Early August, The CW announced they were casting Ruby Rose as Batwoman for their crossover event this December. The event will take place between three shows: The Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl. The network also plans to develop a stand-alone series around the character, whose real name is Kate Kane. Kate, being armed with a passion for social justice and a flair for speaking her mind, she is an out lesbian and a highly trained street fighter. But she also has her own demons to overcome before embracing the call to be Gotham’s symbol of hope.
Rose is a famous model, known for her tattoos and unequivocal unique attractiveness. Her acting career caught fire, however, with her appearance on Netflix’s Orange is the New Black. She has also been seen in Pitch Perfect 3, XXX: The Return of Xander Cage, and most recently The Meg (now in theaters).
Rose, being openly queer and gender fluid, will be the first leading “lesbian” superhero- according to The Hollywood Reporter. Not everyone is in agreement upon this though, especially on Twitter. The site’s users being practically divided on the casting. The negative criticism actually leading her to delete her Twitter account and to disable comments on her Instagram account. Many users begun accusing Rose of not being “gay enough” to play Batwoman. Fans were also upset about Batwoman not being cast by a true “gay, jewish woman”.
Rose tweeted before deleting her account, “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?” There has also been a lot of support from her peers, such as Laverne Cox and Anna Kendrick. Despite the backlash and the buzz, her upcoming appearance as Batwoman not only looks promising, but is much anticipated as well.
The prospective Batwoman series will be written by Caroline Dries (The Vampire Diaries), who is also executive producing alongside Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Geoff Johns. The series, expected to make is debut in 2019, has only reached script-development deal at this point. Until then, you can catch Rose as Batwoman in the upcoming CW crossover beginning with The Flash on Sunday, Dec. 9, at 8 p.m., continuing with Arrow on Monday, Dec. 10, at 8 p.m. and concluding with Supergirl on Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 8 p.m.