The new Batwoman is ready to suit up. In a 10-second teaser released last week by The CW, Javicia Leslie’s Ryan Wilder rushes to slip into the old Batwoman suit in a decrepit bathroom. As Ryan zips up her boots and picks up the iconic cowl, which looks to be Kate Kane’s old costume, she says four words that would make anyone’s heart pound with excitement: “Time to be powerful.” The significance of becoming the first Black Batwoman — during a time when the support for the Black Lives Matter movement is so strong — isn’t lost on Leslie. Says Leslie, 33, who was cast in July to replace Ruby Rose for the second season of The CW’s Batwoman, “This really had nothing to do with me and everything to do with my people and with little Black girls.” A lifelong Batman fan, she found her own positive representation as a child through Eartha Kitt’s Catwoman. When Leslie arrived in Los Angeles from Maryland in 2012 (she was born in Germany into a military family), her eventual manager asked her, “modeling or acting?” Leslie looked at her and said, “I’m anything you want me to be.” At Virginia’s Hampton University, she starred in August Wilson plays and did pageants. Starting out in the industry, she won a hosting gig at BET, a guest spot on CBS’ MacGyver in 2017 and eventually simultaneous roles on the BET series “The Family Business” and CBS’ “God Friended Me.” Then came the Bat-signal. The chance to test for Batwoman came to Leslie at a time when she was doing a lot of Zoom auditioning during the shutdown. She says her connection to the part of Wilder, the newest iteration of Batwoman, was immediate as she and the character share a “quirky but ‘I’m-a-boss-if-I-have-to-be’ type of mentality.” Batwoman showrunner Caroline Dries says Leslie was the obvious choice from her first audition, “Javicia blew everyone else away.” The opportunity to bring her own approach to Batwoman is the thing Leslie is most excited for. “There’s not many actors that get this opportunity to play in a world that you can continue to develop and expand on for a decade,” Leslie says. “This is a great beginning to what I’m sure will be a very long journey.” (SD-Agencies) | 