Over the past decade, none of Batman's growing family of friends have proven quite so exciting
as Batwoman — especially now that she has finally made her small screen debut. But just
who is Batwoman? Here's a look at the untold truth behind one of DC's most fascinating characters.
Kathy Kane, the original Batwoman, debuted in Detective Comics #233 in July 1956. Unfortunately,
the character wasn't introduced by DC out of any real desire to expand Batman's universe. Instead,
Kathy Kane was concocted to combat some scurrilous rumors about the Caped Crusader.
In 1954, the psychiatrist Fredric Wertham had published Seduction of the Innocent,
a highly dubious yet influential treatise on the dangers of superhero comics.
In this book, Wertham had this to say about Batman and Robin's relationship:
"It is like a wish dream of two homosexuals living together."
"Holy Romeo and Juliet!"
Wertham's book would go on to spark full-blown congressional hearings
and devastate the world of genre fiction. And while most superhero titles escaped unscathed,
Batman's editors decided that they needed to restore the appearance of
heteronormativity to Gotham City. Thus: Kathy Kane, the Batwoman.
As a wealthy socialite and former circus performer whose admiration for Batman drove her to a life
of crime fighting, Kathy was a love interest in the style of Superman's ever-popular Lois Lane.
Of course, Bruce Wayne has a thing for her, but she only has eyes for
Batman — and to complicate matters, he knows her secret identity… but she doesn't know his.
This dynamic produced some fairly interesting early adventures,
and even introduced a sidekick in the form of Kathy's niece Betty,
the original Bat-Girl — who was a similarly positioned love interest for Robin. In the end,
though, Kathy proved to be more popular with readers than she was with incoming Batman editor
Julius Schwartz, who pared down the Batman family dramatically when he took over in the early '60s.
While Kathy Kane was eventually phased out of the comics, the idea of keeping a woman in the Batman
family persisted elsewhere — specifically, on television. In 1967, at the height of the Batman
TV show's popularity, the producers decided to expand their cast and introduce a new Batgirl.
"Glad to have you flanking us, Batgirl."
The TV show tied the new Batgirl to an existing character by introducing her as Barbara Gordon,
the daughter of Gotham City's solemn and stentorian police commissioner. The viewers were
clued in on her secret identity, but unlike Kathy Kane, Batman and Robin initially had no idea who
she really was. Batgirl proved to be a reliably popular member of the TV show's Bat-family,
and, soon enough, Barbara Gordon was introduced in the comics, too.
The comic book version of Barbara was just as popular with fans as her TV counterpart.
As a result, the character served as Batgirl until 1988, and then stepped back into the role
from 2011 to the present. Even when she wasn't Batgirl, Barbara regularly featured as Oracle, an
incredibly skilled hacker who often provided vital information to Batman and the Justice League.
When Batman Family launched in 1975, the second issue asked readers to write in with their picks
for which secondary Batman characters they wanted to see featured alongside Batgirl and Robin.
Apparently, the response was strong enough that they featured a reprint of an early Batwoman
story in the next issue. By then, the fan letters were demanding a proper comeback for Kathy Kane.
In #10, these readers finally got their wish when
Batwoman came out of retirement for a team-up story with her successor,
Batgirl. At the end of the story, Kathy offers Barbara the title of "Batwoman."
Babs refuses, however, claiming that while it was an honor, there can be "only one Batwoman."
Soon enough, though, there'd be no Batwomen at all. Four years later,
in Detective Comics #485, Batwoman is killed by the League of Assassins. That was the last
readers saw of the main universe's Kathy Kane for nearly 30 years, and in the mid-'80s,
Crisis on Infinite Earths rearranged the timeline so that she'd never existed at all.
In 1999, Barbara Gordon was busy being Oracle and Kathy Kane had been written
out of existence — so there was nothing stopping DC from teasing a potential new
female Bat character in the pages of the No Man's Land story arc.
No Man's Land follows the heroes and villains of Gotham in the aftermath of a devastating
earthquake, which leaves the entire city as little more than a post-apocalyptic ruin.
All but abandoned by the U.S. Government, Gotham becomes a battleground for the countless gangs and
supervillains who are vying for domination. What's worse, Batman has been missing for three months…
so, naturally, someone puts on a bat costume and starts claiming territory in his name.
This particular Batwoman turns out to be the Huntress, but she isn't the only one to wear
the distinctive costume during No Man's Land. At the end of the story, the cowl
is passed on to Cassandra Cain, a teenager who was trained since birth to become an assassin.
With the Huntress back in her normal identity, Cassandra decides to become the new Batgirl,
leaving the door open for an all-new Batwoman to appear.
In 2006, the DC Universe jumped forward by a year, and then explained everything in a year-long
weekly miniseries called 52. The series set the stage for plenty of major developments, the
most prominent and long-lasting of which was the introduction of the all-new Batwoman, Kate Kane.
Not to be confused with the Silver Age's Kathy Kane,
Kate sported a brand-new black-and-red costume, designed by Alex Ross.
She also made headlines after she was introduced as DC's highest-profile lesbian character,
especially once she took over Detective Comics as its headlining star.
