#adapted from twitter

[holybats]

this is the same guy who hired a man to be his fake uncle lmao

[batwomanandmotherpanic]

I've glommed onto Vi pretty recently partly because she shares a quite a number of traits with Kate. Not too surprising, right? If I like one character, I'll probably like one who has a similar personality, skills, story role, and even color scheme. I'd guess the same goes for most people.

Anyway, though both have notable similarities, a major difference between them in terms of character is Vi being far more impulsive. To oversimplify, she seems like what Kate could've been had she not emulated her father Jacob.

I find this difference interesting because of some other similarities they share: parental death and a father figure who is genuinely loving yet capable of great violence when necessary. An emphasis on personal responsibility, too.

But where Kate follows Jacob's example of levelheadedness, thus mellowing out her natural temper, Vi doesn't do the same with Vander's warnings of how violence can consume.

And yet the directions both characters take from there work. Kate gets a tight rein on her anger, allowing her to become a highly competent and motivated individual, and Vi isn't consumed by violence to the point that it's ultimately self-destructive (despite some difficulties her hotheadedness still brings her).

This is all rather broad and certainly not limited to these cases, but it still struck me as neat, how these are just two examples of how similar characters can go on completely different trajectories and still both be believable.

[mymoony]

Cheaper than therapy

Sirius: Look, all I’m saying is that therapy is expensive, boring and intimidating.

Remus: And what do you suggest as an alternative then?

Sirius: I can tell you from personal experience that saying “bada bing bada boom” in a bad Italian accent is not only free and fun, but also sounds badass

Remus: I don’t know why I even bother coming to you for advice.

[batwomanandmotherpanic]

Batfamily MMA Card

On Twitter, there was a conceptual discussion I was a part of based on the MMA scene from Batman Annual #4: a thread of what a full Batfam MMA card might look like (with maybe some small additions to fill things out). Ideally, it would be based on current weights for each character.

I liked this one:

Cassandra Cain v Rose Wilson

Duke Thomas v Tim Drake

Harper Row v Stephanie Brown

Bette Kane v Holly Robinson

Dinah Drake v Helena Bertinelli

Barbara Gordon v Selina Kyle

Kate Kane v Renee Montoya

Dick Grayson v Luke Fox

Bruce Wayne v Jason Todd

Some are missing due to not having good nearby matches (Damian and Jean-Paul, for example).

Just for fun, I was very curious to see the results. The things to be determined were the winner of each fight, the method, and, if necessary, the round and time.

This is assuming 5 5-minute rounds. Fights can end by draw, doctor stoppage, KO, split decision, submission, TKO, or unanimous decision.

To determine this, I used Random.org, mainly the list randomizer.

For each fight, I put in each fighter's full name in alphabetical order by first name, all caps. Whichever name was listed first after randomizing won. Same for method and round; whichever was listed first for each fight was the one picked.

For the time, I simply had the random time generator spit out the required number of times, then randomized the order of that list.

With all that said, here are the results, which I promise are genuine and completely machine-generated:

- Cassandra Cain defeats Rose Wilson by doctor stoppage, 4:53 RD 3

- Tim Drake defeats Duke Thomas by doctor stoppage, 4:01 RD 3

- Stephanie Brown submits Harper Row, 2:26 RD 5

- Bette Kane KOs Holly Robinson, 1:39 RD 5

- Dinah Drake TKOs Helena Bertinelli, 1:44 RD 3

- Selina Kyle submits Barbara Gordon, 2:14 RD 3

- Kate Kane KOs Renee Montoya, 3:43 RD 5

- Luke Fox submits Dick Grayson, 3:00 RD 5

- Jason Todd defeats Bruce Wayne by doctor stoppage, 0:15 RD 4

[batwomanandmotherpanic]

I was bored earlier and did one of those Twitter games, "1 like = 1 headcanon about your favorite character". Most of mine have at least some sort of canon evidence to back them.

Here's my result for Kate Kane:

1. Attends or watches the Army-Navy football game every year

2. BTO Reyes returned her class ring by mail several years after she resigned

3. Anonymously donates to veteran and/or LGBT+ charities

4. West Point middleweight boxing champion

5. Attended high school in Washington, D.C.

6. Keeps MREs in her HQ in case she's hungry after a patrol

7. Has started to jokingly refer to any music Renee listens to as "a Haley Kiyoko"

8. Her Atlanta apartment was already owned by the Kane family for business trip use

9. Is ambidextrous

10. Is ESTJ-A (for whatever it's worth)

11. Had she not resigned, she would have gone into the Military Intelligence Corps, after Gabi

12. Is a pretty good singer

13. Has hired Julia as a full-time assistant

14. Greg Rucka is one of her favorite novelists

15. Went with Bette for Bette's R-Day

16. In addition to English, French, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Portugese, she also speaks at least a little Spanish, German, Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic, and Dutch.

