Who is The Batwoman Supposed to be Then?

The moment that actress Javicia Leslie was cast as the new Batwoman, every entitled fanboy threw a hissy fit. Behavior such is not uncommon amongst gatekeeping, rigidly conservative fanboys. Did they sound off with Black Canary's casting in Birds of Prey? You bet! Remember Anna Diop in Titans as Starfire? A lot of moaning there too. It seems we can diagnose a large swath of DC fans with misogynoir. However, let us focus on Batwoman strictly for now.

Right away, fans are crying out how Batwoman is supposed to be 'white,' 'red-headed' and most importantly, 'gay.' Or is being white more important to them? No matter. Lately, I find people not doing proper reading and or research. Ruby Rose's Kate Kane was not replaced with Javicia Leslie as Kate Kane. Instead, we have a new character taking up the mantle of Batwoman, her name - Ryan Wilder. The idea of a different person taking up the mantle of an already established hero is nothing new at all. Dick Grayson, Jean Paul-Valley, and James Gordon all once donned the title of Batman. Many women have been Batgirl as well. Surprisingly, some fans prefer these others over the traditional Barbara Gordon Batgirl.

Kathy Kane

Let me let you in on a dirty little secret. Now Kate Kane is not the first and original Batwoman. Our beloved crime fighter debuts as Kathy Kane in Detective Comics #233 in 1956. She has her silly, yellow, and red costume, complete with a cape and bat-purse for the Silver Age. She joins the caped crusader with the original Bat-Girl, Bat-Mite, and Ace The Bat-Hound. Other characters, like Superman, saw an expanding set of characters, setting up a family dynamic almost. Remember, this is the fifties. Kathy Kane came complete with her purse instead of a utility belt, containing weapons disguised as feminine items, lipstick for example.

What is fascinating is part of the character's reason for existing. Remember that wretched psychiatrist, Fredric Wertham? He gave us the Seduction of The Innocent, which lead to the Comics Code Authority. He looks at Batman and Robin's living surroundings, surmising them as 'a wish dream of two homosexuals living together.' Hence, Batwoman, and her side-kick niece, Bat-Girl, exists solely to counter the homophobia of the fifties. Catwoman was put into retirement, being a criminal and too nasty of a woman for our hero. Meanwhile, Batman cannot be gay if there is a Batwoman who always makes advances towards him.

Unfortunately, in time Batwoman and the rest are put out to pasture. Although not killed, the new editorship drops the axe. She had her fans clamoring for her return for some time after 1966. The higher-ups at DC Comics saw no point, now you have Batgirl, a better female character, or so that's how they saw it. The heroine goes for a decade, not showing up in print, until the Batman Family series. Later on, the character does meet her demise by the League of Assassins in 1979. Crisis On Infinite Earths terminates this character for good in 1985 by simply erasing her out of existence.

Silver Age afficiando Grant Morrison revies Kathy Kane in 2011. As a fan of wanting to make all of Batman's history canon, he finds a way to bring the character to life as an agent for Spyral, retaining the old circus and motorcycle schtick of before. However, here Kathy creates Batwoman as a way to lure Batman to her. Spyral assigns her the task to find Batman and discover his identity. Love blossoms from the two, with the mission taking a backseat.

Forever now, Kathy Kane is a spy, not Batwoman anymore. Here, it is simply an easter egg to hook in old readers and fans. Any notion of a Kathy Kane Batwoman is now a matter of history and comic book trivia. DC Comics has little to no interest in keeping the traditional Kathy Kane Batwoman around in any vestige. Time will pass with no real direction or replacement for Batwoman. Shoes for the character remain empty until 2005.

The Missing Years

After Kathy Kane, you have numerous Batwomen from various Elseworlds and one-off stories. Superman #349 in 1980 gives us a story where Mister Mxyzptlk inverts each character's gender giving us Superwoman, Batwoman, and Wonder Man. One other odd one is Superman #353 in 1980. Here is a strange story where baby Kal-El's rocket lands on Earth, only to be found and adopted by the Waynes, thus naming him Bruce Wayne. A year later in Superman #363, Superman (Bruce Wayne) marries Barbara Gordon, the orphaned daughter of Commissioner Gordon. She convinces her husband to give up being Superman. However, she feels Gotham City still needs a protector and becomes Batwoman in her husband's retirement. Again, rather odd stories.

The beloved 1996 Kingdom Come from Mark Waid and Alex Ross offers a unique Batwoman as well. Here, she is a woman from the planet Apokolips, with her wardog Ace, and joins Batman's faction. No other identity exists for her and she is a victim of the U.N.'s nuclear bombing. 1997's Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty paints a medieval age spanning war between the family of Batman and Vandal Savage. Batwoman or Breanna Wayne is the sister of Batman. Justice League: The Nail arrives in 1998, with a universe that exists without Superman. Here, Catwoman (Selina Kyle) becomes Batwoman!

