Deron Generally
Deron GenerallySo the upcoming wedding between Batman and Catwoman is coming and there are side stories and prelude comics coming out with the Bat-Family taking on Batman’s foes in a lead up to the big day.
While I have enjoyed some of the stories and have even enjoyed the evolving relationship between Batman and Catwoman, there is one big issue that has only been brought up recently regarding this event; What does Batman getting married mean to Bruce Wayne?
In Batman Prelude to the Wedding Part 2, Nightwing and Superman take Batman out for his Bachelor Party, an extremely boring looking Bachelor Party. In the course of the story, Dick brings up an interesting point when he says; “Batman and Catwoman are getting married, but Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are not.” He lays out the problem more succinctly in the next line “There are just too many secret identity questions raised by a billionaire businessman marrying someone with Selina’s rap sheet.”
As fans of the characters, many of us have forgotten that Batman’s secret identity Bruce Wayne is the head of a multi-billion dollar corporation and Selina Kyle is a convicted criminal, cat burglar and former mob boss. It would be almost impossible for them to maintain a relationship in the public eye and that leads to some problems for them outside their costumes. What happens when Bruce Wayne goes out in public? In order to maintain their identities, they could never be seen together and what would that mean for their relationship going forward? Could they ever have a normal life?
Despite Selina Kyle being free, she is still known for her past crimes. What kind of life would she be able to have outside Catwoman? Could she have a public life as Selina and what would that look like knowing she could never live that part of her life with the man she married and vice versa? How long until they are accidentally photographed together or she’s caught leaving Wayne Manor in the middle of the night or early morning. What makes her predicament more dangerous is that there are too many people who know Selina Kyle is Catwoman and her being married to Batman would make matters worse.
Then, there is the money issue. Batman doesn’t have a legal name or social security number as far as I know. If they get married and it doesn’t work out, how do they divide up assets? Does Selina get half of everything in the Batcave? Who takes possession of the Giant Penny?
Now I know these are fictional characters and there is a level of the suspension of disbelief that one must have when dealing with them and their world, but this is an issue that common sense would dictate requires exploration.
