl costume from the short-lived WB series.

Birds of Prey Star Dina Meyer Shares Batgirl Photo from 2002 WB Series — Dina Meyer in Birds of Prey (2002). Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

Birds of Prey Star Dina Meyer Offers Batgirl Reminder

Long before the 2020 Margot Robbie-starred film, WB attempted to adapt the Chuck Dixon-created comic into a live-action series from Laeta Kalogridis, who was largely unknown then with uncredited script revisions of Scream 3 (2000), X-Men (2000), and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). The premise of Birds of Prey is an alternate story in which Batman decides to abandon Gotham City, rebranded "New Gotham." His legacy inspired three heroines in his and Selena Kyle's daughter Huntress/Helene Kyle (Ashley Scott), Barbara Gordon/Batgirl/Oracle (Meyer), and Dinah Redmond (Rachel Skarsten) to pick up his mantle to fight crime in his stead.

The Starship Troopers star shared a picture in costume, writing, "I'm Batgirl"🦇🦇🦇 #ThrowbackThursday #BirdsofPrey #Batgirl #dccomics." The costume was a repurposed and redesigned costume previously worn by B&R star Alicia Silverstone, but unfortunately, for the purpose of the narrative, fans wouldn't see anything outside of a few flashbacks because the Kalogridis series adapted Barbara's fate from the 1988 Alan Moore comic The Killing Joke where Joker, voiced by Mark Hamill and physically by Roger Stoneburner, gunned her down at her apartment, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. With her desire for crime fighting still intact, she took on a new persona as Oracle, providing field operations and tactical information, as Alfred Pennyworth did for Bruce Wayne when he was Batman-ing, for Huntress and Dinah, metahumans with superpowers.

Huntress had cat-like agility since Selena Kyle was written as a metahuman, and Dinah also inherited her abilities as the daughter of Black Canary (Lori Loughlin). Not only did it help pave the way for the possibility of other heroes who are just as capable of saving Gotham without any assistance from Batman, but it also allowed fans to see Harley Quinn (Mia Sara) as an actual main villain rather than a second banana with Stockholm Syndrome to "Mr. J."

Meyer and Scott returned to cameo in The CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths. Skarsten would return to DC in The CW live-action Batwoman series as the villain, Beth Kane. Kalogridis would go on to create the dystopian sci-fi series Netflix's Altered Carbon and write the screenplay for James Cameron's Alita: Battle Angel (2019). Birds of Prey walked so that Titans, Doom Patrol, Gotham, and Arrowverse could run. Birds of Prey is available on digital, but surprisingly not on Max.