See Killer Moth Villain From Canceled Batgirl Movie
An interesting interpretation.
Now that the Batgirl movie at HBO Max has been canceled, we are getting a better look at the film than we ever saw during its actual production. After several peeks at the film have been leaked online, we now have our first look at one of the villains in the film, Killer Moth. In a post on his Instagram account, martial artist and stunt performer Jules Wallace revealed that he was the stunt double for the Killer Moth character, and even posted a picture of what appears to be the costume from the film.
In the post, Wallace notes that the cancellation seems to imply he was now free to post a picture of himself from the set. “Doesn’t seem much point keeping quiet about this now and sucks we won’t get to see it on screen, but here you go,” he wrote. “Doubled ‘Killer Moth’ in Batgirl, along with my pal Stevie who doubled Commissioner Gordon.” The costume itself is a bit subdued, and appears to be a black track suit, a far cry from the look the character has in the DC Comics. However, he did include a picture of a moth tattoo on the back of his shaved head, which is a more realistic touch for the character. We still don’t know which actor was supposed to play the character. There had been rumors online that actor Jacob Scipio might be playing Killer Moth, but he posted a picture from the set back in February on Instagram, and his beard and outfit don’t match the look Wallace posted.
Killer Moth actually has a long history in the DC Comics universe. According to the DC Comics Wiki, the character was created by Bill Finger and Lew Sayre Schwartz, and first appeared in Batman #63 in 1951. The character often sported costumes with bright colors, mostly yellow and purple, so the “track suit” look is more in line with the film’s realistic tone, which would have featured Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, Brendan Fraser as the villain Firefly, and Michael Keaton returning as Bruce Wayne/Batman. You can see a shot of Killer Moth from the comics below.
Interestingly, although Wallace does have an IMDB account, with a credit as a stunt performer on the film The Last Duel, he isn’t listed among the stunt team in the Batgirl IMDB listing. That isn’t totally surprising, as the studio never issued an official production listing, so it has been cobbled together from unconfirmed sources. In fact, the only indication we knew Killer Moth was even in the film was because IMDB listing included a stunt man for the character in March, which was later removed. Even a recent report about the plot of Batgirl didn’t include a mention of Killer Moth.
Wallace also included a line in his post that may give a clue to possible troubles on the set. “Quite a long chaotic shoot but we had a great time,” he said, indicating that the role of Killer Moth may be much larger than we thought, and the Batgirl production was not a smooth one. Although much of the focus of the Batgirl cancellation revolved around the tax savings the studio was taking, there were also reports that studio exes branded the film “irredeemable” after a screening, according to The New York Post. If the crew was branding the shoot “chaotic,” it may indicate Warner Bros. was aware of issues long ago.
