‘Batgirl’ Director Explains How The Film Is “A Spaghetti Of Multiverses”

Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which seems to be on a shared path between all of its films and TV series, the folks at DC Films are a bit more scattered. There’s the stuff James Gunn is doing with his “Suicide Squad”/“Peacemaker” misfits, there’s whatever is going on with the “Shazam”/“Black Adam” worlds, which may or may not be connected to the larger DCEU, there’s the dark world of “Joker,” the recently launched world of “The Batman,” and let’s not get started on whatever is going on with “The Flash.” Needless to say, it’s a bit of a continuity mess. And if you’re the filmmakers behind “Batgirl,” seemingly filled with characters that straddle multiple universes and continuities, you turn that mess into spaghetti. Delicious spaghetti.

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In a new interview with The Direct, filmmaker Adil El Arbi, one-half of the directing duo (along with Bilall Fallah) behind “Batgirl,” teased that his upcoming superhero film is going to take bits and pieces of multiple universes and somehow make a coherent, understandable film. 

So, as a quick background, “Batgirl” stars Leslie Grace as the title superhero, Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl. She’s the daughter of Commissioner James Gordon (played in the film by J.K. Simmons) and apparently the understudy of Batman (played by Michael Keaton). The problem with this? Well, Michael Keaton is part of Tim Burton’s 1989 ‘Batman’ world, and Simmons is part of Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” world. And those two worlds don’t co-exist…yet.

And if you’re looking for El Arbi to provide an explanation, he’s not entirely sure how it is all going to work out himself. Or so he says. The filmmaker teased that DC Films has a plan… hopefully.

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“Well you know, we’d sort of give the same answer, because we would also ask, ‘Oh, you have J.K. Simmons from the Snyderverse and we got Michael Keaton from the Burton-verse. What’s the situation there?’ And they would say, ‘Don’t worry about it. We got a plan,’” said El Arbi. “They never really explained that aspect to us, but I guess you’re gonna have to see the other movies to understand what happens, why the reason is that we ended up in sort of a spaghetti of Multiverses in that aspect. It’s gonna be a delicious spaghetti, I’m sure of that.”

Now, if you are following the goings-on at DC Films, you know that “The Flash” seems to be the film that is expected to somehow bring some sort of coherence to this whole situation. That film is expected to find its superhero messing around with time travel and visiting various alternate versions of reality, including one that includes Keaton’s Batman. You have to assume the end result of “The Flash” will rewrite a bit of DCEU history and perhaps explain the mixing of universes in “Batgirl.”

The problem? Well, “The Flash” has been delayed a ton and isn’t expected to be released until June 23, 2023. “Batgirl” currently doesn’t have a release date, but it would make sense that the film won’t arrive until after “The Flash,” right?

If you’ve been able to follow along with this whole discussion, then congrats! Most people are likely going to be confused as hell. Hopefully, the higher-ups at DC Films do have a plan and it will all make more sense soon enough.