Katherine Kane

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Character
Name: Katherine Rebecca "Kathy" or "Kate" Kane
Occupation: superheroine/masked vigilante, heiress
Relationships: Batfamily, Bette Kane (niece or cousin depending on the universe),
Bruce Wayne (Batman love interest or cousin),
Renee Montoya (girlfriend)
Maggie Sawyer (girlfriend)
Elizabeth "Beth" Kane (twin sister)
Colonel Jacob "Jake" Kane and Gabrielle "Gabi" Kane (parents)
Thomas Wayne (uncle) and Martha Wayne (aunt)
Catherine Hamilton-Kane (step-mother)
Mary Hamilton (step-sister)
Fandom: DC Comics, Batman: Bad Blood, Injustice: Gods Among Us, DC Bombshells, Batwoman (TV series) (Arrowverse)
Other:
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Katherine Kane aka Batwoman is a DC Comics character.

Canon

Comics

Katherine Kane first appeared in Detective Comics #233 (July 1956). After a long hiatus, she was reintroduced to DC continuity in the 52 Universe in 52 #7 (June 2006).

Unlike the Silver Age Kathy Kane, who was romantically attracted to Batman, the new version of Kate Kane is a lesbian. Her first romantic relationship is with Renee Montoya and later she's romantically involved with Maggie Sawyer.

DC Bombshells

In 1940, while the allied forces fight overseas in World War II, Kate takes on the identity of The Batwoman. Together, with her team of Batgirls, the group protects America from criminality. But her actions capture the attention of Amanda Waller. Waller recruits Batwoman for her Bombshells Team.

Other Adaptions

Although Batwoman has been named several times throughout DCAU and other Batman related animated series, it is not until Batman: Bad Blood that the Katherine Kane version was first seen. It also canonized LGBT sexual orientation, as well as her romantic relationship with Renee Montoya.

The video game Batman: Arkham Knight featured Kate Kane as well, along with canonizing her relationship with Maggie Sawyer in that universe.

Arrowverse

Kate/Batwoman first appeared appeared in Season 5 of The Flash in the crossover event Elseworlds set in the same Earth as Team Flash and Team Arrow (Earth-1). Following The Flash episode, she appeared in the Elsworlds episodes of Arrow and Supergirl. She gained her own TV series October 6, 2019.

The series takes place 3 years after Batman and Bruce Wayne have disappeared from Gotham, and Kate returns home to save her ex-girlfriend, Sophie Moore from Alice. She learns Bruce's secret identity and decides to stay in Gotham to become Batwoman, Gotham's new vigilante.

Fandom

Comics

Since her reintroduction to DC continuity in 2006, Kate Kane has become one of the most well known lesbian Batman/DC characters along with her past girlfriends Renee Montoya and Maggie Sawyer. Various fancasts for the character can be found at Tumblr as well as fanart, picspams, gifsets and some discussion posts and fanfiction. With the rise in popularity of DC Bombshells, a portion this fan actively focuses solely on that series' depiction of Kate.

Shipping

Kathe is mainly shipped with Renee Montoya and Maggie Sawyer, both of whom she has had canon relationships with. She is more rarely shipped with Selina Kyle, Barbara Gordon, and Dinah Lance.

Arrowverse

Batwoman's appearance in the Arrowverse was mainly mixed. A lot of people praised the decision, especially after learning she would be a lesbian. Others disliked the fact that Batwoman gained her own show before a Batman TV series or the character would be shown. However, for some it did not come as a surprise that Batman would not make an actual appearance within the Arrowverse mainly due to copyrights and the DC Extended Universe happening at the same time (This also happened with Smallville and the Nolanverse too. Batman/Batfamily didn't make an appearance until Smallville Season 11 comics.). Others also disapproved the actress choice, Ruby Rose, as Kate/Batwoman; fans of Ruby praised the decision.

Shipping

In the Arrowverse, Kate is mainly shipped with Kara Danvers and Sophie Moore. Interest in Kate/Maggie Sawyer has also appeared due to their comic book canon relationship (And Maggie having already appeared in Supergirl) as well as Kate Kane/Alex Danvers due to both being lesbian, and Kara hinting she was flirting with the wrong sister in the Elseworlds crossover event. After the series premiered, fans started shipping Kate Kane/Beth Kane (aka Kate/Alice), Kate Kane/Mary Hamilton, and Kate/Reagan.

Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Archives & Fannish Links

Deviantart

Tumblr

Livejournal

Resources