Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are engaged , and wedding bell shape on the visible horizon foretell one of the most rudimentary changes to the Bat - canon we ’ve ever seen . Or it should be , if this was n’t an idea DC has plumb since the earliest sidereal day of the Dark Knight . But even then , Batman ’s story of marriage ceremony is a bit more complex than just repeated slip down the Lord’s table .
You see , Bruce and Selina ’s late try at blissful batrimony might actually be the first time that Bruce — specifically “ our ” Bruce of DC ’s chief reality — has married someone for erotic love ( assuming they in reality make it through their vows without a supervillain appearing , that is ) . As you ’ll see below , Batman ’s perish through marriage many times , but until now , they ’ve all been for myriad kooky reasons .
The Ruses
In the early day , if Batman was getting married , more often than not it was because of an elaborate patch — whether it was one of his own or one he just so find to go along with , on the face of it because Bruce Wayne apparently loves shew up at chapels in his superhero costume .
The very first clock time we image a Bat - Marriage , in 1953 ’s Batman # 79 , it was one of those bizarro plots , in which Vicki Vale , attempting to get out of the approach of the Shah of Nairomi without do a diplomatic incident , announce she can not take his marriage proposal … because she ’s engaged to Batman . One leak of a trashy tabloid rumor later , Bruce manages to get the whole affair called off while Vicki avoids being married off to the Shah for the goodness of the country .
An altogether coarse artifice involve Superman and Batman playing a spectacularly cruel clowning on Lois Lane in 1965 ’s Superman ’s Girlfriend , Lois Lane # 59 . Lois suddenly believe she ’s unmasked Bruce Wayne as the alter ego of Superman , and as she desire to hook up with Superman , directly hooks up with Bruce . Superman witness out about the whole hatful , but decide to tell Bruce and they go along with the wedding , just so Superman can pounce in at the last minute and break Lois ’ pump . Bruce and Clark even laugh about it together afterwards !
The Batman and Wonder Woman of the Brave and the Bold animated cosmos nearly got tie in All - New Batman Brave and the Bold # 4 , having been hit with a spell from Eros , the Greek god of draw , that defecate them fall for each other . The two break out of the spell thanks to Diana ’s reata of true statement , but resolve to plan a lavish wedding anyway … and habituate it as a ambuscade to draw out a bunch of supervillains — who could n’t resist attack the wedding of Wonder Woman and Batman!—that they then proceed to beat the prig out of .
Batman ’s not always the one plotting the ruse ; sometimes , he ’s the one that gets tricked . This happen most infamously in DC Special Series # 15 , a one - off narrative from 1978 that saw Ra ’s al Ghul kidnap Bruce , render him unconscious , and then claim that his own country ’s spousal relationship custom let him hold Bruce married to his girl , Talia . Batman foils this architectural plan and flees , but the marriage actually descend up again in the germinal Batman : Son of the Demon graphic novel , in which Talia and Bruce ultimately consummate their former marriage as part of a newfangled alliance between the two .
By the conclusion of the graphical novel , the marriage is rescind and Bruce believes Talia has miscarry the child they think during the consummation . Eventually , however , it ’s revealed that Talia gave birth in secret to Damian Wayne , the current Robin .
The Dreams
Another democratic trick early Batman strip would diddle on fan was something that ’s become a tired trope today — a big flamboyant scenario to tease on the front varlet , only for it to be revealed as all a dream by the story ’s end . Unmaskings , death , and secret revelations are all favour mark over years of cartoon strip — as well as wedlock .
When the original Batwoman , Kathy Kane , was first introduced in 1956 , DC blow no time in imagining her hooking up with Batman — but the wedding party Alexander Bell being reverberate in Batman # 122 were all in Robin ’s head . When the couple say their vows and reveal their secret identity element to each other , Bruce tries to get Kathy to retire as Batwoman , but both her and his identities get exposed when she deny … only for Robin to wake up up from the terrible nightmare he ’d been hold .
After the earlier harlequinade , 1969 ’s Lois Lane # 89 had another wedding between Lois and Bruce , this clock time with a wildly jealous Clark seething in the background signal . The couple give out on to have a well-chosen life and raise a son who was trained as “ Batman Jr. ” by the cap crusaders — but it was all revealed as a pipe dream at the end .
betimes on in Grant Morrison ’s outpouring on JLA in the late ‘ 90s , a villain known as the Key bunker each member of the Justice League in an cause dream existence . In Bruce ’s realism , he ’s marital to Selina Kyle and retired , with their son training as the raw Robin with an adult Tim Drake ’s Batman . Naturally , it does n’t last , as the League eventually figure out they ’re in faux realities , and get pulled out of their corporate stupor thanks to their latest enlistee , Connor Hawke ( the Green Arrow of the time ) .
