Batwoman’s villain Alice seems to be the key to Batman’s disappearance in the Arrowverse. The first season of Batwoman has centered upon Kate Kane’s relationship with her twisted sister Alice. In the background, though, there’s another mystery: just what has happened to Batman and his Bat-family?
Kate has returned to a Gotham bereft of its greatest defender. Neither Batman nor Bruce Wayne have been seen in three years, and not even the theft of his mother Martha’s pearl necklace prompted his return. The Arrowverse has confirmed the existence of both Robin and Oracle, and yet neither seem to be active in Gotham anymore. Lucius Fox is dead, supposedly killed in a mugging gone wrong. And even Commissioner Gordon is gone, replaced by Commissioner Forbes, a little-known character from the comics who’s usually portrayed as a corrupt cop. The entire Bat-family seems to have been systematically erased.
The latest episode of Batwoman, “An Un-Birthday Present,” subtly hints that the fate of the Bat-family is somehow bound to Alice, the main villain of the series. Crisis on Infinite Earths has introduced a new version of Beth Kane, one who originates from an alternate dimension where she never became Alice. Beth’s Earth seems to have been almost identical to Earth-Prime, with history only diverging seven years ago, on the fateful day when the Kane family were caught up in a car accident unwittingly triggered by Batman’s pursuit of the Joker. On Beth’s Earth, the young Kate Kane returned to the car and pulled her sister from it before it crashed into the river. No doubt this one change would have acted like a stone thrown into a still lake, sending ripples out to the present.
And here’s the interesting thing: Batwoman hinted that the Bat-family survived unscathed on Beth’s Earth. Beth is far more compassionate than her Earth-Prime counterpart, and yet she doesn’t show a trace of compassion when she identified Luke Fox as Lucius’ son. What’s more, there’s real warmth in her voice when she speaks of Luke working for her cousin Bruce, as though Bruce Wayne is very much a part of her life. So, in a world where Beth Kane becomes Alice, the Bat-family is essentially wiped out. In a world where she avoids this destiny, the Bat-family still exists in the present day. The clear implication is that there is some sort of connection between Beth’s fate and whatever happened to Batman and his allies.
It’s currently impossible to divine the nature of that connection, though. What is clear is that, on Earth-Prime, Bruce Wayne remained obsessed with Beth Kane’s disappearance; he never believed the planted evidence that suggested she had died. When Kate entered the Batcave, she found that Bruce Wayne still had newspaper clippings pinned to one wall, reminding him of Beth’s apparent death. According to Luke, Batman had never given up searching for the girl, holding himself responsible for what happened to her. Somehow this near-obsession must have caused whatever happened to the Bat-family. And yet, it’s worth noting that Alice has never claimed responsibility herself; she’s far from uninhibited, and would no doubt have bragged of beating the Batman. It will be fascinating to see how all the dots join together.
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