Absolute Batman has been a massive hit. With an A-list team behind it – writer Scott Snyder and artist Nick Dragotta – the comic has been selling out every issue. DC’s Absolute line has made the publisher competitive again, and each book offers a different take on a classic hero. Absolute Batman is different than any other version of the Dark Knight, fighting crime with the kind of brutality that few fans have seen before. Snyder is an old hand with Batman, but this new version isn’t like the one he used to write. That has also meant that he’s gotten to change Batman’s relationship with some of the most well-known characters in his rogues gallery.
Absolute Batman’s version of Bruce Wayne grew up with many of the foes in this new universe, and that has given Snyder an opportunity to do new things with old characters. However, there’s one character that Snyder has taken a rather familiar turn with – Catwoman. Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne grew up together, meeting as children, which is very much like the show Gotham. In that show, the two met when they were younger and Selina has already began her more felonious activities, creating a different foundation for one of comics’ greatest rivalries. However, Absolute Batman’s new status quo for Bruce and Selina presents a unique opportunity, one that only someone like Snyder could do.
It’s Time To Change The Relationship Of Batman And Catwoman One Way Or Another
Absolute Batman has already impressed readers after just two issues. Snyder and Dragotta are doing a bang-up job and the changes to Bruce Wayne’s origin makes this a unique Batman experience. Absolute Batman #2 introduced readers to Selina Kyle and has so far taken a page from Gotham – showing that Bruce and Selina had a friendship when they were young. Now, obviously, this can lead to the de rigeur Batman/Catwoman relationship – adversarial lovers. However, DC can do something really revolutionary, something they were never truly willing to do in the main universe – either put the two together as lovers and keep them that way or use their relationship to make the most bitter enemies.
Everyone knows the relationship between Batman and Catwoman. It started out adversarial with a hint of flirtation, as Catwoman was a classic femme fatale type of character. Over the years, that flirtation would transform Batman and Catwoman into DC’s most famous on-again, off-again couple. Catwoman has also gone “legit” for lack of a better term, since the ’90s. While some of her status quos have been as a quasi-criminal, she’s mostly on the side of angels in every way that counts. However, new universes like the DC Absolute give creators new opportunities, and maybe shaking up the Batman/Catwoman relationship is the way to go.
Bat & Cat: Lovers? Friends? Or Rivals?
Scott Snyder wrote many beloved Batman stories, but one character he didn’t write a lot of was Catwoman. He can now go in an entirely new direction with the character, at least vis-a-vis the comics, and if Catwoman is meant to be with Bruce Wayne in any serious way, maybe its time to put away the adversarial relationship dynamic. Maybe Snyder should just have them work together from the get-go. Absolute Batman has changed the bedrock of the Batman mythos already, and the Batman/Catwoman relationship is something that needs to be changed. DC has always gotten cold feet when it comes to putting them together in a long-term way, but in this alternate universe maybe DC will finally give fans the kind of Batman/Catwoman relationship they’ve wanted since the Tom King run on Batman.
Conversely, Snyder could also go in a completely different way, one that DC hasn’t really allowed in a very long time. While Absolute Bruce and Selina grew up together, Bruce is now Batman and a Batman who doesn’t mess around. Perhaps Snyder can use that. Everyone expects Batman and Catwoman to at least have a friendly adversarial relationship, so subverting that expectation is something that would make the differences between “Absolute Batman” and “Batman” more stark. Absolute Bruce grew up with many of his villains – they’re friends right now, but there also foreshadows that eventually that has to end. What better way to show readers this than to have Catwoman not be a potential love interest for Batman, but a true bitter foe. Snyder’s prior Batman run showed that he was adroit at creating new villains for Batman – the Court of Owls, their Talons, and Mr. Bloom. Letting Snyder loose on Catwoman and making her one of Absolute Batman’s most bitter rivals is a step that could take Absolute Batman to new heights.
The Absolute Universe is a place without “Superman energy” – the power of hope that allows the heroes to win in the main universe even when things are at their worst. Darkseid wanted a world that ran on the power he represented – the power of doom and evil. What better way to show that than to modify the relationship between Batman and Catwoman? Either make them lovers brought together by a cruel world that can only survive together or use the lack of “Superman energy” – the lack of hope – to take the Bat/Cat relationship into an extremely deadly direction. The Absolute Universe has a lot of potential and that potential is best served by making it as different as possible from the main universe.
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