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  1. #1
    Death becomes you Osiris-Rex's Avatar
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    Default Should Bruce Wayne/Batman embrace being Jewish?

    As Kate Kane is Jewish and Bruce's cousin that technically makes Bruce Wayne Jewish also. Should DC Comics explore Bruce's Jewish heritage?

    https://www.cbr.com/dc-accidentally-made-batman-jewish/

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  3. #3
    Mighty Member Lady Nightwing's Avatar
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    I can't see Bruce as actively participating in any religion for his own peace of mind. It doesn't fit with his character, or at least my interpretation of his character. That being said I could see him make the odd religious gesture to feel closer to his mother.

  4. #4
    Extraordinary Member Restingvoice's Avatar
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    Considering his attitude, I don't think he would. Every Christmas it was Alfred who put up the tree and even after meeting his parents in heaven one time, he remains... not skeptical... he's just done relying on faith, religion, or anything he can't handle himself. His involvement with Christmas only goes as far as giving presents or celebrations.

    So even with the Christian religion that he was raised by he distanced himself, I don't see him embracing a different one.

    In other continuity where he never rejects religion and he's raised Jewish, sure, why not.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Osiris-Rex View Post
    As Kate Kane is Jewish and Bruce's cousin that technically makes Bruce Wayne Jewish also. Should DC Comics explore Bruce's Jewish heritage?

    https://www.cbr.com/dc-accidentally-made-batman-jewish/
    How did you come by this logic? Kate's maternal grandfather was the brother to Bruce's grandfather. Kate's grandfather married a Jewish woman who had Kate's mom. Making both the mother and Kate automatically Jewish as Jewish identity is passed down automatically through the mother. But this has nothing to do with Bruce. My understanding if you want to classify yourself as Jewish (because your dad's Jewish) religious authorities won't dismiss you. But this has to be a deliberate decision.

    It's been awhile since I've read Batman in detail. The last I read back during Joe Kelly's run on JL Batman was calling himself an atheist. I technically see him being an agnostic, because I think that Bruce has seen way too much to be dismissive of some sort of higher power. But again I haven't been reading Batman in depth in along time.

  6. #6
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    Me personally, I’m a huge stickler for what Bill Finger, a Jew himself, wants. He specifically wanted Bruce to have a heritage that suggests colonialism and power and giving him a WASP identity was very important in conveying that.

  7. #7
    Astonishing Member Tzigone's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by FBarnhill View Post
    Me personally, I’m a huge stickler for what Bill Finger, a Jew himself, wants. He specifically wanted Bruce to have a heritage that suggests colonialism and power and giving him a WASP identity was very important in conveying that.
    While it does matter me what he wants (and I will cite it), it's more important to me what the character has been for so much of his existence. Despite being fairly new to the comics, I'm not big on huge retcons, especially those that really redefine characters. Probably shouldn't have read all those older stories - I get too attached to older versions. Heck, the more I think about it, the more unhappy I am with Alfred raising Bruce, and that's been in-continuity for a long while, now.

    Kate's maternal grandfather was the brother to Bruce's grandfather.
    For some reason, I thought they were first cousins at some point. Kate's dad and Bruce's mom being siblings.

    I was wondering if we would have this conversation if Kate hadn't been retconned into Bruce's cousin (I understand she was unrelated when she was first introduced - I have read those issues, but just don't remember, though I do prefer the idea). But then, there's a thread about making Superman half Canadian, so maybe it wouldn't change anything.
    Last edited by Tzigone; 04-10-2020 at 11:55 AM.

  8. #8
    Ultimate Member Riv86672's Avatar
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    IMHO Bruce should embrace his Scottish roots.
    He can be DC’s Scrooge McDuck, w. a Batcave in lieu of a Money Bin.


  9. #9
    Astonishing Member Mutant God's Avatar
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    In his personal life he doesn't care about religion but I can see him doing charity work with some Jewish groups and saying that his mother's family is Jewish

  10. #10
    Father Son Kamehameha < Kuwagaton's Avatar
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    "part Jewish" is such a thing. A number of my non comic reading friends who generally like Batman are the same. Tom King is, too. Bruce's obviously not a religious person even though he encounters all sorts of supernatural things, but it's a nice and uncommon demographic quirk.
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  11. #11
    Astonishing Member Tzigone's Avatar
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    He can be DC’s Scrooge McDuck, w. a Batcave in lieu of a Money Bin.
    Oh, you made me think of DuckTales. Been rewatching the new show lately for some upbeat fun (watched 2008 Speed Racer and Superman, too). A deeply flawed hero who still cares about his family. And the third season finally started.

