“Batwoman” is The CW’s latest upcoming DC superhero series for its primetime lineup, due to premiere later this year. Starring Australian model-actress Ruby Rose, the show will introduce a comic character portrayed as an out lesbian. Rose is being touted as an appropriate casting choice, as she's openly gender-fluid herself.

The CW has already released a teaser for the “Batwoman” series and even got the character to cameo in the 2018 inter-show crossover between its current DC TV universe series lineup. However, Rose has been finding criticism about her playing the titular role because her self-identification as “gender-fluid” is not the same as being “lesbian.”

‘Gender-fluid’ is ‘not lesbian enough’

Ruby Rose talked to Entertainment Weekly regarding the criticism of her role as Kate Kane/Batwoman in the in-development series on The CW.

She spoke of her initial journey to the United States from her native Australia to break into acting after establishing herself as a model and MTV VJ. Rose got her first big break as a new regular on season 3 of the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black.” Her character there was envisioned as gender-neutral in a women’s prison. But as the series went on Rose discovered she had detractors targeting her self-identification and the characters she portrays on screen.

And there lies a problem that critics have with her role as Bruce Wayne/Batman’s cousin Kate Kane. The comic book iteration is prominent for her relationship with another female, a lesbian qualifier. But Rose has hit a stumbling block with American terminologies for sexual identity and orientation.

With her earlier identification as gender-fluid, the Australian star has indicated that she does not consider herself wholly woman, and therefore unfit to play the lesbian Batwoman on TV. Rose has had to close her Twitter account due to the biting commentary but also tells EW that she thinks the contemporary terms are just too complicated to bother adhering to.

A woman in the bat-suit

Whatever the naysayers might think, The CW is on board producing the “Batwoman” series with Ruby Rose in the lead, according to Comic Book Resources. Set in the same universe as The CW’s “Arrow” and “The Flash,” the show takes place in a Gotham City where both Bruce Wayne and his alter ego Batman have been missing for three years.

Bruce’s maternal cousin Kate goes to Gotham to look for a friend, only to face a powerful and borderline-insane criminal mastermind with plans for the city. With the help of the security officer for the abandoned Wayne offices, Kate (Ruby Rose) takes up the mantle of Gotham’s protector, while making sure the citizens know the Batman is a woman now.

Other criticisms of “Batwoman” on The CW regarding Rose is that she is not Jewish like Kate is portrayed in comics and that the series apparently goes overboard with radical feminist and male-critical undertones. None of these complaints will stop The CW from premiering the show by fall this year.
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