Ruby Rose Quits Batwoman

Ruby Rose as Batwoman

This is one of those “shame we’ll never know” stories.

The star of Batwoman, Ruby Rose, has left the show, and no one’s saying why, although there was a significant on-set injury during a stunt, and the typically regressive superhero audience harassed the actor off of Twitter.

Warner will be replacing the lead role with a new, original character. According to Decider,

“Ryan Wilder is about to become Batwoman. She’s likable, messy, a little goofy and untamed. She’s also nothing like Kate Kane, the woman who wore the batsuit before her…. With no one in her life to keep her on track, Ryan spent years as a drug-runner, dodging the GCPD and masking her pain with bad habits. A girl who would steal milk for an alley cat could also kill you with her bare hands, Ryan is the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical All-American hero.”

Sounds like a blend of Catwoman, the Jason Todd Robin, and Cassandra Cain. There is plenty of precedent for this in comics, of course: There have been three Wonder Woman I can think of off the top of my head, and four Flashes, and five Green Lanterns (just on Earth)… although there’s only ever one Superman, right? And one Batman?

Update: I was reminded in comments and correspondence that there have been several people using the Batman name beyond Bruce Wayne, and the Green Lantern count should be 7, since I was forgetting the current two.

Ruby Rose as Batwoman

They are encouraging “performers who identify as LGBTQ”, in keeping with the character’s status as the most visible gay hero in the DC lineup.

The CW superhero shows are planned to return in January 2021 instead of October this year, due to production delays caused by COVID-19 concerns, and the crossover this coming season was planned to be only Batwoman and Superman & Lois, which is still upcoming as a series. (Have they said anything yet about calling it World’s Finest? Gotta keep those trademarks in use!)



6 comments

  • James Schee

    I haven’t watched the show, I’ve sort of been on a break from the CW shows for a bit over a year. I want to catch up on them 1 day but I just got burned out on them. I liked Ruby in a few of the movies I’d seen her on, obviously will never know full reason for leaving but its a shame.

    That character description for new character, doesn’t sound very appealing at all to me. I’m surprised, and maybe this is just being a nerd here. That they didn’t use Bette (Flamebird) Kane to be new lead, she has many of same connection as Kate (family ties to Waynes, connections to Kate’s sister and father, etc.) and easily could have molded her character to some of the other things they want for the character (lesbian) since only romantic ties I remember her having in comics were for Nightwing.

  • We’ve really burned out on them as well. Loving Legends of Tomorrow, trying Stargirl, but the rest are too same-y, much like the comics. And Batwoman in particular was too dark and grim for my taste.

    It sounds like they want to go in a different direction than the rich family aspect, maybe.

  • LoserBaby

    Off the top of my head there’s been four iterations of Batman in the main DC Comics continuity. There’s Bruce Wayne, of course. Then Jean-Paul Valley’s run affectionately dubbed the Az-Bat after Bruce’s loss to Bane. Then when Bruce seemingly died battling Darkseid, Dick Grayson took over, complete with original costume- no special outfit to tell the world he’s not “really” Batman. Then most recently Bruce once again seemingly died and Commissioner Gordon shaved his mustache, donned a mohawk and inexplicably donned a bat-themed mech and was the titular Batman for a brief period. So, definitely precedent in the Bat-Family for this type of thing- just look at all the Robins!

  • I love it when I learn things from my commenters. How could I forget AzBats? The rest are a little after the time I was still reading, I’m afraid, but thank you for the info!

  • Rob Lorenz

    I don’t begrudge Ruby leaving, but I kinda expect this to be a mess. In the first season, everything revolved around Kate and her relationships. The main villain is Kate’s sister. The other main characters are her father, step sister, and love interest. Plus Lucius Fox’s son, Luke. I imagine they will find a convoluted way to get her into the batcave with Luke as support. They can tie in other characters as well, but it seems like it will already be strained.

    To make matters worse, I’m behind on episodes, but I think they had to stop filming before they finished season 1. That will make it much harder to transition smoothly to a new status quo in season 2. Maybe Ruby will do a transition episode or two.

    The show was still building the world and characters. If this had happened after 2 or 3 seasons, I could see them recovering too easily. On the bright side (for the cast/crew), CW doesn’t cancel many shows, so they should have a shot at figuring it out. I’m worried about a muddled result, but am hoping to be proven wrong.

  • Thanks, Rob, for that summary from someone who’s clearly paid a lot more attention to the show.

    At least the show runners have practice, as Supergirl did some similar (but not on the same scale, obviously) plot and character storyline changes when they changed from CBS to the CW after season 1.

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