I had a few other unfulfilled ideas kicking around in my noggin, so in the cases I'm sharing them, I'm attaching them to stories that were at least vaguely similar. The following are my notes from my never completed script fic for a sequel to 2020's Birds of Prey I called, "Birds of Prey: Hunting Season."
To give a little set up, I really enjoyed the Birds of Prey film we got, but was always a little disappointed by how much Harley Quinn got the center of it over the team the main title of the film was named after. So, in the alternate timeline this was made, it probably released about the same time as The Suicide Squad, was firmly set in the DCEU, and brought back all the necessary leads from the first film, save for Harley, who was busy on squad business.
The opening of the film is shot from a child's POV. The kid walks out of an apartment bedroom as their father (played by… I dunno, Macaulay Culkin. My wife thought it'd be funny) is arguing with their mother. Their mother is demanding to know if Batman is hunting him again, Culkin insists no, he stepped into something much bigger and much worse, and they all need to hide. In the midst of this, the apartment is broken into. Wilson and his wife are killed by Ra's al Ghul's lesser marketable daughter, Nyssa Raatko, (played by Irina Shayk). The child hides in a closet, but Nyssa grabs ahold of them. We hear a scream, cut to black.
Years later, we pick up on the Birds of Prey, all still in relative cooperation with one another, but Helena is constantly showing up late to their drug busts and the like. Dinah is relatively lax about this, but when her lateness interferes with one of their operations, Renee tears into her after the victory. Helena reminds her she's the one funding their vigilante operation, so she should cut her some slack. Dinah struggles to mediate things between the two, and they return to their base of operations (a closed Gotham bar called "The Clocktower") where they find Cassandra there waiting for them. Cassandra reports Harley got shipped off on Suicide Squad duty and now they're stuck with her. Renee is quickest to object, Helena and Dinah are both more tolerant. In the time between movies, Cassandra's turned into a bit of a moody teenager, and is regularly on her phone texting with someone from the internet named Stefan.
Cut to corrupt Gotham Mayor Sebastian Hady (played by Christopher Walken), speaking with Nyssa. He gives us a summary of the last few years of the Birds of Prey's activities: With Batman off on Justice League business, they've become Gotham's most regularly protectors. And while Batman being Gotham's defender was open to interpretation, the Birds of Prey, being 2/3rds women of color, is making his conservative politics look totally inept. He's hired Nyssa and her own contingent of the League of Assassins to kill the Birds. Alongside Nyssa is a silent teenage assassin (actress unknown, for now) dressed all in black, clearly cribbing elements from a comic-accurate Cassandra Cain, and Ubu (played by Tiger Schroff).
Shortly thereafter, the Birds end up attacked by Nyssa's squad of assassins, and the silent one very nearly beats all three at once before retreating. Over the next few days, Nyssa's assassins attack the group, but seemingly innocuous texts from Stefan end up giving the Birds the advantage until they realize he's with the assassins, trying to sabotage them. After another argument, Renee ends up alienating Helena, who declares she doesn't need any of this, unlike the other two, she still has her own life to care about, and departs the group. At one point shortly after, they get a heads up about the assassins targeting a school for Gotham's students with special needs. Renee can't imagine Dinah feels suspicious, but Cassandra rightfully points out Stefan hasn't let them down yet. Reluctantly, they go.
While trying to figure out what is going on, they discover Helena working with the students. The other Birds are confused by this, but don't get to linger on it as Ubu and the silent assassin do, indeed, turn up and attack. Enraged that the assassins have put her students in danger, Helena goes all out alongside Renee and Dinah, eventually incapacitating the silent assassin, but Ubu escapes. Renee demands to know what the hell is going on from Helena, Helena confirms she works as a substitute at the school when her schedule allows, because she thinks she can do good for Gotham outside of costume too. Renee asks why she never just said that, and Helena tells her she never asked, bringing to light that the two have never really viewed one another as friends throughout this partnership. Dinah finally successfully mediates things between them and they agree they do respect one another and Helena agrees to help the team finish this assassin business.
The Birds then unmask the incapacitated silent assassin (revealing her actress— because my wife thought at the time was the funniest reveal it could be— a battle-scarred Jojo Siwa… in 2020/2021 when I was discussing this, this was hilariously subversive). After some struggle to explain her vocal chords were cut and she needs her hands free to do sign language (which Dinah can read, as her mother's sonic screams occasionally affected her hearing growing up, so it was a useful skill), Siwa explains the situation- her name is Stephanie Brown. As a child, her father, C-Ranked Gotham criminal the Cluemaster, unintentionally stole from the League of Assassins and put a big target on his back, leading Nyssa to kill him and her mother, but she took Stephanie away to mold her into an apprentice. Stephanie has sought since to find a chance to betray Nyssa, and posing as Stefan to "spoil" some of Nyssa's plans against the Birds of Prey seemed the best way. In the ideal scenario, I'd like Steph to sign that she was still romantically interested in Cass if she feels likewise. In 2022/2023, the age gap between Siwa and Ella Jay Basco would have been a bit too high for that. So a few years later it would have worker out better.
In the middle of this, Ubu reveals himself, revealing he suspected Stephanie's betrayal. Steph, Dinah, Helena, and Renee all fight back, given this is the DCEU, they probably kill him, but not before he reveals he's passed words on to Nyssa, who is headed to finish them all off. Steph reveals the details of the contract with Mayor Hady, and they figure they might be able to get the assassination called off if they go after him.
The Birds plus a now wholly on board Steph plan their attack on the mayor residence. I never figured out where Steph ends up getting a purple hood and cape to complete a proper Spoiler ensemble, but it would have happened, probably at Cassandra's recommendation. From there, they attack the mansion (Cassandra's there too, never exactly figured out how to justify that) and corner Hady for putting the hit out on them, but Nyssa reveals she's on the preemies alongside her remaining assassins. The final showdown would have been chaotic mess, Nyssa herself having a belt full of Lazarus Pit chemicals latched to her belt, and recovers from multiple killing blows (every member of the good guys, up to and including Cassandra, probably gets to kill her at least once.) Again, this is the DCEU we're talking about, so Nyssa would be killed at the end. Steph would get to be the one to kill either Nyssa or Ubu, but not both. With Nyssa dealt with, Cassandra would reveal she recorded Hady admitting to criminal activity and paying the Leage of Assassins with public funds (paying off a recurring gag about one of the other Birds telling her to stop dicking around on her phone so much) that would be subsequently released to the public.
I didn't exactly figure out where everyone's character arcs were going to end up, you can see that I didn't come up with a ton for Dinah to do, and everyone save for maybe Steph could use at least a little something more.
More than anything else this was my fun way of both getting Steph into the DCEU and making up for the fact that we missed out on Cassandra's traumatic assassin upbringing—Since the 2020 movie made Cass more mundane, I gave some of the more fantastical, insane aspects of her backstory to DCEU Steph. And, after Cass admitted her feelings in the original Angel of the Bat only for her and Steph not to hook up, I kinda felt like I should do a story where they did end up being a couple.
As alluded to, Jojo Siwa was my wife's idea back in 2020 or 2021 or so, when she was still very much the model of a bright pink, sugary sweet Nickelodeon kidcom star, so seeing her in a more edgy role (I still wanted this sequel to be as vulgar, violent, and R-rated as the first) seemed funny at the time.
If anyone wants to use elements of this to tell your own story, I only ask that you let me know. As I said, I'd love to read what someone else comes up with out of my outlines.