Time To Be Powerful: Batwoman’s First Teaser

“Time to be powerful.” Those are the only four words in the ten-second Batwoman clip released by The CW today, but that’s ten seconds more than we’ve previously seen. This is the first teaser for the iffiest thing in the network’s early 2021 lineup: the second season revamp of Batwoman where a completely new character takes over from Kate Kane (actress Ruby Rose exited the series after Season 1 wrapped; Berlanti decided not to recast).

Fans are awaiting this with a mixture of dread and hope, though there’s usually more of one than the other. This is going to be a very tricky thing to attempt, especially since Season 1 of Batwoman had its last three episodes left incomplete due to COVID, leaving plotlines danging that you’d think would require Kate Kane to resolve. Even weirder, Ryan Wilder (the new character) has no connection to the Kanes, the Waynes, the Foxes or the Hamiltons at all. She grew up as a street criminal, became reformed a few years ago, and now “lives in a van with her plant.”

With this kind of backstory, one big question has been just HOW Wilder goes from talking to a plant to having Batcave access in one episode, and how they plan to pull it off without it feeling contrived. This teaser gives a little hint: it looks like Wilder is in some public bathroom. Our guess is that Kane’s old Batsuit is discarded somehow, Wilder finds it, and uses it to right some injustice we see committed in the cold opener. And then Luke and Mary see the video and say, “Sign her up!”

Maybe it IS a bit contrived, but do you have a better idea? (Besides recasting Kate….) This new Batwoman first appears on The CW January 17, 2021.