17. She has forgotten her initial vigilantism during Zero Year as a result of her head injury and drinking.

18. Nocturna was subconsciously manipulating her well before they met, explaining why she was so "off" in MA's run

19. Still has a monthly appointment with Dr. Huss.

20. Part of the reason she trimmed her hair short was because Nocturna liked her regular hairstyle.

21. Finally accepted Sophie's lunch offer, where they cleared the air between them

22. Stores Bette's Academy awards and belts in her apartment because Bette doesn't have room in her barracks

23. Has a dedicated wall for displaying her own USMA awards and memorabilia

24. Still owns the remaining aircraft she and Julia used during the Night of the Red Plague

25. Used to fight in charity boxing matches but got unofficially banned for breaking too many noses

26. Has never played D&D but would like it

27. Supermaxed the APFT as a cadet, with a perfect score of 375, and had a sub-3-minute time on the IOCT every time she ran it.

28. The FBI's New Agent Training was her "midterm" for her Batwoman training

29. Is a switch

30. Is immune to spicy food

31. Is slightly jealous that Army broke Navy's 14-year winning streak during Bette's plebe year. And has so far held it.

32. Has a mirror on her bedroom ceiling

33. Has a contralto voice

34. During her training, she happened to fight Moon Robinson (aka Mayfly) while on a mission posing as an underground fighter; Kate won, and Mayfly almost bled to death.

35. Her entire relationship with Violet Paige consists of a mutually drunken one-night-stand (at age 22) that ended in a huge argument in their motel parking lot. Violet eventually decked her and rode away on a moped while Kate flipped her off.

36. Can do the cinnamon challenge

37. Has a pair of boots made from the hides of the snakes she ate while crossing the Sahara

38. Does 12 rounds of heavy bag sparring every morning

39. Has a moderately-active, quasi-fitness Instagram

40. Has a very slight North Carolina accent that only appears when she's particularly stressed or tired.

41. Was Renee's cornerman for a Guns 'N Hoses event

42. Has no allergies

43. Owns a copy of every available religious text

44. Can juggle

45. Doesn't like cilantro

46. Secretly got plastic surgery to cover the scar on her head before returning home.

47. One of the trophies on her West Point wall is her bloodstained shirt from her championship fight against Sophie, framed.

48. Keeps and displays any negative press about her, for inspirational purposes

49. Is a great dancer

50. Has broken a bed.

51. Travels to as many of Bette's sporting events as she can.

52. Helped Renee get her skills back up to par when Renee started remembering her past

53. Doesn't really get millenial humor or slang

54. Carries a challenge coin, just in case

55. Did her SOSH run dressed as Kira Nerys

56. Doesn't care for audiobooks

57. Never did an area tour

58: Owns every Army Field Manual, either in print or PDF form.

59: Wears Splendida Bulgari perfume. All varieties.

60. Is a Duke fan.

[batwomanandmotherpanic]

Now that Batwoman is caught up to Elseworlds, we can examine how Kate's growth through the first three episodes compares to the crossover.

One thing that immediately stands out is more insight into why Kate is so prickly toward the trio: they come into town basically right after Kate takes on her new purpose and accepts the responsibility of protecting the city. Kate has gone from using the Batsuit as a mere means to an end, to feeling in over her head about being a symbol, to finally becoming that symbol (or at least a symbol), and she's taking it seriously.

Her new purpose also shows a shift in how Kate has come to understand Bruce. Her first thought about why Bruce did what he did was to "find his own way," which... sure. That's a part of it, and it was definitely Kate's way at the start.

But by the time of Elseworlds, she's come to understand that Bruce being Batman was more about responding to Gotham's problems. By "finding his own way," yes, but that part seems to have become less important. Less self-centered, I guess.

"You find a way to not break," she tells Kara, but she understands it's in response not to something personal, but to watching Gotham "rot at its core." It's a subtle difference, but I think it tracks.

[batwomanandmotherpanic]

(Adapted from Twitter)

Here's another one of the many things that can be deduced about Kate that aren't made explicit: what her public civilian life is like, particularly currently. Not a lot of it is actually shown.

But it's not hard to wrangle out, at least a little.

It's easy to say that, oh, she's just keeping up the prior image she had before she became a vigilante, both because it's useful and she does still genuinely enjoy it.

However, the problem with that is Maggie Sawyer.

Think about it. Maggie's a both a detective and a divorcee who shares custody of her daughter with a hostile ex. And she's not foolish.

Therefore, if Kate's public reputation hadn't markedly improved by the time of Elegy from where it had been, I don't think it makes sense that Maggie would pursue a relationship with such a woman, however attractive or rich she might be.

[batwomanandmotherpanic]

Kate Kane/Batwoman

Jewish lesbian

Left the Army rather than lie about being gay

More brutal than Batman

Fucks up a bunch… for the mostly the right reasons

Loves kids

Plays guitar

Senior Elite gymnast

Dirty sense of humor

Bond One-Liners, too

Needs a hug

Has a good heart