Batwoman Leading an Army Against The Batman Family

WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Detective Comics #975

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The latest issue of Detective Comics has seen Kate Kane (aka Batwoman) officially turn her back on The Batman Family. This follows hot on the heels of Kate being all but expelled from The Gotham Knights following her murder of an out-of-control Clayface in direct defiance of Batman’s orders. The final pages of the issue see Kate meeting with her father, Colonel Jacob Kane, and accepting his offer to take up leadership of The Colony – a paramilitary group with no qualms about killing to protect the people of Gotham City.

The Colony have been an ominous presence since the very beginning of James Tynion IV’s run on Detective Comics. When Batman realized that some group was monitoring him and the other vigilantes of Gotham City through military-grade drones for some unknown purpose, he took steps, following the designs of Tim “Red Robin” Drake, to develop a more organized superhero team under Batwoman’s command. This would enable the more inexperienced heroes to watch each other’s backs and be developed into a more efficient unit for whenever the unseen enemy made itself known.

Related: Batwoman’s Murder Ends The Batman Family For Good?

When The Colony finally revealed themselves, the Batman Family were stunned to find that they were under the command of Col. Jacob Kane, who explained that he had established The Colony as a gift for his daughter. The intention was for The Colony to combine the tactical command structure of a traditional military group with the training and technology that made Batman so efficient as a single agent, effectively creating an army of Batmen. Unfortunately, any chance of The Gotham Knights and The Colony working together were dashed when Col. Kane went on to speak of his belief in the existence of a terrorist cell called The League of Shadows that Batman believed to be entirely mythical and Col. Kane’s announcement that The Colony would be using targeted drone strikes to kill the thousands of League of Shadows sleeper agents he believed to be hiding in Gotham City. Thankfully, Batman’s team was just able to neutralize the threat and until recently had managed to contain Col. Kane and those Colony soldiers they had captured.

Detective Comics #975 also sees Batman calling a conclave of his closest allies to discuss what they should do about Batwoman. Unsurprisingly, the group is evenly split on the subject of whether or not killing in the line of duty can be justified, but it is Barbara “Batgirl” Gordon who stuns the assembled group into silence when suggests that the only reason Batman established The Gotham Knights in the first place was because he had gleaned the purpose of The Colony and wanted to make sure that Batwoman stayed on his side. Batman doesn’t answer her accusation but his silence speaks volumes.

It is unclear what readers can expect in the upcoming issues of Detective Comics. It seems clear that at least one other member of the team may be joining Batwoman in The Colony and that Batman may not be able to count on the enthusiastic support of the few allies he has left. It also seems likely that The Colony’s first goal will be neutralizing The Batman Family while they are licking their wounds. The only certainty is that it will be interesting to see what happens next!

More: Batwoman Just Went Rogue And It’s Crazy

Detective Comics #975 is now available at comic shops everywhere and on-line at ComiXology and DC Comics.

About The Author

Matt Morrison
(1844 Articles Published)

Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word
“blogging” was coined. He got his start writing for the
legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing,
before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on
to write for over a dozen websites, including 411
Mania, Comics
Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information
Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the
University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book
history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American
Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions
and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels
for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his
work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of
Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No
Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site
aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog –
My Geeky Geeky Ways –
which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series
making up The Arrowverse as well as his
comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is
devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You
can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.

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