Who is Bruce's best love interest?

[John Venus]

Personally, I think the Catwoman/Batman thing is terrible. I mean, how good a relation can it possibly be if one of them has to completely change what he or she is about for it even to be possible?

I don't think it can ever move beyond Ed Brubaker's 'friends with benefits' stage without drastically altering the basic character concept of one of them, like happened in the old Earth 2.
Selina Kyle serving her time, reforming, retiring and becoming a stay at home wife for Bruce? Come on, how is that still Catwoman?

There are married couple where both partners work, you know?

Nu 52 Earth 2 Selina was just that. I am not sure about Pre Crisis Earth 2 Selina though.

Granted there is the fact that neither of them have to work because they are rich but that doesn't mean she won't be jet setting around the world or organizing charities or anything.

[Agent Z]

Personally, I think the Catwoman/Batman thing is terrible. I mean, how good a relation can it possibly be if one of them has to completely change what he or she is about for it even to be possible?

I don't think it can ever move beyond Ed Brubaker's 'friends with benefits' stage without drastically altering the basic character concept of one of them, like happened in the old Earth 2.
Selina Kyle serving her time, reforming, retiring and becoming a stay at home wife for Bruce? Come on, how is that still Catwoman?

Well, if it makes her a btter person, can it really be such a bad thing? I mean, we're not talking about trying to reform the Joker Right? I don't know, maybe it would be okay to have Bruce get at least one criminal to go the straight path. Just my two cents.

[Lorendiac]

Never. AFAIK

Then again he hasn't gone on a date with most of the women listed here.

I think I'll try to list the ones (from the poll above) whom I don't recall ever seeing Bruce go on a regular date with.

1. Talia al Ghul. (But I could be forgetting something. Maybe he actually took her out to dinner and a movie, or something similar, like regular people, once upon a time?)

2. Sasha Bordeaux -- although he did buy her dinner in expensive restaurants practically every night for many months -- but that was because she was his professional bodyguard and they went everywhere together. (One of Rucka's stories started with her thinking about the irony regarding how most of the women she knew would love to be able to say "Bruce Wayne buys me dinner all the time, and I sleep in stately Wayne Manor every night!")

3. Black Canary (again, I could be forgetting something).

4. Rachel Dawes.

As to Barbara Gordon and Wonder Woman, I'm having trouble remembering the details of the Silver Age story in which they both seemed to be in love with Batman . . . then it turned out they were faking as part of a plot to catch Copperhead . . . then it turned out they were sincere after all . . . was there any "dating" per se taking place? (On the other hand, I think DCAU Babs was definitely "dating" Bruce at some point, as shown in flashbacks in the Batman Beyond movie "Return of the Joker," right?)

[jump]

Does punching criminals together count as a date?:P

[John Venus]

I think I'll try to list the ones (from the poll above) whom I don't recall ever seeing Bruce go on a regular date with.

1. Talia al Ghul. (But I could be forgetting something. Maybe he actually took her out to dinner and a movie, or something similar, like regular people, once upon a time?)

2. Sasha Bordeaux -- although he did buy her dinner in expensive restaurants practically every night for many months -- but that was because she was his professional bodyguard and they went everywhere together. (One of Rucka's stories started with her thinking about the irony regarding how most of the women she knew would love to be able to say "Bruce Wayne buys me dinner all the time, and I sleep in stately Wayne Manor every night!")

3. Black Canary (again, I could be forgetting something).

4. Rachel Dawes.

As to Barbara Gordon and Wonder Woman, I'm having trouble remembering the details of the Silver Age story in which they both seemed to be in love with Batman . . . then it turned out they were faking as part of a plot to catch Copperhead . . . then it turned out they were sincere after all . . . was there any "dating" per se taking place? (On the other hand, I think DCAU Babs was definitely "dating" Bruce at some point, as shown in flashbacks in the Batman Beyond movie "Return of the Joker," right?)

1. There was an issue of The Batman Adventures which showed them going on a date. I can't recall the exact issue number, sorry but there were in a foreign country (I think Paris) and we got a montage of them traveling to places. Batman Beyond episode Out of the Past shows a past picture of Talia and Bruce Wayne having dinner at a place. It's implied that they used to go out and Ras knew about it.

2. I haven't read all of Rucka's run so I can't say.

3. I've gone through all the canon moments where they are linked but they never went on an actual date.

4. Yeah, no dating there.

5. Wonder Woman. The UST between them was explored in Joe Kelley's JLA run I believe so if you count alternate futures then they dated and got married too. I've heard of that Copperhead issue but fake-out-dates don't really count as a legit date in my mind.

