Originally Posted by
K. Jones
I don't find Diana to be a temptress so much as the notion that we the fans might unconsciously be agreeing with each other that ... Bruce might be tempt-able. You know ... I agree wholeheartedly - Diana is used in this story specifically as a temptation for Bruce, making her an object in a Batman story - but her character motivation is not "to tempt", though her story role is to "tempt Batman, somewhat, and probably subvert expectations". The title of the book is "Batman" after all, and the overall story arc "Super-Friends" is about BATMAN's relationships with his best friends. But more than that ... deep in our hearts we know that our boy, Bruce Wayne, is not a pillar of virtue. He's a noble guy, far less dark and grim at heart than the grim-dark fans and meta-grim-dark characters want him to be.
But he doesn't have a very great track-record historically with women.
Bruce had lovely parents. They always seem like solid people. But TEENAGE Bruce Wayne only had a male paternal role model figure in Alfred, no mother-figure. He's got the memory of his mom, but in his formative years, the "learning how to treat women with respect" years, you know ... just a weird old butler who himself has a baby-momma out there he doesn't talk to. Beyond that, we've seen, chronologically, that his relationships don't last. It's everything. It's the job. It's the isolation and anxiety. It's the childish quest taking precedence. It's the danger involved. Julie and Linda in the Golden Age. Vicki and Kathy in the Silver Age. Silver and Talia in the Bronze Age. Shondra and Vesper in the Dark Age. Who in the modern age? A slew of femme fatales, mostly who he was just sort of playing to get information from? Jezebel Jet? Mayor Hady's daughter? If Bats has a "ten year-ish career", he literally hasn't had a relationship last over a year except Catwoman who there for all of it, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Dark, Modern.
Anyway, I've never shipped Batman and Wonder Woman. Because frankly I think Bruce is just plain too ... masculine, in that "possibility of toxic" way ... and Diana would never be attracted to that. Not that Batman isn't pretty self-aware, but like ... he's hyper-aggressive, he's got that alpha-alpha thing going on, he's bossy, I bet he Batmansplains the crap out of everything all the time. His ego is kind of massive. Noble or not ... I just can't see Diana ever being into that.