Though not explicit, as part of the expanded backstory of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, at some point in the film before she’s shot and abused by Joker, Batgirl & Batman have sex. “I don’t remember who initially came up with the idea, but we all kind of jumped on it all at the same time and said, Yeah, that’s kind of where we need to go”. When it comes down to it, Batgirl is still victimized and abused.
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The first clip shows Batman and Batgirl actually hooking up. It was revealed years later that Batgirl was pregnant with Batman’s baby while she was dating Dick Grayson, but she had a miscarriage. “She’s pining over the violence”. Perhaps it has something to do with the father-daughter relationship which fans of the franchise are so used to in Batgirl/Batman interactions. Even if they aren’t now a couple in the comics, there’s definitely the idea that they are eventually destined to get back together and will always love each other, and let’s face it, this would basically be like your father having sex with the love of your life.
“You have talked about how you wanted to give Barbara more story … and yet the story you gave her ended up being about the men in her life”.
Though this R-rated take on the source material is easily one of the most anticipated animated films DC and Warner Bros. have ever put out, it only half lives up to the promise that a Killing Joke movie starring Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy suggests.
The executive producer of The Killing Joke, Bruce Timm, further explained the decision.
Screenwriter Brian Azzarello responded by calling Barbara “stronger than the men in her life in this story”. “Wanna say that again?” Timm argues that Batgirl isn’t really pining over Batman. And then she makes some mistakes and then he kind of overreacts to her mistakes and then she overreacts to his overreaction.
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Fresh off the heels of its July 22 premiere at the San Diego International Comic-Con, exclusive showings of the animated feature, “Batman: The Killing Joke”, will screen at theaters nationwide July 25 and 26 at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET. So it’s very human; it’s a very understandable story. Director Sam Liu has said that this one is about the characters, about the The Joker’s origin story, about the way Batman and his most famous antagonist serve as mirror images of each other.
