Ivory Aquino has been cast as Alysia Yeoh, the best friend of the main superhero, Barbara Gordon, played by Leslie Grace, in the feature Film ‘Batgirl.’ Both Aquino and Yeoh are transgender, making this the first live-action feature film version of a DC Comics storey to include a trans character.

Yeoh first appeared in a 2011 issue of ‘Batgirl’ written by Gail Simone and penciled by Ardian Syaf. News of Aquino’s casting first leaked online in mid-January after Grace posted a photo seemingly from the set of the film to her Instagram story, tagging Aquino and captioning the shot (of two women crossing the street) with ‘Barbara and Alysia’, reports variety.com.

There have been several strides in broadening LGBTQ+ representation in superhero adaptations over the past few years, especially on television. The CW series ‘Supergirl’ included the first trans superhero on TV in Dreamer and the title superhero’s sister, Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh), came out as a lesbian on Season 2.

The lead character on the CW’s ‘Batwoman’ has always been a lesbian, whether played by Ruby Rosein Season 1 or Javicia Leslie on subsequent seasons.

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New Batman Addition – Ivory Aquino on Instagram

The animated DC series ‘Harley Quinn’ ended its second season with Harley and Poison Ivy falling in love and the DC Films adaptation aBirds of Prey’ included lesbian police detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez). In 2021, Marvel Studios’ Disney Plus series ‘Loki’, the title character revealed he is pansexual and the feature film ‘Eternals’ included the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first same-sex couple, played by Brian Tyree Henry and Haaz Sleiman.

Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are directing ‘Batgirl‘. The film costars J.K. Simmons, Brendan Fraser, Michael Keaton, ‘The Flash’ and Jacob Scipio.

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