‘Batgirl’ casts DC’s first ever trans character
Ivory Aquino will play Alysia Yeoh, Batgirl's best friend, in HBO Max's forthcoming feature film
Forthcoming HBO Max movie Batgirl will feature the first ever openly trans character in a DC film.
Ivory Aquino will play Alysia Yeoh, Batgirl’s best friend, in the forthcoming feature film, which is due out later this year.
Yeoh’s character was first featured in a ‘Batgirl’ comic back in 2011, and her inclusion in the new film marks the first time a live-action film based on a DC comic will feature an openly trans character.
As Variety report, Aquino’s role in ‘Batgirl’ was first rumoured earlier this month when Leslie Grace, who plays the lead role of ‘Batgirl’ – aka Barbara Gordon – shared a photo of herself and Acquino on Instagram, writing: “Barbara and Alysia 😍🦇”.
Others involved in ‘Batgirl’ are Michael Keaton, who is reprising his role as Batman, J.K. Simmons, who will play Gotham City police commissioner Jim Gordon, and Jacob Scipio and Brendan Fraser in unspecified roles.
Elsewhere in the DC Extended Universe, ‘The Batman’ is set to be one of the longest comic book films in history with a two hour and 47-minute runtime.
With post-credits included, the runtime will extend closer to the three-hour mark. Variety reports that a source close to the Robert Pattinson-starring movie has confirmed its length.
Only ‘Avengers: Endgame’ (at three hours and two minutes) and ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ (four hours and two minutes) run longer in the comic book movie world.
‘The Batman’ stars Pattinson as the titular character, with support from Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler and Colin Farrell as the Penguin, among others. The Matt Reeves-directed film is released in cinemas worldwide via Warner Bros. on March 4.