After much speculation, Jena Malone has been cut from ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.’  The ‘Huger Games’ star dyed her hair red for this mystery role, leading to debate as to whether she was playing Carrie Kelly, the futuristic Robin from the 1986 miniseries ‘The Dark Knight Returns’– a series that director Zack Snyder has openly cited as an inspiration for the movie– or Barbara Gordon, a.k.a. Batgirl and Oracle.  Viewers won’t discover who Malone portrayed in the movie until it makes its way to home video in several months.

But Snyder actually nixed the previous guesses, saying:

“I think we should keep it private, but it’s nothing that’s been talked about. She’s definitely not Robin or Batgirl. I’m happy to say that.”

Malone’s mystery character will apparently be added back in for Snyder’s ‘Ultimate Edition’, the R-rated director’s cut of the film which will be more violent than the theatrical version.  Even with Malone’s part cut, ‘Batman V Superman’ clocks in at two hours and 31 minutes.

Snyder added:

“We were just like, ‘Okay, look. We’re not making a three-hour movie. I mean, even I didn’t want to make a three-hour movie. I drove the cuts probably harder than anyone. The studio, they were willing to let the movie indulge pretty hard. But I felt like it’s at a manageable two-and-a-half hours. Let’s also not forget the credits are super long, the end credits. So the movie’s closer to two hours and 22 minutes.”

(It appears, based on folks that have seen it, that it is a bit longer.)

Based on the box office success of R-rated ‘Deadpool‘, Warner Brothers is moving forward with a more violent version of this important superhero film.

“There’s not a lot of blood in our movies. The ratings board also judges their PG-13 and R ratings by what they consider to be a level of intensity and how much that intensity goes throughout the entire movie. There are some pretty intense scenes in ‘Batman v Superman’, and if they went on longer and had that same level of intensity, that might cause the ratings board to shift their rating… I think right now we’re going for the PG-13. I don’t know that that’s going to materially change. We can give that movie the edge that it needs and still maintain a PG-13.”

Batman, Ben Affleck, discussed the ratings question by saying:

“I’m a parent of young kids, and I feel like I wouldn’t want to have a ‘Batman v Superman’ that I couldn’t show to my younger kids. But on the same token, as an adult, I like to see movies that are R-rated. I think nowadays because we have so many means of distribution and ways that we can do different things, it’s the creative solution to a creative challenge.”

Back to Malone and her mystery role, Snyder said she isn’t playing Robin or Batgirl… but what about Oracle?

What do you think?  How do you think an R-rated ‘Batman V Superman’ will vary from the theatrical release?  Does it make you less likely to see the movie in theaters, knowing another– possibly more definitive– version will be coming on BluRay in just months afterward?

‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ directed by Zack Snyder and starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburn, Diane Lane, Jeremy Irons, Michael Shannon and Holly Hunter declares war on box offices on March 25, 2016.

Source: Collider