The Joker cans Batgirl

Holy tax returns, Batman! The Joker has taken over Warner Bros.!

Like most of the geekverse, I was surprised to hear that the upcoming Batgirl movie won’t be released — not in theaters, not on streaming — despite being pretty well finished.

From Variety to Forbes (not exactly the standard source for geek pop culture), no one outside of Warner Bros. comprehends how a studio can make a $90 million film as part of an ongoing cinematic universe (that, let’s face it, could use some help) and can it to save a few bucks on taxes.

It was a starring vehicle for Leslie Grace, who wowed us in In the Heights and P.S. makes for the first (I think?) superhero film headed by a Afro-Latina woman. It co-starred a Filipina-American transgender actress playing a trans character. It was written by a woman and directed by two Moroccan filmmakers who worked most recently on Ms. Marvel and were responsible for the latest Bad Boys For Life, which I heard was far better than it had any right to be.

Dear Jokers at Warner Bros.: Maybe you could have saved the $70 million you guys spent letting Zack Snyder play with Justice League as his Ayn Rand demo reel and suck out our will to live for four hours, and let this one go through instead?

That’s not the only reason Batgirl’s canning disappoints. It heralded a return of sorts for…