The Untold Truth Of Batwoman

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."

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.

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Enter the Batwoman | 0:00
Batgirl | 2:02
Kathy and Barbara | 3:12
No Man's Land | 4:13
All-new Batwoman | 5:16
Article 125 | 6:21
Wedding bells | 7:39
Into the Arrowverse | 9:00
Hanging up the cowl | 9:50
Beyond Batwoman | 10:43

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