Well hello, Kate Kane. The first photo of Ruby Rose‘s Batwoman is here, and she couldn’t look any more fierce.
The CW shared a promotional shot on Tuesday, October 9, of the Orange Is the New Black star, 32, walking through the city as a bat signal lights up the night sky behind her. In the shot, Batwoman rocks red hair and a Colleen Atwood-designed costume featuring a crimson bat as she makes a power pose. Rose shared the picture on Instagram, captioning it, “First look. Crossover event. December 9 at 8PM ET” with heart and bat emojis.
Arrowverse producer Greg Berlanti announced in August that Rose would be introduced as a lesbian Batwoman in an upcoming DC crossover event, before heading over to her own show. Rose — who is the first LGBTQ lead in a live-action superhero series — revealed she was “thrilled and honored” to be chosen as the woman to play Batwoman. “I’m also an emotional wreck.. because this is a childhood dream,” she wrote on Instagram. “This is something I would have died to have seen on TV when I was a young member of the LGBT community who never felt represented on tv and felt alone and different.”
However, following the news of Rose playing Batwoman, the Aussie was bombarded with fans of the superhero complaining that she wasn’t the right person for the role. The backlash — which included criticism that Rose didn’t deserve the part because she isn’t Jewish as the character is, a good enough actress, or a lesbian — prompted her to take swift action on her social media accounts.
Rose deactivated her Twitter account — but not without sending one last message to disgruntled fans. “Where on earth did ‘Ruby is not a lesbian therefore she can’t be batwoman’ come from — has to be the funniest most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read. I came out at 12? And have for the past 5 years had to deal with ‘she’s too gay’ how do y’all flip it like that? I didn’t change. I wish we would all support each other and our journeys,” wrote the actress, who also disabled her Instagram comments. “When women and when minorities join forces we are unstoppable… when we tear each other down it’s much more hurtful than from any group. But hey/ love a challenge I just wish women and the LGBT community supported each other more.”
“I am looking forward to getting more than 4 hours of sleep and to break from Twitter to focus all my energy on my next 2 projects,” she added. “If you need me, I’ll be on my Bat Phone.”
Batwoman will debut on The CW in 2019.
