Birds of Prey Writer Explains the Major Departure from Comics’ Version of Cassandra Cain

DC may finally be bringing Cassandra Cain to the big screen with Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), however, fans have noticed that the film's version of the character is a whole lot different from the one that they've learned to know and love from the comics.

In DC comics, Cassandra Cain is the daughter of Lady Shiva and David Cain. David was one of the many people who helped train DC's young Bruce Wayne before he decided to become Gotham's Batman, however, his training was rejected because of its more lethal techniques. Cassandra was trained from birth to become the ultimate weapon, and she was never able to speak because she wasn't taught any language outside of combat. After running away from her father, she crosses paths with Bruce Wayne who takes her in as the new Bat Girl.

Ella Jay Basco's version of Cassandra Cain in Birds of Prey seems to be much different from the comics. The character doesn't seem to have comic book Cain's martial arts skills, and there doesn't seem to be any language barrier at all.

Speaking in an interview with Heroic Hollywood during a press junket for the film, Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson addresses the departure from Cassandra Cain's comic book form.

"She is very different. Mostly it was about… we knew we want to tell this story of these four women kind of coming together," Hodson explained, "As you know, Harley Quinn has never traditionally been a character in the Birds of Prey. It's a weird kind of thing and what we wanted to do is have these four women collide in a strange and unusual way, and Cass kind of became the catalyst for that story. She became the emotional linchpin of it."

While it's definitely a shame that Cassandra isn't exactly the same as in the comics, we understand that film adaptations have to tweak comic book origins from time to time so that they can fit the narrative that filmmakers want to share. We can't wait to see whether this new story for Cassandra will fit Birds of Prey and whether fans are going to be happy with the narrative.

Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) makes its big debut on February 7, 2020.

Read: Birds of Prey Cast on the Possibility of a Crossover With Wonder Woman