Javicia Leslie debuts as ‘Batwoman’ and discusses ‘immense responsibility’ of wearing the Batsuit

Javicia Leslie made her debut on “Batwoman,” Sunday, following the departure of former Batwoman, Ruby Rose. Leslie plays Ryan Wilder, who finds the previous Batwoman’s suit and creates her own version of the vigilante. Leslie told Yahoo Entertainment, donning the suit was a special experience.
“Once you put the suit on,” said Leslie. “You feel the immense responsibility of what it represents. You see that bat across your chest, and you know because you were raised seeing what that bat represents.”
Javicia’s character Ryan Wilder was incredibly powerful in her new suit, and the actress really enjoyed all the cool stunts and fight scenes.
“l always just try to have fun with it,” she said. “I think sometimes too much fun. So a lot of behind the scenes is me laughing because they’ve shot me in the air 50 ft.”
During one particularly “dope fight scene,” Leslie’s character was shot with a kryptonite bullet. She revealed that instance will have a huge impact on her character going forward.
“It's going to make a huge impact for Ryan and obviously her capability,” she said. “A lot of her journey is to prove that she’s her own Batwoman, and to stop being compared to Kate Kane. But that's going to be fast impacting her ability, so she’s going to hide it for a while. She genuinely wants to show that she can stand on her own two feet and do this, but meanwhile she’s dealing with something that’s truly impacted her ability to perform.”

Video Transcript

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- Oh my God.

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NARRATOR: Javicia Leslie made her debut as Batwoman Sunday following the departure of former Batwoman, Ruby Rose. And as Javicia told Yahoo Entertainment, donning the suit was a special experience.

JAVICIA LESLIE: Once you put the suit on, you feel the immense responsibility of what the suit represents. You see that bat across your chest. You know because you were raised seeing what that bat represents.

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- Time to be powerful.

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NARRATOR: Javicia's character, Ryan Wilder, was incredibly powerful in her new suit, and the actress really enjoyed all the cool stunts and fight scenes.

JAVICIA LESLIE: I always just try to have fun with it. I think that sometimes I'm having too much fun. [LAUGHING] So a lot of, like, the behind the scenes is me laughing because they've shot me and I cannot believe I'm 50 feet the air, looking over Vancouver, after I just, like, did a really dope fight scene.

- During one particularly dope fight scene, Javicia's character was shot with a kryptonite bullet. And she revealed that instance will have a huge impact on her character going forward.

JAVICIA LESLIE: It's going to make a huge impact on Ryan and obviously her capabilities. You know, a lot of her journey is to prove that she is her own Batwoman. It's to prove-- it's to-- and to stop being compared to Kate Kane. But that's going to-- that's going to impact her ability. So she's-- she's going to hide it for a while because she's-- she genuinely does not want to be compared. She genuinely wants to show that she can stand, you know, on her own two feet and do this. But meanwhile. she's dealing with something that's truly impacting her ability to perform.

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- What the hell was that.

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