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Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
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Harley Quinn is back in theaters, and this time she’s brought a few friends along for the mayhem. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is more than just a mouthful: it’s a team-up movie starring one of DC Comics’ most beloved super teams. Sure, the comic book version stars Oracle (the hero formerly known as Batgirl) along with Huntress and Black Canary, but Margot Robbie’s the executive producer and an Oscar-nominated mega star whose tenacity got Birds of Prey greenlit. So sure, now Birds of Prey stars Harley Quinn (and we’re still waiting on a better big screen version of Batgirl).
Along for the ride are Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), as well as Rosie Perez as GCPD detective Renee Montoya. But this is far from the first time that Huntress and Black Canary have headed up a badass team of women crimefighters. The Birds of Prey debuted in DC Comics way back in 1996, and it didn’t take long for the franchise to soar onto screens (albeit small ones). Of course, it did take a while for a live-action adaptation of the team to get the kind of attention that comes along with starring in a Margot Robbie vehicle. With Birds of Prey opening in theaters across the world, it’s finally time for this team to really take off!
If you’re curious about the history of the Birds of Prey on TV, you’ve come to the right place. Below you’ll find info on the team’s history in live-action and animated TV. And if you want to know where to stream Suicide Squad, the film’s big screen precursor, we also have you covered. Got it? Then get into it.
'Birds of Prey' (2002)
A decade before the Arrow-verse took over the CW, DC Comics tested the waters with a live-action TV adaptation of the popular Birds of Prey comic series. Like most iterations of BoP, the WB series focused on a trio of crimefighting women: Huntress (Ashley Scott), quasi-Black Canary (Rachel Skarsten), and Oracle (Dina Meyer). Fun fact: Lori Loughlin of Full House and college admissions scandal fame guest starred as the original Black Canary! Harley Quinn (Mia Sara) even had a recurring gig on the show as Huntress’ psychiatrist and the secret big bad pulling all of the strings. The show was steeped in DC Comics lore (Batman and Joker appear briefly, and Alfred is a recurring character!), but it didn’t take flight. The show only lasted 13 episodes.
Stream Birds of Prey on DC Universe
'Justice League Unlimited,' "Double Date" (2005)
Gail Simone, the comic book writer that helped shape the Birds of Prey series for years, was brought on to write a—what else?—Birds of Prey-inspired episode of the animated Justice League series. In her initial draft, Batgirl enlisted Huntress and Black Canary to run a mission for her while she was cooped up at home. But due to the Bat-embargo that prohibited any Batman-related character from popping up anywhere else while Christopher Nolan’s movie trilogy unfolded, Batgirl had to be nixed from the episode. So instead, the episode follows Huntress as she teams up with The Question and Black Canary as she partners with Green Arrow.
Stream Justice League Unlimited on DC Universe
'Batman: The Brave and the Bold,' "The Mask of Matches Malone!" (2010)
BoP MVP Gail Simone returned to animation to write an episode of Brave and the Bold featuring the team. This time around, the trio included Huntress and Black Canary (obviously), and also Catwoman. With Batman wandering around with amnesia and going by the name Matches Malone, it’s up to this trio to put a stop to Two-Face’s dastardly plot! This episode caused a bit of a commotion when it first aired due to a musical number that some viewers perceived as too hot for kids’ TV.
'Arrow,' "Birds of Prey" (2014)
The team returned to live-action in this Season 2 episode of Arrow… well, kinda? The episode is titled “Birds of Prey” but the team itself doesn’t appear. Really, “Birds of Prey” seems to be the title writers throw around when Huntress and Black Canary appear together, as they do here. In this continuity, Huntress (Jessica De Gouw) is a tough vigilante out for revenge and the Canary (Caity Lotz) is an assassin and also Arrow’s not-so-dead ex. This ep is notable because it’s the only time these two appeared together on Arrow.
Fun coincidence: the Arrow episode before “Birds of Prey” was titled “Suicide Squad.” So the 2020 film is the second time that Birds of Prey has followed Suicide Squad.