Throughout the nineties into the early two-thousands, there is no real direction for the name of Batwoman. Again, Kathy Kane is gone, and DC Comics has no intention of reviving her. One can see, the title is up for grabs for fantastical storytelling. In 2003, Batman: Mystery of The Batwoman comes to viewers' screens. This direct-to-video feature takes place in the universe of Batman: The Animated Series. Batwoman's design resembles that of Batman Beyond, but pink and silver instead, with a cape and a glider she stole from a Spider-Man villain. Batman: Mystery of The Batwoman has mixed reviews at best, coming out four years after the series concluded. By this time, fans grew up and or moved on. In fact, many fans argue rather the movie is canon or not. Plus, the mystery is there are three secret identities to Batwoman. DC Comics let the crew behind the film know, not to use the character or name of Kathy Kane, but create someone new. Hence, we get Detective Sonia Alcana, Dr. Roxanne 'Rocky' Ballantine, and Kathy Duquesne. I dare say, Kathy Duquesne gives us a basis for a possible black Batwoman in 2003. Hence, this change is not too revolutionary.

Kate Kane

Kate Kane debuts in the late summer of 2006 in DC Comics' monthly 52 series. She is what most people think of when they hear the name Batwoman today. She begins as nothing more but a Batgirl redesign from artist Alex Ross. DC Comics decides they have no desire to bring back Barbara Gordon Batgirl, for her utility as a character with a disability was of higher priority. Hence, with a few tweaks, we get Batwoman. One of the most unique and prominent distinctions with this new Batwoman is her outness as a lesbian.

Remember, this is 2006, and the climate for the LGBT community was hardly positive or safe. Congress is working on a Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution during this time, President Bush even throwing his support behind it. Under The Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, the federal government does not recognize marriages between two men or two women. This act upholds until the Supreme Court over-rules it in 2015. In 1994, there is the military policy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which denies openly gay individuals from entering and serving in the military. This policy remains in effect until 2011.

Now to sound partisan or assume many of our government officials read comics. However, one cannot help but imagine many officials at that time, and even now, disapprove of an openly gay Batwoman. Why make her gay you ask? Then DC Comics Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Dan Didio explain in that year to Wizard Entertainment...

"It was from conversations we’ve had for expanding the DC Universe, for looking at levels of diversity. We wanted to have a cast that is much more reflective of today's society and even today's fanbase. One of the reasons we made her gay is that, again when you have the Batman Family—a series of characters that aren’t super-powered and inhabit the same circle and the same city—you really want to have a point of difference. It was really important to me to make sure every character felt unique."

Kate Kane's Batwoman over a decade later is already something of a fan favorite now. She has her own series starting in the New 52 and in Rebirth. Her character makes an animated debut in Batman: Bad Blood, her television debut in the CW Arrow Series, and of course has her own CW television series. You see her in games like LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, LEGO DC Villains, and the Injustice 2 mobile game.

Fascinating, that Batwoman begins as a character simply to serve the status quo and beat back any thoughts, ideas, and or notions of homosexuality. Do not forget the dated feminity of the original character as well. Two generations later and the character is a homosexual, upheld and embraced by the LGBT community. We see she proposes to her girlfriend, her character is carried over into spin-off stories like DC Bombshells, and becomes Batman's lieutenant in Rebirth's Detective Comics.

Nonetheless, it was not warm greetings in the beginning. The arrival of this new openly gay character was met with mixed thoughts. You have asinine comments such as "Wouldn't ugly people as heroes be more groundbreaking?" asked one poster. "You know, 200-pound woman, man with horseshoe hair loss pattern, people with cold sores, etc.?" Many felt the notion of a Jewish, lesbian red-head was just too much. You can find similar things with the Ryan Wilder Batwoman. Comic fandom is full of straight, angry, white male incels.

Ryan Wilder

With the announcement of Javicia Leslie as the new Batwoman came animosity from fans all over. Many sadly and pathetically believe she is the new Kate Kane. Recasting characters in television is common, but never with an actor of a completely different complexion. Again, she is taking the role of Batwoman, and not of Kate Kane!

People fail to understand legacy characters. DC Comics' Mister Terrific was a white man in the forties! Count the several Robins, including young women such as Stephanie Brown, Helena Wayne in New 52's Earth-2, and fan-favorite Carrie Kelley from The Dark Knight Returns. You have several people as Green Lantern - white, black, man, woman, most of them are not even human! Why is the new Batwoman any different? Add to this is the character's bisexuality, which may come as a double-edged sword. In the nineties, bisexual was viewed as people lying about their homosexuality and just not real. You also have straight men's lusting thoughts for bisexual women and the toxicity this creates, further objectifying women.

The notion of a lesbian character in 1956 is a tough-sell and downright fantastical! It took us half a century to get one! Almost two decades after Kate Kane, it is hard for fans to swallow the notion of a black, bisexual Batwoman now. As we can see, mankind does not always progress in an upward linear path. However, any comic book fan should know better when you just look at the history of comics. Characters change all the time - no single character is stagnant. With numerous artists and writers, every character is clay in their hands. We see the various incarnations of her character from straight to lesbian, to non-human, to not even being Kathy or Kate Kane.

In the end, who is Batwoman really? Is there someone she is supposed to be? She is whoever the creative team behind her at the time wants her to be, and by being a piece of art, she is constantly open to different interpretations.