While Kate used Batman's iconography in order to strike fear into Gotham City's criminals,
she was dramatically different from the Caped Crusader. She had military training,
was significantly less averse to firearms, and her equivalent to Alfred was her father,
a retired general who provided her with experimental military hardware. There was,
however, one key similarity between Kate and Bruce: she too was driven to fight crime after
seeing her family killed in front of her — in this case, her mother and twin sister.
Detective Comics #858 dives into Kate Kane's origin story, and the following issue deals
with her dismissal from the United States Military Academy during her senior year.
While training at West Point, Kate is accused of being in violation of Article 125 of the Uniform
Military Code of Justice. Just in case you're not totally up to speed on the specifics of military
law, that's the article concerning homosexuality, which was once used to keep LGBTQ people out of
the military. While Kate is offered the chance to claim that it was all a misunderstanding,
she instead chooses to leave West Point and never fulfill her lifelong dream of serving in the Army.
Naturally, that sense of integrity has been one of her defining characteristics ever since.
It's worth noting that this story was originally published in 2009,
when the official policy of the military was "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" — meaning that gay
people could serve, just as long as they were in the closet. Only two years later, in 2011,
that policy was changed, and Article 125 was officially repealed from the UCMJ.
That means that, eventually, Kate's origin may have to be retconned. However,
considering this would be a fictional retcon that comes at the cost of real-world progress,
it's no surprise that the creators of that origin story are absolutely fine with it.
When DC rebooted their entire line in 2011 as "The New 52,"
Batwoman got her first ongoing series, co-written by J.H. Williams III and William Haden Blackman.
The most notable addition to Batwoman's roster was Maggie Sawyer, who first met Kate during
her headlining run in Detective Comics, and quickly became the character's love interest.
Maggie was originally introduced in the Superman books of the '90s as a police
officer in the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit. Back then, she was one of the most prominent
gay characters in comics, playing a major role in Superman's ongoing saga. In the early 2000s,
she was transferred to Gotham City's police department in Gotham Central,
a book that, not coincidentally, was co-written by Greg Rucka,
one of Kate's creators. The relationship between Maggie and Kate became a huge part of the series,
and led to a groundbreaking moment in Batwoman #17 — when Kate proposes to Maggie.
Unfortunately, the marriage never came to be. The editors at DC forbade the wedding from
taking place, a controversial decision that prompted Williams and Blackman to walk out
in protest. DC insisted that the decision wasn't made as a result of an anti-LGBTQ agenda,
but rather because of an editorial shift that turned against marriage in general,
with publisher Dan DiDio saying that, quote, "heroes shouldn't have happy personal lives."
"And what should we call you? Rain? Miss Parade?"
"Kane. Kate Kane."
Over the last decade or so, the CW has formed a full-on DC multiverse on television, with a core
roster featuring some of the most iconic DC heroes of all time. Occasionally, the "Arrowverse'' shows
would crossover in massive team-up events. One of these was the Elseworlds story in 2018,
which introduced a brand new character to the Arrowverse: Batwoman, as portrayed by Ruby Rose.
The CW's take on Batwoman exists in a Gotham City where Batman disappeared three years earlier,
leading to a surge in crime and the need for a new, bat-themed vigilante crime-fighter.
In September 2019, the fully-fledged Batwoman series debuted with Rose at the forefront,
and The CW ordered a second season just a few weeks later.
Playing a major comic book character on screen could be a career-defining move for almost any
actor, and, for a while, it looked like Ruby Rose would follow that upward trajectory.
However, in May 2020, just a few months after the CW asked for a second season of Batwoman,
Rose announced that she would be departing the series. In a statement, she said:
"This was not a decision I made lightly as I have the utmost respect for the cast,
crew, and everyone involved with the show. Thank
you to everyone who made season one a success — I am truly grateful."
So why would an actor walk away from a plum role and a regular gig on network television?
Variety later reported that Rose had a deep distaste for the series' long shooting days,
which led to tension on the set. In the end, a mutual decision was made between Rose, the CW,
and Warner Brothers to find a new actor to portray Batwoman.
In the same news reports announcing Ruby Rose's exit from Batwoman, the show's production
company Warner Brothers made it clear that this wasn't going to spell the end for the series.
Within days of Rose's departure, it was announced that Kate Kane would also be cut from the show,
in favor of a new character who uses the Batwoman alias.
A leaked casting call revealed that producers were looking for an actor, quote,
"Female, Mid-late 20s, any ethnicity" to portray Ryan Wilder, the new Batwoman,
who is supposed to be, quote, "likable, messy, a little goofy," and "nothing like Kate Kane."
However, show runner Caroline Dries almost took the easier route of finding a new actor
to play Kate Kane. In an interview at the ATX Festival At Home, she explained:
"I did consider the 'soap opera version' for a hot minute, because selfishly we
already had a couple episodes written, and transition-wise it would be seamless."
Ultimately, Arrowverse overseer Greg Berlanti made the decision to introduce a new character
along with a fresh actor. In the end, the new Batwoman was revealed to be Javicia Leslie,
known for her roles on the BET crime show The Family Business
and the CBS drama God Friended Me. Her first appearance on Batwoman came in a
January 2021 episode titled, appropriately enough, "Whatever Happened to Kate Kane?"
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