Biggest Unanswered Questions In Birds Of Prey
While Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is the focus of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) and the movie is told completely from her colorfully twisted point of view, we have the chance to meet a whole cast of fully realized characters — many of whom, in their own ways, prove just as twisted as Quinn or even more. There's the vengeful Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the functioning alcoholic Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), sadistic crime boss Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor), and his bloodthirsty right-hand man Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina).
Along with all these characters and their differently insane ways of looking at the world come rich histories culled from the comic book source material. While Birds of Prey gives us a satisfying and explosive ending, what we know about the characters in their previous incarnations as well as the iconic setting of Gotham City help lead us to a lot of questions about the movie. There are quite a few absences in the film that are never explored, hints dropped about heroes and villains of the past, and what seem like the promise of relationships that aren't fully fleshed out.
Let's take a look at those issues and more with our picks for the biggest unanswered questions in Birds of Prey. WARNING! Lots of SPOILERS follow!
What was the Joker up to during Birds of Prey?
In the beginning of Birds of Prey we learn Joker and Harley have broken up, explaining the Clown Prince of Crime's absence from the film. Still, we're curious about what Joker would have been doing during the events of Birds of Prey, particularly considering the nature of what happens. Once word gets out that Harley is no longer under Joker's protection, it spreads fast. Soon the cops, Black Mask's men, and every thug who ever lived through Harley's abuses is out to get their pound of flesh.
Our point? Well, if it takes less than 24 hours for all of Gotham to know that Harley Quinn just grew a target on her head, then Joker must have heard about it all too. In most likelihood he would know all about Sionis capturing Quinn, the hunt for the Bertinelli diamond, and Quinn's dust-up with the cops and everyone else in the G.C.P.D.
Assuming he does know what's happening between Harley and Black Mask, he probably sees it as a win-win — either Harley kills a potential rival of Joker's, or Sionis cuts off one of Joker's loose threads (Harley) for him. Joker would likely be content to sit back and let the carnage unfold.
Where was Batman during Birds of Prey?
With Ben Affleck setting aside the role of Batman and the status of DCEU's shared narrative being somewhat uncertain, it probably isn't a huge surprise that the Dark Knight doesn't make an appearance in Birds of Prey. Still, considering most of the film takes place in Gotham City, it's natural to wonder exactly why he's absent.
Early in Birds of Prey, Harley Quinn destroys the Ace Chemicals plant where both her and her "Puddin'" gained their clown-skin complexions. The resulting explosions make the destruction of the plant in 1989's Batman look like a grade school science experiment in comparison. Harley assaults over a dozen cops in the GCPD, lets a bunch of prisoners loose, and has a violent tussle with armed bikers in the evidence room (which may very well have made every piece of evidence there inadmissible). There's a killer on the loose (Huntress) murdering mobsters with a crossbow, and eventually the clash between Harley and Black Mask erupts into a full-scale war in Amusement Mile.
All things being equal, Batman should have shown up at some point during the events of Birds of Prey but only if he were able. The most likely narrative explanation is that he was working with the Justice League outside Gotham. Otherwise there's no way this much could go down in Gotham without him getting involved.
WIll Renee Montoya become The Question after Birds of Prey?
At the end of Birds of Prey we learn Renee Montoya, Huntress, and Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) have joined forces to become a more permanent version of the titular crimefighting team. We see a quick shot of them fighting together, but from what we see Montoya isn't doing anything special to hide her identity. It makes us wonder if she'll ever take on the role she's assumed in the comics — as the Question.
In DC Comics, Renee Montoya is recruited by the original Question — Vic Sage — shortly after she quits the GCPD to help fight a criminal organization called Intergang. Sage eventually succumbs to cancer and Montoya succeeds him as the Question. She continues to use the name as well as the faceless mask, even though Vic Sage is alive and well once more in the comics.
Will Montoya eventually become the Question? Well, if she's going to keep beating up criminals with the other Birds of Prey, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to wear some kind of mask. Otherwise, it won't be long before every crook in Gotham knows her address.
How did Black Canary get her powers?
One of the more compelling characters in Birds of Prey is Dinah Lance, a.k.a. Black Canary. We meet her first as a singer in Sionis' club and eventually she's promoted to his driver. Shortly afterward, Renee Montoya comes calling and their exchange reveals something interesting. Montoya brings up Lance's mother, who apparently at one time assisted the GCPD. Montoya urges Lance to be more like her mother, which prompts Lance to remind Montoya that her mother was murdered without any police there to help her. Montoya insists whatever happened to Lance's mother wouldn't have happened on her watch.
The exchange hints at a lot of things while bringing up a lot of questions. We're never told exactly how Black Canary gets her sonic powers. The Montoya/Lance exchange implies that perhaps Lance was born with the abilities and that her mother had them before her. Perhaps her mother actually used the name Black Canary before her death, and perhaps she was a crimefighter. It's easy to assume those things, but none of it is confirmed.
Even if we can safely assume Lance got her powers from her mother, we don't know how her mother got her abilities. The origin of the comic book Black Canary has been changed several times. In some versions, her sonic powers are magical in nature. In others, they're the results of experiments. Birds of Prey ends without us knowing exactly where Lance's scream comes from.
Why is Captain Boomerang wanted in Gotham?
During Harley's assault on the GCPD, we get a nice little Easter egg. While leaving a room, Harley notices a Wanted poster and says, "Hey, I know that guy!" She knows him because they helped save the world together. The professional crook on the poster is none other than Captain Boomerang, the Aussie criminal from 2016's Suicide Squad.
