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Javicia Leslie, who is also bisexual, will take
on the cape and cowl for the CW television show when it returns
for its second season in January.
Leslie replaces Australian actress and model Ruby Rose, who was
the first openly lesbian lead superhero on U.S. television.
"I am extremely proud to be the first Black actress to play the
iconic role of Batwoman on television, and as a bisexual woman,
I am honored to join this groundbreaking show which has been
such a trailblazer for the LGBTQ+ community,” Leslie said in a
statement.
Leslie's Batwoman will be nothing like her predecessor. The
character, described by the network as "likable, messy, a little
goofy and untamed," spent her life as a drug runner and now
lives in a van.
Her casting follows efforts by Hollywood in recent years to
diversify the portrayal of comic book superheroes.
"The Eternals" movie, due out in February 2021, will debut the
Marvel film franchise's first gay superhero along with actor
Kumail Nanjiani as the first Pakistani superhero in a mainstream
Hollywood movie. In 2018, Nicole Maines, a transgender woman,
filled the first transgender superhero role on television in the
CW series "Supergirl."
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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