Batwoman TV Series to Recast Batwoman

[skyvolt2000]

It starts. Here it goes.

You KNOW it's going to be a you know what storm when a video by a certain group is already trashing it and calling her casting an attack on Ginger people.

I feel bad for this woman becing stuck in such an unenviable position.

Yeah along with backlash from a faction of folks who never watched season 1 but all they see is a black woman and it's open season.

[bob.schoonover]

I feel bad for this woman becing stuck in such an unenviable position.

I also feel bad for her that she's going to be playing a legacy hero who's a POC who is also a criminal and drug-runner. In 2020. Come on.

It's kind of a catch-22 for the show runners (a situation that they created by not just re-casting Kate). "Ryan" is kind of in the Jason Todd position - she can either be Kate 2.0 or anti-Kate (Jason, of course, was both a Dick clone pre-Crisis and anti-Dick post-Crisis). Both have their pluses and minuses, and you can obviously try to split the difference (one notes that Tim Drake is in some ways both the anti-Dick and anti-Jason, so 'criminal' is not the only way to be different from Kate), but the new character is always going to be compared to Kate in some way by the fans, so the creators have to address it somehow. Reformed criminal fits in the sweet spot between Kate and Alice, so it has some merits - a tech geek duplicates Luke, former military or police duplicates Sophie and Kate, upper class duplicates Mary. It also seems like the drug runner thing is entirely in the past, so her on-screen actions won't be "cookie cutter black character from an 80s tv show" hopefully. One imagines the CW, DC, and showrunners will be quite careful in not being hack-y about this new character.

[Digifiend]

If it tanks it shouldn't be because she's black. Some people just won't be happy about the fact they introduced a new character who doesn't exist in the source material - regardless of ethnicity. And we can't tell yet if and how the tone, cast chemistry, or quality will change. It'll be interesting to see how people react when the show comes back.

[Will Evans]

Now since I’ve thought about it......just who is going to be her love interest?


The only options are Mary and Kate’s sloppy seconds.

[Jackalope89]

Sorry, but I tuned into this to watch Kate Kane as Batwoman. But now, its the Catwoman movie all over again. Some OC from a completely different background, but now wearing the Batwoman suit with no other real connection to Batwoman, or even the Bat family at large.

[Frontier]

It's kind of a catch-22 for the show runners (a situation that they created by not just re-casting Kate). "Ryan" is kind of in the Jason Todd position - she can either be Kate 2.0 or anti-Kate (Jason, of course, was both a Dick clone pre-Crisis and anti-Dick post-Crisis). Both have their pluses and minuses, and you can obviously try to split the difference (one notes that Tim Drake is in some ways both the anti-Dick and anti-Jason, so 'criminal' is not the only way to be different from Kate), but the new character is always going to be compared to Kate in some way by the fans, so the creators have to address it somehow. Reformed criminal fits in the sweet spot between Kate and Alice, so it has some merits - a tech geek duplicates Luke, former military or police duplicates Sophie and Kate, upper class duplicates Mary. It also seems like the drug runner thing is entirely in the past, so her on-screen actions won't be "cookie cutter black character from an 80s tv show" hopefully. One imagines the CW, DC, and showrunners will be quite careful in not being hack-y about this new character.

I think they could have found something to differentiate her from Kate without going for such a stereotypical background for a POC lead character, especially if it makes it seem even more ludicrous for her to actually put on the Batsuit.

But I still can't fathom the showrunners have really thought this through.

[Tsukiakari1203]

Now since I’ve thought about it......just who is going to be her love interest?


The only options are Mary and Kate’s sloppy seconds.

i don't know. I hope they don't use Sophie or Julia

[Bat-Meal]

Whatever, the Batwoman show only had the 1 season. After that it becomes some other superhero show, that happens to have the same title.

No Kate Kane, not watching. Now that I've moved on from the Arrowverse I've been finding better superhero shows to watch anyway, just finished season 1 of The Tick. Going to start The Boys and Watchmen soon.

[justinslot]

I'm surprised they're going down this path instead of grabbing a Kate from elsewhere in the multiverse who got stuck on Earth-1. Crisis established multiversal doppelgangers don't have to look like each other, new Kate just comes from an Earth where she's black! (And Bruce too, which would be interesting.)

And I don't the character is necessarily doomed just because she was created for television and has no comics to draw from. All legacy heroes are OCs when you think about it...

[Digifiend]

They lost access to the multiverse at the end of Crisis, remember. They don't know it was recreated yet. You can see this in the Harrison Wells character in The Flash. He used to have lots of doppelgangers with at least one new one appearing each season (season 4 primarily used the same Wells as season 2, but still introduced three more). After the Crisis, they merged, so season 7 will probably be the first season not to introduce a new Wells. I expect at some point, they'll do a Stargirl crossover, thus revealing the new Earth-2 and multiverse to the Arrowverse characters, but right now an AU Kate wouldn't be possible.

[justinslot]

They lost access to the multiverse at the end of Crisis, remember. They don't know it was recreated yet. You can see this in the Harrison Wells character in The Flash. He used to have lots of doppelgangers with at least one new one appearing each season (season 4 primarily used the same Wells as season 2, but still introduced three more). After the Crisis, they merged, so season 7 will probably be the first season not to introduce a new Wells. I expect at some point, they'll do a Stargirl crossover, thus revealing the new Earth-2 and multiverse to the Arrowverse characters, but right now an AU Kate wouldn't be possible.

God I don't remember that at all--I thought they saved the multiverse? Oh wait, you're saying they did but they don't realize they did. Got it, I missed that detail somehow.

[Digifiend]

Yeah. Vibe was depowered and the gadget Supergirl used to use for teamups that Cisco had given her no longer works.

[justinslot]

Yeah. Vibe was depowered and the gadget Supergirl used to use for teamups that Cisco had given her no longer works.

Thanks. I am out of the loop for post-Crisis CW stuff.

[bob.schoonover]

I think they could have found something to differentiate her from Kate without going for such a stereotypical background for a POC lead character, especially if it makes it seem even more ludicrous for her to actually put on the Batsuit.

But I still can't fathom the showrunners have really thought this through.

Don't get me wrong, I'm clearly in the "re-cast Kate, you fools" camp. I just wonder how much the "log line" description will match reality. They have plenty of time to change it/tweak it since they've obviously not started shooting yet.

And while this is, in many ways neither here nor there, it's worth noting that there is not a "stereotypical" (misbegotten youth/criminal) Black hero in the Arrowverse (am I forgetting someone?). One could see where the showrunners or network think they've got the slack to do this because they've effectively avoided the trap for so long. This is not a defense of the choice (which we still need to see executed before excoriating too much), but what I imagine might be the rationalization

[Immortal Weapon]

I don't have an issue at all with her background. Your stereotype is my reality. I grew up with and been those type of people my entire life. Reading that background only made me think she's a lousy criminal. You were a drug runner and living in your van? Smh