Although the aspiration image was play out decades ago , DC could n’t help but indulge itself again with a special event across the Bat - family comics released in February 2001—“This take : Batman Dies!!!”—as a tribute to the old lure - and - switches of the classic comics . Batman would die an absurdly comical , imaginary expiry in every issue — and Nightwing # 52 ’s “ dying ” came in a castle in the air from Catwoman , in which she imagines marrying Bruce and then promptly killing him after realizing she ’ll never be able-bodied to truly have him for herself with all his crimefighting duties .
The What-Ifs
Given that Batman has little time for romance , a few of the marriages we ’ve seen over the long time have been hypotheticals — what - if timelines where he either never became Batman and had a happy life , or single that look to his time to come where he retires the mantle in party favour of subdued matrimony .
Batman # 131 enter us to another married couple hypothetical with Kathy Kane — less than 10 proceeds after that first Batman / Batwoman marriage we mentioned earlier!—but with more of a focus on the two having retire into elderly bliss together as they pass off on the mantle of Batman and Robin to Dick Grayson and their son , Bruce Jr … . as Batman II and Robin II . properly down to the number on their costume .
Much of the ‘ 90s JLA run saw Batman and Wonder Woman formulate romanticistic feeling for each other , always dancing around whether or not they ’d in reality get together . finally in JLA # 90 , Diana decides to abstract herself into a machine in the Watchtower that lets her see various alternating futures of her life together with Bruce , some happy , some tragic . disregardless of what she sees , however , both she and Bruce talk at the oddment of the issue and decide to put their feelings for each other aside to focus on their placement in the team .
We got to see another alternate timeline in the New 52 reboot of Detective Comics , after Bruce ’s late introduced love interestingness Natalya Trusevich come across the fate of most Batman love interest and got horribly killed for her connections to the Dark Knight . In Detective Comics # 27 , a 75th day of remembrance issue , a grief - stricken Bruce is introduced to a timeline where not only did his parent live , but he give way on to fall in beloved with and wed Natalya . Even then , he could n’t appropriate himself happiness , choosing to leave the timeline so he could commit himself to the needs of jurist as Batman .
We even amaze to see another alternating life recently in the pages of Batman # 49 , go up the closing of Scott Snyder ’s novel 52 outpouring on the lineament . The net arc of the series saw Jim Gordon take on the mantle of Batman while Bruce Wayne , having had his mind wipe of his past as the Dark Knight , lived a felicitous life and fell in love with a new version of Julie Madison ( the very first dear interest for Bruce Wayne , introduced nearly 80 age ago ) . But as Gordon buckles under a new threat to Gotham , Bruce discoversa way to doctor his Bat - Mind , and in the unconscious process , scud forward through the lives of various Batmen … including a future where he get married Julie and had a kid .
The Alternate Realities
alternatively of what - ifs and alternating timelines , some Bat - Marriages simply happened because writers could accomplish them with a Batman of another Earth in DC ’s vast multiverse . Most renowned of these marriages was the Batman of Earth-2 ’s married couple to Catwoman , evidence as part of the origin story for the Huntress of Earth-2 in DC Super - Stars # 17 in 1977 . On Earth-2 , Helena was the daughter bear from Bruce and Selina ’s marriage , and became the Huntress to retaliate her mother ’s death .
The Elseworlds branch of alternate universes were rich for opportunities to play with Batman subsist the married spirit . In the events of 1999 ’s Catwoman : Guardian of Gotham , Selina marries Bruce Wayne only to discover that he ’s nefarious stealer Batman — her big foe as Gotham ’s premiere superhero — who plan to murder her and take her luck . Oh , and he also happens to be the same mugger who murdered her parent in the event that inspired her to become Catwoman , as you do .
Just a couple of years earlier , Batman : Dark Knight Dynasty testify Bruce embroiled in a centuries - long tussle between descendent of the Wayne family and Vandal Savage , wedge him to result his new married woman Julie and attempt to defeat Savage for good . Bruce really snuff it in the attempt , but Julie was pregnant with his tike , who would go on to continue the Wayne Dynasty that finally birthed a Dark Knight who could topple Savage , hundreds of years after Bruce ’s death .
We still do n’t know how Bruce and Selina ’s engagement in the pages of Batman # 32 is going to pan out . There ’s the expectation of calamity striking , because , well , it would n’t be Batman without a moment of tragedy impinging . But as you could see above , if it does happen it would really be the first time Bruce has splice someone for love instead of as an part of an alternate world or as part of some elaborate plan .
If Bruce and Selina get married and really stay together , it ’ll be a massive storytelling opportunity DC has only briefly dally with in the past , and even then , one that ’s been used mostly for joke . Despite all the grounds above , it really would be a major change in the status quo for Batman as a part .
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