Best Bat-wife

[Fergus]

I do think King believed what he wrote was "romantic", but I hated it. Single Bruce sounds better than ever.

I struggle to see how a married man and a father can think that was appropriate or believable let alone romantic

[Ansa]

I struggle to see how a married man and a father can think that was appropriate or believable let alone romantic

I guess it's more what a 13 year old girl would find romantic, as an adult woman I see the "romantic" tropes he used as extremely toxic.
Bruce came of as an immature and iresponsible dick.
Selina was an annoying and dull trophy.

[Gotham citizen]

I do think King believed what he wrote was "romantic", but I hated it.

I agree: I fear that on the long term their relationship will be hurt by his way to write it, because a lot of people didn't love it; also the Bat/Cat fans like me.

Single Bruce sounds better than ever.

Again I agree.

[Vishop]

Probably Talia.After they have a deep coherent relationship that was established by Dennis' O Neil and fleshed out by Morrison.

[millernumber1]

Probably Talia.After they have a deep coherent relationship that was established by Dennis' O Neil and fleshed out by Morrison.

Fleshed out by Morrison to be...murderous and vengeful?

[Starrius]

Selina Kyle aka The Catwoman

It takes more than bad writing from Tom King to change my mind about her being the one for Bruce Wayne aka The Batman

[Photon Torme]

I’ve never witnessed Batman with better chemistry than Catwonan. The Keaton - Bassinget chemistry in 89 was nice. The Bruce and Diana thing was kind of cool nteresting.

[Vishop]

Fleshed out by Morrison to be...murderous and vengeful?

She was bound to League of Assassins and I am not really saying that She was best to him as a character but most of the times whenever both of them are up for grabs that story seems to be a good Batman/Talia story.

Morrison's Incorporated was one of the few runs that are underappreciated with respect to other Morrison's Batman.

[Flash Gordon]

Selina Kyle/Catwoman is the only true way to go.

Talia Al Ghul would also work, but would be really different.

The Batman needs to be with someone who has a rebellious streak, it brings out the fun in him a bit and puts him in the role of "moral guy" which he loves. Selina works great because she's a thief and a con lady, with a moral compass and ultimately altruistic worldview.

[Jim Kelly]

I'm no puritan, but given the family values of National Periodical Publications, I still can't get my mind around the fact that Batman--their leading character--has a biological son with a woman he's not married to. That woman being Talia (no last name). Now, I well remember a comic where Batman and Talia were married--so that would mean that the kid is legit in the eyes of the Comics Code, but it would also mean his parents had separated (which was a no-no in the eyes of the Comics Code).

Kathy Kane is the leading wife of Bruce Wayne. She was married to him at least twice. She was married to him in the what-if stories, where they had a kid (Bruce Wayne, Jr., with red hair) who became Robin II; and she was married to him in the early what-if super sons stories, where they had a kid (Bruce Wayne, Jr., with black hair) who became Batman II.

Later super sons stories kept the identity of Mrs. Wayne hidden. I think that John Byrne followed that convention in his Generations stories, where the mother of Bruce Wayne, Jr., was never identified. Julie Madison seems a leading contender since she was supposed to marry Bruce before the engagement was cancelled.

Vicki Vale came close to trapping Bruce a few times. One of the earliest comics I had was a second-hand copy of BATMAN ANNUAL No. 5 (December 1964) which reprinted "The Bride of Batman" by David V. Reed, Dick Sprang and Charles Paris, from BATMAN 79 (October-November 1953). In that story, Robin was freaking out over the possibility that his precious Batman could possibly marry a girl (obviously Dick wanted Bruce all to himself).

[SiegePerilous02]

My vote goes to Selina, and that will never change.

I was shipping them back in the 90s, and she's been one of his most popular love interests for far longer than that. Letting the flawed execution of recent events ruin them seems pointless in the long run. That's just one writer who doesn't even own the characters and there will be plenty of other writers going forward. We're always one reboot away from none of it mattering anyway lol.

Talia I've only ever been interested in post-break up. Andrea is great too, but her whole point is being doomed. Kathy Kane was made awesome by Morrison, but works better on her own now.

Aside from them, Bruce has more sexual chemistry with Superman than he does with the rest of his bland civilian beards.

Selina stealing a dress and blowing up the shop for fun, slashing the Joker's throat, breaking Holly (convicted murderer) out of death row for one day so she can show her the manor, openly mocking Bruce's character and mission...King's run is full of material that shows why they are a bad idea. He just didn't seem to realize it.

I think at most, it shows why King's take on them may be a bad idea.

Them being a bad idea in general is far more debatable. They exist as a couple outside of his run.

[Oberon]

I think in 'retcon' Bruce is shown to have pretty sexual chemistry with Kathy Kane (Morrison, Batman INC). Though a little older than Bruce, Morrison and possibly others have felt she was the love of his life. But this is more a retcon; those Silver Age stories were pretty silly and stiff with Batman kissing Kathy ("Prisoner of Three Worlds").

