Lady Shiva, despite being incredibly cool, hasn’t gotten a lot of play in adaptations of the DC Universe. But she should: she’s a brilliant martial artist and the mother of Cassandra Cain, one of the Bat family’s most interesting characters. So a chance to see her square off in live action, even if it’s not official, is incredibly satisfying.
And this fan film, directed by Jed Carandang and starring Amber Myers as Batgirl, really nails that powerful martial artist vibe. Posted by channel Amber Ever, with Zeda Zhang as Lady Shiva, the video features a nasty brawl between Shiva and Batgirl. And they really get into it.
With this and the Avatar short I shared recently, I’m really impressed with the quality of choreography in fan films lately. Once this short gets to the big fight between the two characters, it really starts to pop off, with sharp martial arts moves on both sides and a strong sense of momentum and kinetic impact to the fight. A lot of low-budget work has fights that look ridiculous on screen. This looks better than some superhero TV shows I’ve seen, in terms of the choreography. Makes me wish for this matchup to occur in something higher profile.
At least we do have a version of Cassandra Cain, though she fills a very different role, in the Birds of Prey movie. Slowly but surely, a wider swath of DC’s most interesting ladies are making their way to more popular prominence. Maybe Lady Shiva will have her day. Not to mention Batgirl.