Batwoman’s first season debuted with high expectations and ended with deep uncertainty when Ruby Rose decided that she would not reprise her role as the Scarlet Knight. Soon after Rose's decision, the powers that be at The CW made it clear that this would be an opportunity to better the show. The network then announced that it was casting God Friended Me star Javicia Leslie as Ryan Wilder, a new Batwoman.
In casting Leslie, a bisexual Black woman, as Wilder, The CW has broken new ground, but it's not entirely untrodden. While Wilder will be the first live-action Black Batwoman, she has a predecessor from the animated films in the bygone days before the Arrowverse.
A few years after the beloved New Adventures of Batman animated series retired the cape and cowl, the emerging DC Animated Universe released Batman: The Mystery of Batwoman. True to its title, the film presented the identity of Batwoman as a puzzle the audience was meant to solve and introduced three women in orbit around the life of Batman as potential secret vigilantes. The first was Dr. Roxanne “Rocky” Ballantine, a scientist who had just recently come to Wayne Enterprises with tremendous innovations in metal morphology. Then came Detective Sonia Alcana, Harvey Bullock’s highly capable partner. Finally, there was Kathleen “Kathy” Duquesne, the socialite daughter of a ruthless gangster.
After some misdirection, Batman, and the audience, discover that Batwoman is actually all three. Each is prompted by a specific motivation to disrupt the partnership between Rupert Thorne, the Penguin and Carlton Duquesne, the three villains of the film who are smuggling plasma rifles to Kaznia. Kathy took more of a leadership role, though, as she had always resented her father, who she blamed for her mother’s death since she was killed during a failed assassination attempt on him.
Kathy’s character is more central to the core of the story than the other two because she begins a dalliance with Bruce Wayne while he is trying to determine whether or not she is the woman behind Batwoman. They both seriously consider the relationship as something worth investing in, and the film ends with them riding off into the sunset.
Seventeen years after its release, fans can still marvel at Batman: The Mystery of Batwoman because so little has changed since its release. However, it's clear this movie paved the way for a character like Ryan Wilder. Kathy Duquesne was a Black woman who dated Bruce Wayne, fought Bane and the Penguin, successfully deceived Batman (temporarily), and redeemed her father by bringing him to justice. The film may not have garnered the laurels of some of DC’s other animated masterpieces, but it stands alone as showcasing the first Black Batwoman.
Returning to The CW in Jan. 2021, Batwoman stars Javicia Leslie, Rachel Skarsten, Meagan Tandy, Camrus Johnson, Dougray Scott and Nicole Kang. The series airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.