Victoria Cartagena to Portray Renee Montoya on the CW’s “Batwoman”

It’s a case of déjà vu for Victoria Cartagena.

The 36-year-old Latina actress has joined the upcoming third season of Batwoman as a new series regular, portraying DC hero Renee Montoya on the CW drama.

Victoria Cartagena

Cartagena’s character, Montoya, is a former GCPD officer who left the force when she could no longer stomach the corruption inside the department. She now runs the “freaks division,” which hasn’t seen a lot of action… until now. Righteous and pragmatic, and LGBTQ+, she’s a woman with a very personal (and mysterious) mission to help clean the streets of Gotham in the right way, by whatever means necessary.

Cartagena previously played Renee Montoya on Fox’s Gotham, though the universes are not connected.

In the June 27 Season 2 finale, Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie) has fully taken up the mantle of Batwoman with Kate Kane leaving Gotham in a search for her long-missing cousin Bruce Wayne (aka Batman). It also was revealed that Ryan’s biological mother, who was believed to have died in childbirth, is actually alive.

In addition to Leslie, Rachel Skarsten, Meagan Tandy, Nicole Kang and Camrus Johnson also star; original cast member Dougray Scott recently left the series. 

Batwoman is produced by Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros Television.

Cartagena’s other recent credits include a series regular role on Fox’s Almost Family, and recurring on M. Night Shyamalan’s Apple TV+ series Servant. She also recurred on the first season of NBC’s Manifest.

Vita Ayala Developing Stories for DC’s Pride Month Anthology Comic Featuring LGBTQIA+ Characters

Vita Ayala is bringing a little pride to the comic book world…

The queer Afro-Latinx writer has joined the DC Pride creative time for DC’s June Pride Month, which included the launch of an 80-page anthology comic featuring LGBTQIA+ characters from across the DC Universe.

Vita Ayala

The anthology DC Pride #1 will feature cameos by Batwoman, Renee Montoya, Alan Scott, Midnighter, Apollo, Extraño, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Constantine, and more.

The DC Pride creative teams, and the characters they’re developing stories for, are:

  • Renee Montoya by Vita Ayala and Skylar Patridge
  • Batwoman (Kate Kane) by James Tynion IV & Trung Le Nguyen
  • Poison Ivy & Harley Quinn by Mariko Tamaki & Amy Reeder
  • Midnighter by Steve Orlando & Stephen Byrne
  • Flash of Earth-11 (Jess Chambers) by Danny Lore & Lisa Sterle
  • Green Lantern (Alan Scott) & Obsidian by Sam Johns & Klaus Janson
  • Aqualad (Jackson Hyde) by Andrew Wheeler & Luciano Vecchio
  • Dreamer by Nicole Maines & Rachel Stott
  • Pied Piper by Sina Grace, Ro Stein & Ted Brandt

The anthology will include full-page profiles of DCTV’s LGBTQIA+ characters and the actors who play them. A special bonus for fans of The CW’s Supergirl will be the introduction of the first comic book appearance of Dreamer, a trans woman superhero, in a story written by actor Nicole Maines, who plays Nia Nal/Dreamer on Supergirl.

Rounding out the DC Pride anthology is a forward by Marc Andreyko (Love is Love), and single-page pin-ups by artists Kris Anka, Sophie Campbell, Mildred Louis, Travis Moore, Nick Robles and Kevin Wada.

The DC Pride #1 cover is by Jim Lee, Scott Williams and Tamra Bonvillain.

DC will also release a series of Pride theed variant covers showcasing DC’s leading characters through the month of June, giving fans the opportunity to purchase comics featuring covers with Batman, Harley, Ivy, Superman, Wonder Woman, and more. These include:

  • Batman#109 Pride variant cover by Jen Bartel
  • Crush & Lobo#1 Pride variant cover by Yoshi Yoshitani
  • DC Pride#1 Pride variant cover by Jen Bartel
  • Harley Quinn#4 Pride variant cover by Kris Anka
  • Nightwing #81 Pride variant cover by Travis G. Moore
  • Superman#32 Pride variant cover by David Talaski
  • Teen Titans Academy#4 Pride variant cover by Stephen Byrne
  • Wonder Girl #2 Pride variant cover by Kevin Wada
  • Wonder Woman #773 Pride variant cover by Paulina Ganucheau

DC will also present an eight-issue miniseries, Crush & Lobo, by Tamaki and Nahuelpan, spinning out of the pages of Teen Titans Academy. The book will debut with a cover by Kris Anka, a Pride variant cover by Yoshi Yoshitani, a 1:25 ratio variant by Christian Ward, plus a Dan Hipp team variant for participating retailers. The book will be published between June and January 2022.

DC will also publish GLAAD Media Award-nominated Suicide Squad: Bad Blood by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo (Nightwing) on April 27, DC’s gothic LGBTQIA+ romance Poison Ivy: Thorns by Kody Keplinger and Sara Kipin on June 1, and Mariko Tamaki and Yoshi Yoshitani’s YA graphic novel, I Am Not Starfirewill publish on July 27 as part of the publisher’s overall Pride plans in 2021.

Lois Lane by Greg Rucka and Mike PerkinsFar Sector by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell and You Brought Me The Ocean by Alex Sánchez and Julie Maroh have also been nominated for GLAAD Media Awards in 2021.

Lima to Star in CW’s Superhero Series “Supergirl”

Floriana Lima has landed a Super-sized role…

The Latina actress has landed a series regular role on the CBS-turned-CW superhero series Supergirl.

Floriana Lima

Lima will portray Maggie Sawyer, a character inspired by the historic gay DC Comics character.

Created by John Byrne, Maggie was first introduced in 1987 as a captain of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit where she was a highly skilled member of the Science Police, the division of the police department that deals with metahumans.

Additionally, Maggie was revealed to be a lesbian in the Superman titles, making her one of the first openly characters in mainstream comics. She later went on to become romantically involved with another famous female superhero, Batwoman, in addition appearance in several Batman titles.

On the Warner Bros.-produced Supergirl, Maggie will be a detective for the National City Police Department who takes a special interest in the cases involving aliens.

Supergirl executive producer Greg Berlanti, who is also an EP on Arrow, The Flash and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year about the importance of being all inclusive. His DC Comics shows have changed the ethnicity and sexuality of several iconic comic book characters to better reflect present day, like Supergirl‘s Jimmy Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) and Arrow‘s Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum), respectively.

“I wanted to contemporize these comics that I loved growing up and have them reflect the society that we live in now,” Berlanti said. “It’s still about working in some of those very real qualities so that everyone feels represented.”

Maggie Sawyer is one of several famed DC Comics characters coming to Supergirl for season two. Teen Wolf‘s Tyler Hoechlin has been cast as Kara’s cousin Clark Kent aka Superman, and Cougar Town vet Ian Gomez will play journalist Snapper Carr. Additionally, former Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter is set to appear as the President of the United States.

The character of Maggie Sawyer previously appeared in several episodes of former CW series Smallville, as played by Jill Teed.

In addition to the ABC drama The Family, Lima’s credits include Allegiance and The Mob Doctor.

Supergirl‘s second season premieres on Monday, October 10 at 8 p.m. on The CW.