Set to make movie history, DC Films and streaming platform HBO Max cast Fil-Am actress Ivory Aquino to play the first trans character in DC Extended Universe (DCEU) in a feature film. Aquino will be portraying Alysia Yeoh opposite Leslie Grace as the titular character Batgirl. In the “Batgirl” comics, Alysia is a bartender and the best friend Barbara Gordon, the alter ego of the masked heroine.
Prior to becoming Batgirl’s roommate, Aquino appeared in a number of movies and series such as “When We Rise” (2017), “FBI: Most Wanted” (2020), and Filipino trans filmmaker Isabel Sandoval’s “Lingua Franca.” Talk about manifestation, in 2018, Aquino shared a fan cast imagining her to portray the role.
Apart from Grace and Aquino, Brendan Fraser is also joining the cast as the villain Firefly and Michael Keaton to reprise his role as Batman. “Batgirl” centers on the daughter of Police Commissioner James Gordon as she becomes the titular fan-favorite DC hero, per Entertainment Weekly. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are directing the movie penned by Christina Hodson. The movie is slated to be released on the streaming platform this year.