It’s not so long until we witness the season finale of CW’s hit series “Batwoman“.
The season lately was put on pause necessarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But just before that, Ruby Rose announced that she would be stepping away from her role as Kate Kane or Batwoman.
It was quite surprising for fans to keep the success of the series in mind. But the more important thing here is the future of live-action Batwoman.
Well, initially everyone thought that the character would be recast, but now a new role is going to replace Kate Kane.
A casting call hinted that an entirely new character would be stepping in as Kate Kane. The showrunner Caroline Dries confirmed the same recently.
Dries explained that while they did consider going forward with a recast of Rose’s Kate Kane and episodes of Season 2 had already been written, executive producer Greg Berlanti helped her make the call to go a new direction with the heroic character.
This new character is billed in casting calls as “Ryan Wilder”. She is described as a young lesbian, who spent years as a drug-runner avoiding the GCPD.
So the new role in place of Kate Kane as Batwoman is inevitable, let’s look at the possibilities of who could replace her.
Harper Row
Harper Row is a young woman from one of Gotham.
She and her brother were abused by their father as children, leading to her seeking emancipation and taking Cullen to live in an apartment away from him.
Both of them worked on the city electrical grid for living. Batman once saves her brother from a gang of bullies, who was attacked seemingly because of his sexual orientation.
Inspired by Batman, Harper then tries to become a crime-fighter. She later becomes the Bluebird after Batman lets her into his inner circle.
Fans have already wondered about Bluebird’s role in the Arrowverse Some of their theories suggest that Parker Torres, a young girl who was mentored by Kate in Season 1, would take on the role.
Regardless of everything, Harp as next Batwoman doesn’t seem impossible. Moreover, her past and sexuality certainly feel in line with what’s described of “Ryan Wilder”.
Carrie Kelley
Carrie Kelly first appeared in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns in 1986. She was a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl and a girl scout.
Older and grizzled Batman saves her when attacked by muggers one night.
Later, she spends her lunch money on Robin suit and hunts down some petty con-men to find Batman again. She eventually was recruited into Batman’s crusade and even suited up as Batwoman of Earth-31 in Dark Knight III: The Master Race.
Despite having only a handful of comic appearances, Carrie managed to get a pretty unique following among Batman fans.
So with only a small part of her character explored, she does seem to be one the best fits to take over the Batwoman mantle in live-action. Also, the fact that fans have been waiting to see her in live-action is an added advantage.
Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown is the daughter of the Cluemaster, one of Gotham City villains. To outsmart her father, she became the vigilante Spoiler. In the process, she got the attention of Batman.
Once when Tim Drake was forced to live a normal life and hung up the cape and cowl, she then took over the mantle of Robin.
During her attempt to prove herself to Batman, she gets captured by Black Mask who tortures her to death.
But it was later revealed that Stephanie faked her own death, returning as Spoiler. She eventually grew into becoming the third Batgirl.
While the idea of Stephanie suiting up as Batwoman feels a little weird, it certainly wouldn’t be the most unusual thing that has happened to her in the comics.
Claire Clover
Claire Clover is a relatively recent addition to the DC canon, debuted in DC Rebirth.
She, along with her elder brother Hank Clover undergoes experimental treatment resulting in their superpowers.
The two operated with their superhero names – Gotham and Gotham Girl.
However, while using their powers, they would draw off their life span. Hank goes rogue after the death of their parents and dies after the over usage of his power.
After that, Claire decides to continue to suit up as Gotham Girl, coping her loss. She partnered with the Batfamily on multiple occasions.
In order to introduce her on to Arrowerse, Claire’s origin would have to be modified. However, the idea of her suiting up as Batwoman almost feels weird enough to work. The show could establish a lot of new things about her by giving a more grounded context to her relationship with Hank.
Holly Robinson
When the casting description for “Ryan Wilder” came in, fans pointed out that it feels like a combination of Catwoman and Poison Ivy.
If we try to dig out an accurate comic character for this description, Holly Robinson will sure be the best that fits in. She was initially established as a prostitute who then meets Selina Kyle aka Catwoman. Selina takes care of her and trains her as a replacement.
Holly eventually takes over the Catwoman mantle following the birth of Kyle’s daughter.
So with her complicated history and comic-characterization, she does feel similar to that of Ryan. Besides canonically established as a lesbian, which would make her suiting up as Batwoman feel a little fitting.
Elainna Grayson
Over a year ago, Batman Beyond introduced Elainna Grayson who is the daughter of Dick Grayson aka Robin. The future-set storyline also included a twist, by having Elainna as the new “Batwoman Beyond”.
Yes, Yes, that’s right. It’s a bit messy to introduce Elainna as Batwoman in Arrowverse as Earth-Prime’s Bruce isn’t that old and Dick Grayson is too young to have a grown child.
But the creators probably could hand her the Batwoman mantle one way or another.
Kate Kane From Another Earth
And, finally, “Kate Kane from another Earth”. Keeping CW shows in mind this could be the most feasible way of replacing Kate Kane in Arrowverse.
The Arrowverse is known to weaving in counterparts from other Earths and having them eventually take over for their Earth-Prime versions.
For instance, Laurel Lance, aka Black Canary.
The casting description clearly states that the new replacement is nothing like Kate Kane. So this might represent that they could just be wanting to differentiate from her Earth-Prime.
The multiverse has produced doppelgangers that don’t share any likeness.
The best example is Crisis on Infinite Earths that introduced three different versions of Clark Kent/Superman in the span of a few hours.
So there could be an alternate version of Kate on other earth which is a little goofy and untamed.
