“Orange is the New Black” star Ruby Rose will play the lesbian superhero Batwoman in the upcoming Arrowverse crossover event on The CW network this fall.
Rose — who identifies as gender fluid — will make her debut as the DC Comics heroine guest starring on the series “Arrow,” “The Flash” and “Supergirl” in December. The CW is also working on developing a standalone series for the character, written by “The Vampire Diaries” Caroline Dries and executive produced by Dries, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Geoff Johns.
“Armed with a passion for social justice and a flair for speaking her mind, Kate Kane soars onto the streets of Gotham as Batwoman, an out lesbian and highly trained street fighter primed to snuff out the failing city’s criminal resurgence. But don’t call her a hero yet. In a city desperate for a savior, Kate must overcome her own demons before embracing the call to be Gotham’s symbol of hope,” reads the character’s official logline.
If “Batwoman” is picked up by the network it will be the first TV series to focus on an LGBTQ superhero with an LGBTQ star in the lead.
Fans have been calling for more LGBTQ representation in the superhero’s making the leap from the comic book pages to the screen, both big and small, for years.
Nafessa Williams currently plays Thunder, the black lesbian superhero daughter to the titular character in “Black Lightning.” It was also announced this year that transgender actress Nicole Maines will join the cast of “Supergirl” as a series regular playing the superhero Dreamer.
While TV seems to be working in the right direction on its lack of LGBTQ superhero representation, Hollywood has been more reluctant with its big budget superhero flicks. Although Marvel’s Deadpool and Dc Comics’ Wonder Woman are both members of the LGBTQ community (Deadpool is pansexual and Wonder Woman is bisexual) neither of them address their same-sex attractions in their films.
Last year, “Thor: Ragnarok” was expected to be the first Marvel film to feature an openly LGBTQ character when actress Tessa Thompson confirmed in an interview that her character Valkyrie would be bisexual as the character is in the comics; however, film director Taika Waititi revealed later that the scene was cut do to pacing.
Earlier this summer, “Deadpool 2” did reveal the first LGBTQ character in a superhero film, just not the titular character. X-men member Negasonic Teenage Warhead, played by Brianna Hildebrand, introduced Deadpool to her superhero girlfriend, Yukio.
