Which Gotham Will We See in Birds of Prey?

Everyone knows that a “superhero” story is only as good as its setting, and DC Comics’ Gotham City, aka the home of Batman, is one of the most famous comic book settings of all.

To certain extent, Gotham can be any city, but it is often modeled after New York City, which has had “Gotham” as a nickname since the 19th century. As Birds of Prey gears up for its own depiction of Gotham, we had a chance to chat with star Margot Robbie (aka Harley Quinn) about what kind of Gotham we are in store for.

“We’re exploring the outskirts of Gotham,” Robbie tells Den of Geek and other press outlets gather during a visit to the L.A.-based Birds of Prey set back in March. “If Gotham is New York, we’re not in Manhattan. We’re in Queens or Brooklyn.”

Presumably, Robbie is referring to a pre-gentrified version of Brooklyn or Queens, given that the major villain of the film is Gotham City crime lord Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), but we shall see. It’s not like we haven’t seen the “hip” versions of Gotham City portrayed in comics before, e.g. Burnside of The Batgirl of Burnside fame.

read more: The Year of Harley Quinn & Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey stars a hodgepodge of characters in its ensemble story, and it’s Gotham that brings Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), the Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), and Casandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) all together.

“They’re all from here,” continues Robbie. “It is kind of contained, in the way that there is a smaller community and everyone’s in it and everyone kind of has their roots in this part of town, and therefore want to fight for it. So I think that’s what they have in common.”

Robbie adds that the various members of the ensemble will have different relationships to both the city (with a character like Huntress as a relative “outsider” coming back to town) and to lawfulness (with a character like Renee Montoya as a cop and Harley as, well, not a cop).

That being said, Robbie adds of Gotham: “It’s home for them and they’re fighting, fighting for their community in some way … In a very weird way.”

Birds of Prey hits theaters on February 7th. You can find out more about the film here.

Kayti Burt is a staff editor covering books, TV, movies, and fan culture at Den of Geek. Read more of her work here or follow her on Twitter @kaytiburt.