It’s been just over a year since Warner Bros. Discovery axed the nearly complete Batgirl and I’m still sad about everything we lost. The studio prevented Cathy Yan and Christina Hodson from bringing Birds of Prey-founder Barbara Gordon into Birds of Prey because of Batgirl—which we can’t even see! Batgirl starred Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon and Brendan Fraser—in what would’ve been part of his big comeback—as the villain, Firefly. In addition to Michael Keaton returning as Batman (outside of The Flash), the film was also going to feature the first major trans character in a big-budget action film: Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah cast Ivory Aquino as Babs’ BFF Alysia Yeoh.
Created by Gail Simone in 2011, Alysia first appeared in Batgirl Vol. 4 #1. As a roommate, Alysia didn’t get much attention until later, when Babs opened up and Alysia came out. Outside of making art, Alysia worked as a bartender and had dreams of becoming a chef. Fans cherished the friendship and a largely trope-free Alysia. While introduced over a decade ago, Alysia remains one of the few women of color (she’s of Singaporean descent) and trans women to be such a vital part of a major series. After marrying her girlfriend Jo Muñoz in Batgirl #45, Alysia moved out and became a little less important to Babs’ story. Since then, Alysia appeared a few times in Barbara-related stories, like DC’s Bombshells. Most recently, Alysia popped up in Up at Bat (DC Pride 2022 #1) by Jadzia Axelrod, Lynne Yoshii, Tamra Bonvillain, and Ariana Maher.
While we will never see Aquino as Alysia beyond leaked images, the character recently came to life in another way: Alysia made an appearance in one of the latest episodes of Harley Quinn: The Animated Series.
Spoilers ahead for season 4, episode 5 of Harley Quinn: The Animated Series
Alysia Yeoh in Harley Quinn
Like the comics, Alysia (voiced by Rain Valdez) acts as a roommate to a very stressed Barbara. After getting eye surgery and in need of a ride, Harley finds that no one in the Bat Family will pick up the phone. Alysia comes to the rescue after seeing so many frantic missed calls and texts on Babs’ phone from her so-called “swimmate.” To cover for her vigilantism, Babs tells Alysia she’s always busy and tired from the swim team. Keeping Babs’ secret, Harley uses swim metaphors in venting about the Bat Family to Alysia (which includes referring to Nightwing as swim team member Dick Grayson).
Later in the episode, Alysia and Harles reunite in Babs’ room realizing that this absence feels too long, even for Babs. Together they track her down in the mountains. While Gail Simone shared in 2021 that she originally intended for Alysia to replace Babs’ Batgirl and join the Bat Family in that role, I don’t think that’s going to happen in Harley Quinn. For one, Alysia said she was mostly going along because, as part of the Bat Family, Harley Quinn is basically a cop now. Alysia implied that she was coming along mostly to prevent brown people from getting hurt. Valid. Not just because the state has a monopoly on legal violence, but because Harley is having a rough time with the “no killing” rule.
Harley Quinn has a habit of bringing out a wide variety of characters, both large and small, from Batman‘s history. So, there’s no telling when we’ll see Alysia again. Still, it was great to see her even in this small way, and I hope there’s more to come.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist.
(featured image: DC Comics)
