Ruby Rose Cast As Batwoman In The CW's Arrowverse

The CW can put the Bat-signal away: its new Batwoman is on the scene. 

Per Variety, the network just tapped Orange Is the New Black actress Ruby Rose to star as Batwoman in the upcoming Arrowverse crossover event, which brings together Arrow, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, and Supergirl. 

Rose is also set to lead the potential Batwoman solo series from writer, director, and executive producer Caroline Dries — the same woman who helped make the CW's Melrose Place, Smallville, and The Vampire Diaries happen. 

When Rose makes her DC television debut in the four-way crossover extravaganza, she'll introduce the Kate Kane iteration of the masked heroine to the small screen. 

An out lesbian, headstrong activist, and fighter with a Liam Neeson-style set of special skills, Kate is poised to serve as Gotham City's protector and symbol of peace. But it'll be a while before she transitions from aspiring vigilante to bonafide Batwoman, as Kate has personal demons to battle and dusty skeletons to evict from her closet.  

Taking into account all the information we have on the crossover event and the Batwoman standalone show, we can surmise that Batwoman will likely be seen in her full, cape-and-cowl glory in the crossover and that the standalone show will be set before then, at a point when Kate hasn't yet reached her true heroic potential. That timeframe would allow the solo series to first focus on Kate's personal journey, then build up to what goes down in the Arrowverse mash-up, and ultimately open the door for more crossovers down the line. 

When the CW announced its plans to bring Batwoman to the Arrowverse, marking the first-ever appearance of the character on television, DC Comics fans dreamt up a list of actresses they felt would be perfect for the part. Fan-casters shouted out names like Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter), Adrianne Palicki (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones), Alexandra Breckenridge (The Walking Dead), Emily Beecham (Into the Badlands), and Phoebe Tonkin (The Originals), among a host of others. Frozen: The Musical star Patti Murin even expressed (in an all-caps tweet, mind you) her interest in playing Batwoman.  

So, how do people feel about Rose being the lucky lady to land the Batwoman gig? Well, responses have been mixed. 

Some have slammed the CW's decision, argued that Rose being cast as Batwoman is as "bad" as Ben Affleck scoring the part of Batman, and claimed that DC has disappointed fans by selecting Rose for the role. 

On the other hand, some have said that "Kate Kane is in excellent hands" with Rose, stated that the Arrowverse "just got a million times better" now that the Australian star is in it, and applauded Arrowverse creator Greg Berlanti's "characteristically brilliant casting." Many more have shared their excitement about the CW's choice to cast an openly gay woman like Rose to play the openly gay superhero.

For our part, we think Rose could crush it as Batwoman. Mainstream fans may know her best as the conniving criminal Stella Carlin from Netflix's Orange Is the New Black, but the actress has ample experience kicking butt and taking names — things Batwoman will definitely need to do to keep Gotham safe. Rose has starred in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, and John Wick: Chapter Two. She'll reprise her role as the mute assassin Ares in John Wick 3: Parabellum, and will pop up as Jaxx Herd in the sci-fi action-thriller The Meg later this year. 

Rose may not have been everyone's top pick for Batwoman, but she might end up impressing us all when she takes flight later this year.

The Arrowverse crossover is slated to premiere in December. If the Batwoman series goes through the hoops of development as expected, it will debut on the CW during the 2019-2020 broadcast season.