Despite The CW already putting out a brief teaser, I naturally assumed they’d hold off until San Diego Comic-Con in July to release a full trailer for Batwoman. In an instance when I’m happy to be proven wrong though, the network elected to show off a generous amount of footage at today’s upfronts.
As you can see from the video embedded at the top of this article, the series starring Ruby Rose looks to have quite the riveting pilot episode. To its credit, the opening chapter will cover a lot of ground, be it establishing Alice as the big bad from the get-go, in addition to detailing Kate Kane’s military background and sexuality.
Though her motivations are yet to be entirely laid out for we the viewers, it very much looks like Kate will go through the necessary motions before totally finding herself as a superhero. At first, she has Luke Fox (he obviously has some time to go before emerging as Batwing) modify her cousin’s Batsuit so that it fit her, but the citizens of Gotham City naturally think Batman’s back in town. That’ll no doubt be a motivating factor in establishing her red and black color scheme.
Even upon my first viewing of the trailer, I must say the influence of Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III’s Batwoman: Elegy is undeniable. If you need a primer on the titular character, there’s no better place to start than with that trade paperback. If you pick it up, then you’ll notice similarities between it and the TV show, particularly what’s going on with Alice. I’m also seeing minor inspiration taken from James Tynion IV’s run on Detective Comics, if we’re to keep listing off source material
For more info, be sure to check out the official synopsis:
Kate Kane (Ruby Rose) never planned to be Gotham’s new vigilante. Three years after Batman mysteriously disappeared, Gotham is a city in despair. Without the Caped Crusader, the Gotham City Police Department was overrun and outgunned by criminal gangs. Enter Jacob Kane (Dougray Scott) and his military-grade Crows Private Security, which now protects the city with omnipresent firepower and militia. Years before, Jacob’s first wife and daughter were killed in the crossfire of Gotham crime. He sent his only surviving daughter, Kate Kane, away from Gotham for her safety.
After a dishonorable discharge from military school and years of brutal survival training, Kate returns home when the Alice in Wonderland gang targets her father and his security firm, by kidnapping his best Crow officer Sophie Moore (Meagan Tandy). Although remarried to wealthy socialite Catherine Hamilton-Kane (Elizabeth Anweis), who bankrolls the Crows, Jacob is still struggling with the family he lost, while keeping Kate –– the daughter he still has –– at a distance. But Kate is a woman who’s done asking for permission. In order to help her family and her city, she’ll have to become the one thing her father loathes –– a dark knight vigilante.
Batwoman is set to air on Sunday nights this fall on The CW.