A Latina version of Wonder Girl, unrelated to her Titans incarnation, is headed to the CW’s Arrowverse, with DC announcing a new series for the new character prior to her debut in the publisher’s upcoming ‘Future State’ event.
Related: DC Comics Announces Line-Wide ‘Future State’ Event Coming in January
Deadline is reporting The CW has ordered a Wonder Girl series, though it won’t center around either established Titan Donna Troy, portrayed in the television series by Conor Leslie, or the John Byrne-created Cassie Sandsmark.
No, the new Wonder Girl, or first as far as the Arrowverse is concerned, will be a younger version of Yara Flor, a Brazilian version of the iconic super heroine who will make her comic debut in next year’s Future State event.
Flor will reportedly serve as Wonder Woman across multiple titles during Future State, including a Justice League book and a solo outing written and illustrated by creator Joëlle Jones
Flor doesn’t have a lengthy backstory, given that she has yet to appear in any form of DC media, but Deadline describes the upcoming version as “a Latina Dreamer who was born of an Amazonian Warrior and a Brazilian River God,” who “learns that she is Wonder Girl” who must use her newly realized power to “fight the evil forces that would seek to destroy the world.”
The series is going will be be co-produced by Dailyn Rodriguez (Queen of the South) and Arrowverse creator Greg Berlanti, with Deadline quick to emphasize that “Berlanti and the CW are breaking more ground in superhero representation with their latest DC series project.”
Related — Rumor: HBO Max Wants Gal Gadot for Wonder Girl Spinoff of Titans
Interestingly, though the character is officially described in Deadline’s report as a ‘Latina’ character, the Hollywood news outlet chose to promote the character as ‘Latinx’, a term promoted by critical race and social justice activists as a ‘gender-neutral’ alternative to the gendered terms ‘Latino’ or ‘Latina’ when referencing individuals of Hispanic or Latin descent.
However, despite the recent surge in the term’s use and promotion, as reported by the Pew Research Center, “only 23% of U.S. adults who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino have heard of the term Latinx,” while “just 3% say they use it to describe themselves”, indicating that the attempt to marry the upcoming Wonder Girl with the unpopular identity is nothing more than a bizarre attempt by the outlet to virtue signal to popular online subgroups.
In the spirit of Batwoman giving the network the first gay lead superhero and Black Lightning providing its first black male lead hero, with Batwoman’s second season levlling up both of these firsts by introducing lesbian hero of color Ryan Wilder (Javica Leslie), Flor is set up to be the first leading Latina or Latinx comic character, though if rumors are to be believed, she’ll be racing for that title against Marvel’s Anya Corazon-centric Spider-Girl film.
Though Wild Dog (Rick Gonzalez) and Vibe (Carlos Valdes) had prominent roles in Arrow and Flash, the two were still only supporting characters
While no hint of either of an appearance in the series by either of other Wonder Girls was given by Deadline, a previous rumor indicated that HBO Max is considering a Titans-related Wonder Girl spinoff series, which may conenct to the greated DC Extended Universe through an appearance by Wonder Woman’s big screen actress, Gal Gadot.
What do you make of this announcement? What would you like to see from a Wonder Girl television series? Share your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!