But Batman and Selina is a strong relationship that only seems to get stronger. I think I favor more of the '70s era of those stories, where they were still a little more at odds over her criminal past, but strongly attracted and attached to each other (when he it wasn't Silver, Vicki, et al).

So, it is kind of destiny, whether or not they ever really marry. They're kind of married in their minds, various distractions and contradictions aside.

[SiegePerilous02]

I think in 'retcon' Bruce is shown to have pretty sexual chemistry with Kathy Kane (Morrison, Batman INC). Though a little older than Bruce, Morrison and possibly others have felt she was the love of his life. But this is more a retcon; those Silver Age stories were pretty silly and stiff with Batman kissing Kathy ("Prisoner of Three Worlds").

There was also that Bat-Baby story where he fooled her into thinking he was making out with his cousin.

God those stories were bonkers.

But Batman and Selina is a strong relationship that only seems to get stronger. I think I favor more of the '70s era of those stories, where they were still a little more at odds over her criminal past, but strongly attracted and attached to each other (when he it wasn't Silver, Vicki, et al).

So, it is kind of destiny, whether or not they ever really marry. They're kind of married in their minds, various distractions and contradictions aside.

Agreed, as with most Bat-related things, Bronze Age Bruce/Selina was great and often better than what came after.

Plus we have them getting married on Earth-2 to have Helena, basically eloping at the end of the Nolan trilogy, she was definitely the most iconic and popular love interest in the 90s films, she's prominently featured in a lot of the evergreen stories (Year One, TLH, Hush), Thomas and Martha are sometimes voiced by actors for Bruce and Selina (Conroy and Barbeau in BTAS, West and Newmar in Brave and the Bold), etc. King's run is kind of a drop in the bucket here. I don't think its flaws can really touch them overall.

[Ansa]

My vote goes to Selina, and that will never change.

I was shipping them back in the 90s, and she's been one of his most popular love interests for far longer than that. Letting the flawed execution of recent events ruin them seems pointless in the long run. That's just one writer who doesn't even own the characters and there will be plenty of other writers going forward. We're always one reboot away from none of it mattering anyway lol.

Talia I've only ever been interested in post-break up. Andrea is great too, but her whole point is being doomed. Kathy Kane was made awesome by Morrison, but works better on her own now.

Aside from them, Bruce has more sexual chemistry with Superman than he does with the rest of his bland civilian beards.



I think at most, it shows why King's take on them may be a bad idea.

Them being a bad idea in general is far more debatable. They exist as a couple outside of his run.

It showed that Batman in a serious relationship with a criminal damages him as a hero. And modern Selina is a thief at her core, nobody forces her to be a criminal, she enjoys stealing.
Hero Selina is boring af and not true to her modern characterization.
I see no future for those two together that I'm interested in.

[marhawkman]

She was bound to League of Assassins and I am not really saying that She was best to him as a character but most of the times whenever both of them are up for grabs that story seems to be a good Batman/Talia story.

Morrison's Incorporated was one of the few runs that are underappreciated with respect to other Morrison's Batman.

Yeah, part of the question is about interesting stories, and not strictly about who would actually make the best spouse.

Chase Meridian is not a commonly seen character, but is interesting since she's affiliated with Arkham. She's not a superhero, but someone with reason to study criminals.

Diana of Themiscyra does actually marry him in some stories. Kind of an odd pairing that only really makes sense in the context of JLA stories.

Selina Kyle is a character in dozens of Batman stories. She's an antagonist more often than a help. But this makes it exciting. It's never certain what she will do. That's not really a good thing for a spouse, but it makes an interesting comic book. She does actually do more than just antagonize him in several stories, in the Birds of Prey she's the mother of Huntress. But that one doesn't MARRY him, she just sleeps with him. Batman apparently didn't even know she'd given birth to their daughter until after Selina was dead.

Silver St. Cloud is a character who was created as a sort of counterpart to Bruce Wayne. But she's also the sort to end up as a damsel in distress.

Susan Maguire is an odd one since not only does she marry but is a character only seen once. She's kinda the epitome of a toxic romantic partner. She was literally created to lure him to his death. But it's an interesting story.

Talia Al Ghul is interesting because it's a villainess who falls in love with Batman, and doesn't care about Bruce. she's also someone who is quite competent as a member of the League of Assassins.

Vicki Vale is someone who's kinda like a Lois Lane to Bruce. She tends to interact more with Bruce than Batman, and is in the news. In one of the animated movies Dracula actually falls for her and his romance with Vale is part of what Bruce has to deal with. Yes! love triangle with DRACULA! That was a fun story.

One interesting quote I found is that Batman actually finds being in the presence of Bekka uncomfortable. Bekka is the New God who embodies romance and Batman so detests feeling romance that Bekka's presence causes him to feel wrong.