Ivory Aquino made history by being cast in Batgirl as the first trans character to appear in a DC Comics feature film.
The When We Rise star, who is also transgender, will appear as Alysia Yeoh in the upcoming superhero film, Variety reported.
The character is a bartender and the best friend of Batgirl, who is also known as Barbara Gordon and will be portrayed by Leslie Grace in the HBO Max movie.
It will be set in the DC Extended Universe and marks the first appearance of a trans character in a live-action feature film adaption of a DC Comics title.
The news won’t be surprising to some, as Aquino’s role in the upcoming project was widely speculated after Grace shared a photo to Instagram with her tagged which appeared to be from the movie’s set in mid-January.
It was captioned as “Barbara and Alysia,” followed by two emojis – a heart-face and bat.
Yeoh made her debut in a 2011 issue of the Batgirl comics which was written by Gail Simone and penciled by Ardian Syaf.
DC has seen an increasing amount of LGBTQ+ representation in recent years.
Indya Moore, who is transgender and non-binary, was recently cast in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom alongside the likes of Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson.
They will be playing Karshon, an existing DC character who is normally found as a Green Lantern villain.
In 2021, DC Comics made history when they announced that Jon Kent, Earth’s reigning Superman and the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, would be bisexual in the Superman: Son of Kal El series.
The upcoming Batgirl film is set to be released on HBO Max sometime in 2022.
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