6. Barbara Gordon. Once again in Out of the Past from Batman Beyond shows them together at a picturesque location, clearly on a date but dressed informally (or maybe they just took a selfie off the coast of Wayne Manor, I don't know).

Return of the Joker showed them as partners and didn't show them in a romantic light at all. Mystery of the Batwoman has Babs asking Bruce that he can finally date someone of his own age and he was in love with one of the women in the movie. So even if they dated, it was either very brief or they were doing it on and off again over the years. The DCAU tie-in comics had no intention of actually exploring that relationship and focused more on the sexual tension between Batman and Catwoman. In Mystery of the Batwoman, Bruce clearly didn't like talking about it in public which might mean that the relationship was secret and neither Tim nor Alfred or maybe even Dick knew about it.

Here is the scene in question from Mystery of the Batwoman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l51dZBSs12w

On the dated list:

He also went on a date with Vixen during the Justice League Detroit era. There was a picture posted in the Vixen Appreciation Thread in the old CBR forums.

[TheBatman]

Silver? A woman who would constantly be begging him to stop risking his life as Batman? That sounds like a recipe for constant stress in a relationship.

Or do you mean that she'd be the best romantic match for Bruce Wayne, the wealthy businessman and philanthropist, after she had succeeded in getting him to utterly abandon the Batman persona so that she wouldn't constantly be freaking out about his hazardous lifestyle? (That interpretation of your words just now occurred to me as an afterthought. And I have to admit that if Silver could make that happen, his life expectancy would skyrocket and his yearly medical bills would probably drop down to almost nothing -- so in that sense she might, in fact, be the "best and healthiest" possible wife for him.)

Wow...I just realized that I must not've put a lot of thought into my decision.

[John Venus]

IMO, the best Batman love interests are the ones in the same line of work as him. That's why I like Bat/Cat and Bat/Zee.

I have a soft spot for Shondra and Vicky because they are still connected to his world in a way; Shondra which works so well with Batman and Vicky is a Lois Lane-type tough as nails reporter under the hands of the right writer.

[Carabas]

IMO, the best Batman love interests are the ones in the same line of work as him. That's why I like Bat/Cat and Bat/Zee.

Batman and Catwoman are in the same line of work?

[Conway]

Batman and Catwoman are in the same line of work?

Well in the sense that policemen and drug dealers are both in the crime business.

[DIVINITY]

I voted Diana of course, but the most logical, is a toss up between Talia and Selina...

[oasis1313]

Does punching criminals together count as a date?:P

Bruce Wayne's idea of a romantic night out . . .

[John Venus]

There was an old Bronze Age Batman comic where Bruce and Selina went out on a date in costume but their night couldn't be nice and quiet because there was always some kind of crime happening in their vicinity. For example: they walked into a liquor store to buy some champagne (again, in costume) only to find that the store was being held up. Both of them face palmed having walked into yet another crime in progress before proceeding to kick the thief's ass.

[BooCoo]

I would say...five.

In terms of the totality of Bruce/Bat, and not costume fetish nonsense:

Shondra Kinsolving
Silver St Cloud
Ivy (great minds)
Zatanna
Talia (minus the evil angle)

[boredmonkey]

I would never understand Catwoman pairing..they would never give up their work and batman for some reason advises her most of the time instead of just locking her up..and the new 52 issue 1 of Catwoman really made me cringe..making sweet love out in the open with the costumes on, out of control man! I m not against any fetish with costumes.. but this really felt like something the great Batman shouldn't do..he had no control at all! and now in conclusion of forever evil he acts all serious and **** like some pure ..guy?? again advising her..maybe we would have something like in earth 2 if the writers would agree on what Batman's personality is like...definitely not a booty call scene!!!

[jump]

I would say...five.

In terms of the totality of Bruce/Bat, and not costume fetish nonsense:

Shondra Kinsolving
Silver St Cloud
Ivy (great minds)
Zatanna
Talia (minus the evil angle)

I'd count Zatanna and Ivy as costume wearers and perhaps Talia too when she has the 70's style jumpsuit thing.

I would never understand Catwoman pairing..they would never give up their work and batman for some reason advises her most of the time instead of just locking her up..and the new 52 issue 1 of Catwoman really made me cringe..making sweet love out in the open with the costumes on, out of control man! I m not against any fetish with costumes.. but this really felt like something the great Batman shouldn't do..he had no control at all! and now in conclusion of forever evil he acts all serious and **** like some pure ..guy?? again advising her..maybe we would have something like in earth 2 if the writers would agree on what Batman's personality is like...definitely not a booty call scene!!!

Catwoman and Bats were doing the dirty inside, it was Black Canary and Bats who did it outside.