Choosing Boomerang as the wanted man is interesting for a couple of reasons. For one, while Joker springs Harley out of Belle Reeve at the end of Suicide Squad, Boomerang's still a prisoner. So, if four years later he's a wanted man in Gotham, it suggests either he's already been released, or he escaped. It's just as interesting that this Wanted poster appears in Gotham. Captain Boomerang's usual stomping ground is Central City, which is why it's Ezra Miller's Flash who nabs him in Suicide Squad.
One intriguing possibility is that Boomerang wasn't released and didn't escape. Perhaps he's still working for Amanda Waller's Task Force X. Maybe his work for "The Wall" recently brought him to Gotham, and the local authorities weren't informed. It wouldn't be the first time Waller kept her team's work a secret.
Why hasn't Waller recaptured Harley?
In a mid-credits scene in Suicide Squad, Amanda Waller tells Bruce Wayne that he should "stop working nights," implying that she knows he's Batman. If Waller has the kind of resources to unearth that secret, then how could Harley Quinn's actions in Birds of Prey possibly stay off her radar?
Amanda Waller is not someone who likes it when her pawns are taken away from her without permission. When Joker breaks Harley Quinn out of Belle Reeve at the end of Suicide Squad, the breakout would almost definitely be followed by a massive attempt to get Quinn back. It's likely she would eventually resort to unleashing the rest of Task Force X to retrieve her. And let's face it — Harley doesn't exactly make herself tough to find. She walks around in broad daylight in Gotham City, robbing grocery stores and crying over lost breakfast sandwiches.
It seems likely if Waller wanted Harley back in Belle Reeve, she'd be in Belle Reeve. Maybe in the upcoming The Suicide Squad we'll learn exactly why Waller stays her hand. One possibility? Waller might naturally assume that with Joker and Harley's bizarre relationship, having Harley on Task Force X will always invite Joker's attention. Maybe between Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey, she decides the risks aren't worth the rewards.
What's the nature of the relationship between Sionis and Zsasz?
Roman Sionis and Victor Zsasz have a strange relationship in Birds of Prey. Zsasz is Roman's right-hand man and is utterly loyal to him. He also seems to love pushing Roman toward darker urges (though, admittedly, he doesn't have to do that much pushing). While we never see any blatant romance between the characters, there are a number of scenes when they get very close and when Zsasz in particular expresses a simmering passion for Sionis — though it isn't clear if that passion is sexual or part of Zsasz's obsession with Sionis' violence.
We never get a clear answer and both are dead before the credits roll, so it's likely we never will. There was a partial answer from the actors themselves in late January 2020. Speaking with Variety, Ewan McGregor first said the villains' relationship was "very complicated" and then eventually it was "more than likely" that they were gay. Those answers weren't enough for some fans, who accused the actors of "queerbaiting," i.e. marketing characters as possibly gay while failing to solidly represent gay people on the screen.
How are things going to work now between Harley and the Birds of Prey?
The first time we hear the team of women being referred to as the "Birds of Prey," Harley isn't a part of it. In the resolution, she tells us while she and Cassandra formed their own business after pawning the Bertinelli Diamond, the other three women formed a crimefighting trio they call the Birds of Prey.
Which begs the question of exactly what the relationship will be now between Harley and the women she formed a brief, but successful alliance with. On one hand, Harley more than proves in the final battle against Sionis and his army of goons that she can be counted on in a tight spot.
On the other hand, considering her career trajectory, it seems pretty likely that if Harley and the Birds of Prey ever cross paths, they won't be on the same side. She may have genuinely enjoyed her time with her new friends, but her alliance with them is still largely one of circumstance and convenience. Add to that her theft of Dinah's car and the fact that she is now unquestionably contributing to the delinquency of a minor (Cassie), and it'd be tough to blame the Birds of Prey if they choose not to pull their punches next time they see Harley.
What was Harley going to tell us about Batman?
If you stuck around until all the credits rolled, then you know there was no Birds of Prey post-credits scene, though there was post-credits audio. Harley tells us we deserve something for sticking around for so long and promises to reveal a secret. She says "Did you know Batman f–" and then the audio cuts out.
We don't know for sure exactly what "secret" Harley was going to reveal, but it seems the most likely candidate can be found in DC Universe's Harley Quinn animated series. The cartoon includes a lot of violence and profanity you wouldn't expect in, say, the '90s Batman: The Animated Series. One recurring joke in the series — starting as early as the series premiere "'Til Death Do Us Part" — is Harley's insistence that Batman does very inappropriate things with bats. Considering the very noticeable F sound Harley makes before her post-credits audio cuts out, we're guessing if we heard the whole thing it would echo her animated counterpart's beliefs.
Sure, it could have been "Batman facilitates justice," but we're not betting too much of our paycheck on that one.
What really happened to Bruce?
If Harley Quinn treated people in Birds of Prey with half as much love as she doles out to her pet hyena Bruce, there'd hardly be a drop of blood in the entire movie. Harley worries Bruce has gone the way of Old Yeller when a bounty-hungry goon launches an explosive into her apartment window and she can't find the animal. But at the end Bruce returns, and Harley says she found him wandering around Chinatown.
Bruce isn't exactly the most central figure to the plot of Birds of Prey, but there is something undeniably strange about his disappearance and miraculous return. He looks to be right in the blast of the bomb when that jerk lobs it into Harley's place. But he survives and — in spite of being savagely protective of Harley — just walks around Gotham? A huge hyena with a pink studded collar? And no one notices him?
Maybe we're reading too much into things, but it's difficult to not be reminded of Harley's beaver Bernie. Bernie is not only a beaver but he's the corpse of a beaver and, if the films echo the comics, Harley has full conversations with him, yet she's the only one who can hear his dialogue. Considering that, we can't help but wonder whether maybe at the end of Birds of Prey, Bruce is another companion that only Harley knows is there.