Batman Married Batwoman And Things Got Real Misogynistic

Casual fans might think a marriage between Batman and Batwoman would make for an ideal and obvious union. But casual fans would be wrong because things got toxic real quick. The Bat Family has a long history of strong, empowering female characters fighting against impossible odds alongside Batman and Robin. Between the multitude of women to don the Batgirl, Batwoman and Robin capes, Batman has never shied away from his female allies’ help. And that’s precisely what makes 1959’s Batman #122 feels so out of place.

The Marriage of Batman and Batwoman gets off to a bad start right from the cover page, which sees Batman and Robin in battle. With Batwoman swinging in overhead to help, Batman exclaims, “Batwoman! I thought I told you a wife’s place is in the home!” So what lead up to this? The book opens with Batman heading out on a date with Kathy Kane. Batman and Robin know she’s Batwoman at this point, but she’s unaware of their alter egos. Now alone, Dick Grayson ponders how this might affect his relationship with Bruce as he drifts asleep.

Related: Batwoman: Every DC Character That Can Replace Ruby Rose’s Kate Kane

The date must have gone pretty good because a short time later he’s being shaken awake by the couple, who apparently in the span of one night have married. Kathy promises she’ll be just like a mother to Dick. Bruce assures a bewildered Dick that she’s still in the dark on their crime-fighting. The Bat-Signal goes up while they eat dinner and Bruce blinks a coded message to Dick for them to answer the call, leaving behind Kathy. A restless Kathy decides she’ll help Batman and suits up. Surprising the Dynamic Duo, the three foil a robbery. Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce and Dick reveal their true identities and Kathy is thrilled that she’d unknowingly married the Batman.

As the newlyweds embrace, Robin thinks to himself, “Maybe now Kathy will realize Bruce doesn’t want his wife to endanger her life, and she’ll be content to be just a normal housewife!” The next panel sees Batman and Robin heading on another adventure, with Kathy eager to help. But Batman isn’t having it: “A wife’s place is in the home!” Obviously this was a different era, but still, yikes. And to make sure Kathy plays her housewife role, Batman even hid her costume so she couldn’t help even if she tried.

But you can’t keep a good Batwoman down and as Batman and Robin foil a crime at a movie studio, Batwoman shows up in one of Bruce’s spare suits, though due to its ill fit, she is unmasked and the criminals identify her as Kathy Kane. Making matter worse, since she called Batman darling, they deduce he must be Bruce Wayne. A furious Robin berates Kathy, telling her she’s ruined Batman’s career and should have just done as she was told. Batman shakes him trying to calm him down and in the next panel, it’s revealed Bruce is actually shaking Dick awake, having just returned from his date. It was the nightmare of a paranoid sidekick all along and the book ends with a trembling Dick Grayson worrying his dream might one day come true.

This was one of the more cringe-worthy depictions of a relationship between Batman and a female ally until the animated Killing Joke adaptation. But since this is all playing out in Dick’s head, it probably says a lot more about his thoughts on gender roles than anything else. Get woke, Robin.

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