  12. #12
    Ultimate Member Riv86672's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mutant God View Post
    In his personal life he doesn't care about religion but I can see him doing charity work with some Jewish groups and saying that his mother's family is Jewish
    That’d be pretty cool.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tzigone View Post
    Oh, you made me think of DuckTales. Been rewatching the new show lately for some upbeat fun (watched 2008 Speed Racer and Superman, too). A deeply flawed hero who still cares about his family. And the third season finally started.
    The new Duck Tales has been really good!
    I didn’t know about a 2008 Speed Racer, so ty, I’m going to look that up!

  13. #13
    Extraordinary Member Caivu's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gotham citizen View Post
    Please stop to mess up with the past of the character! Above all after eighty years of stories.
    Ah, so we go back to Bruce using a gun, then. Okay.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mia View Post
    How did you come by this logic? Kate's maternal grandfather was the brother to Bruce's grandfather.
    We don't actually know any of Kate's maternal grandparents; the only family on her mother's side we know of is Gabi's sister Linda. Roderick Kane was one of her paternal grandparents, and Jacob and Martha's father. Martha and Jacob are Jewish. Since Martha was, Bruce is, whether he's observant or not.
    Last edited by Caivu; 04-10-2020 at 02:15 PM.
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  14. #14
    Moderator Frontier's Avatar
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    I'm Jewish but I don't think of Bruce as Jewish. I don't think of him as an atheist but pretty non-denomination and he'd probably default to generic Catholicism if anything.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Osiris-Rex View Post
    As Kate Kane is Jewish and Bruce's cousin that technically makes Bruce Wayne Jewish also. Should DC Comics explore Bruce's Jewish heritage?

    https://www.cbr.com/dc-accidentally-made-batman-jewish/
    Given that it's Kate's mother who is Jewish, not Jacob Kane, it would be odd to say Martha was Jewish. Unless she converted when her brother did. The Kane's are WASPs, as was emphatically mentioned in Batman: The Return, and has been covered multiple times. Bruce is generally shown as being a lapsed Episcopalian, which makes sense for his family's social standing. There's no reason to assume he's Jewish except for a few loud pushy commenters on this site who conveniently ignore that Jacob converted to his wife's religion upon marriage. That Kate as a young child brought objects from her religion to her aunts funeral doesn't mean Martha was Jewish, it means that people respected a child's right to mourn in the structure she is comfortable with. That Kate as an adult still embraces her mother's faith doesn't mean that her cousin on her father's side is Jewish, it just means she is.

    Damian, however is potentially Jewish. There's evidence that Ra's was of a Jewish ethnic group (Azreal, 2009 the second series, Birth of the Demon, Batman and Robin 23.3, All Star Batman 2016). Possibly. It's played with. Nyssa was a practicing Jew, the daughter of a Russian Jewish peasant, and a survivor of the Holocaust (Death and the Maidens). Eith Ra's or Talia is a descendant of Christ as evidenced by the fact that Damian is the true heir of the Suit of Sorrows (which Bruce is not) (Azreal 2009, both series, Multiversity: The Just). Given that it means he's descended from Christ, it means Damian on his mother's side is a Jew. On his father's side, he is a true heir to the Holy Grail (Batman: The Chalice), which is what Morrison used to justify the way OOC on both Bruce and Talia's parts of keeping the drugged sex in canon as any Batman fan who reads comics knows that they are like animals in heat and rot together. Lordy.

    So Bruce embracing the religion and heritage of his uncle's wife is weird, especially considering all the history of him being a WASP and lapsed variation of Christian. Damian embracing it? Makes sense. Much more sense than him being Muslim considering that Ra's is canonically a lapsed Zoroastrian and there's evidence that Ra's is a practicing Taoist.

    Yes, I am aware of the fact that the Toa allows for non practice among its believers.

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