Ah, this again. There's been quite the merry-go-round of rumors concerning Jena Malone's role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which now comes to a halt. The truth is no longer out there, it's on a customer satisfaction survey from the Warner Bros. marketing department.
Here's what happened: the studio sent these surveys to customers in the hopes of honing promo materials to include characters people want to see. It also happens to include confirmation of Malone's character. If you don't want to know, then look away, but for everyone else, here's the proof:
As suspected, Malone is playing Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham Police Commissioner James Gordon. This isn't the first time we've heard this. Early rumors suggested she was Carrie Kelley - aka Robin from Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" comic. Several more reports flooded in after that, pegging her as Gordon.
Interestingly, director Zack Snyder commented on the topic when discussing the Ultimate Edition of the movie. He stated flat-out that Malone wasn't playing Robin or Batgirl. Along with Oracle, Batgirl is one of Gordon's identities in the comics. So it looks like we're getting the non-superhero Barbara. Well, on home video that is. Malone won't appear in the theatrical cut but will show up in the R-rated version.
If her scenes are too graphic for the PG-13 version, this certainly makes you wonder what she's involved in. Did Snyder take inspiration from Alan Moore's "The Killing Joke" and have Barbara suffer a barbaric beating from The Joker? We'll find out when the movie hits the shelves.
Directed by Zack Snyder and starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Diane Lane, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Laurence Fishburne, and Amy Adams, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will arrive in UK and US cinemas on March 25, 2016.
Images: Warner Bros. / DC
