DCEU’s Birds of Prey: Casting Oracle, Black Canary and Huntress

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 04: Sophie Cookson speaks about the new Netflix show ‘Gypsy’ at BUILD LDN at AOL London on July 4, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)

Barbara Gordon/Oracle Part 2

3. Sophie Cookson

Sophie Cookson is a 27-year old fresh-faced actress with a thin but conducive resume to warrant the role of Barbara Gordon. Cookson is mostly known for her role as Roxanne aka Roxy in the Kingsman series. As Roxy, in Kingsman: The Secret Service, she was one of the 10 candidates for the position of Lancelot. Roxy was one of the better candidates who excelled at everything except jumping out the plane. One of the qualities about her character that sticks out other than her sheer badassery is that she’s a character whose sure of herself and skills which made her a fan favorite.

Those are the qualities needed to play Barbara Gordon some of which she once again brought while portraying Pippa in The Huntsman: Winters War. On the Netflix series Gypsy, she plays a totally different role as a seductress lead singer of a band named Sydney. Fans can watch Cookson reprise her role as Roxy in Kingsman: The Golden Circle should they want to see her looking Oracle-like. 

2. Alicia Vikander 

Alicia Vikander burst onto the scene in 2015 with an excellent portrayal of a humanoid robot in Ex Machina. Vikander once again proved just how talented she was as she costarred alongside Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl. Of course neither of those roles exactly lent themselves to why we thought she’d make a great Black Canary, but her role a Tomb Raider did. While the movie wasn’t what many expected to be, Vikander was. As Lara Croft Vikander was captivating and makes Lara her on character which earned her solid reviews from critics, like Variety.

"“In “Tomb Raider,” she doesn’t come off as an action star. She comes off as an imploring, impulsive young woman who’s in over her head but will beat the odds anyway. Her Lara may be the most grounded and believable cinematic video-game protagonist I’ve seen since we buy her as a person.”"

In Tomb Raider she proved that she could be more than just a great actress in drama films. Now with an action film under her belt and megastar potential, the DCEU would be wise to snatch her up especially as Barbra Gordon.  

1. Jane Levy

Jane Levy has the look to play Barbra Gordon and it’s part of the reason why she’s a fan favorite to land the role. She has the girl next door look with ginger hair and at 28, she’s the perfect age to play Barbara, who was a young adult when she joined Batman. But it’s not all about the features when it comes to the young actress, as evident by her dark role as Mandy in Season 1 of Shameless. In 2013 she was even darker staring in Fede Álvarez’s horror remake Evil Dead where she really turned heads as the troubled Mia who gets posses by an evil spirit.

Those roles were enough to prove that she was capable of playing roles far more serious than she had played as the out of place teen from Manhattan in the short-lived series, Suburgatory. In 2016, Levy once again teamed with Álvarez as the lead actress in Don’t Breathe and earned critical praise for her role. Her work earned her praise from Vulture’s Jordan Crucchiola who praises Levy for her work and thought that Hollywood should cast the young actress in a big-time role. We think she’d make the perfect Barbra Gordon in the DCEU. http://www.vulture.com/2017/01/time-for-jane-levy-to-have-a-breakout-year.html