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This discussion came up at work after a female coworker decided to run a marathon dressed as Batman. Somebody said that she'd be running as Batwoman, to which she replied that, no, she was running as Batman.

This got me wondering - has there ever been a female Batman, in any continuity?

To be more precise (and to borrow some wording from the comments), has a woman put on the Batsuit made by Bruce Wayne and claimed the identity of BATMAN, to whatever purpose? This question is open to alternate continuities, universes, timelines, body/gender-swaps etc.

Just to clarify, I'm specifically talking a female character using the Batman name, or otherwise posing as Batman, rather than the obvious answer of Batwoman or Batgirl.

BiscuitBaker
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    To the best of my knowledge there has not. The closest I can think of is from a superman crossover where supes encounters female versions of all the superheroes. Even then it's batwoman, not batman. – Valorum Feb 02 '15 at 14:38
  • My only guess (and this IS a guess) would be that maybe at some point Barbera Gordon had to 'fill in' for a sick or otherwise incapacitated Batman, Robin was absent, and it had to specifically be Batman...but even in comic books, that seems a little too convoluted to have actually happened. – Zibbobz Feb 02 '15 at 14:51
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    I don't remember the number, but one of the Pre-Crisis multiverse worlds was an Earth where all the genders were switched. So, on that Earth, Batman would have been female. – Omegacron Feb 02 '15 at 16:08
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    Sorry, it was the post-52 Earth-11 that has genders switched. But on that world, BatMAN is called BatWOMAN, so it doesn't fit your criteria. – Omegacron Feb 02 '15 at 16:13
  • I don't think this is an acceptable question. It is too difficult to ascertain what you are asking or why you are asking it. Are you asking: Has a woman put on the Batsuit made by Bruce Wayne and claim the identity of BATMAN, to whatever purpose, but was not in an alternate universe, alternate timeline, parallel continuity or some other gender-bending reality? Given the relatively recent state of the current DCnU, the answer would easily be NO. Previous continuities outside of YOUR parameters would also be NO. – Thaddeus Howze Feb 06 '15 at 15:49
  • @Thaddeus If you think I could be more clear I'll happily edit my post with your suggestions. Apologies if I'm taking your comment the wrong way, but I have to say that your tone here is coming across as pretty confrontational rather than constructive. – BiscuitBaker Feb 06 '15 at 15:53
  • I am endeavoring to be precise not necessarily critical or confrontational. Since tone cannot be relayed in texting, you only have my assurances on this. Rather than closing the question, I wanted to be certain what you were asking and or perhaps why in order to be able to find whether what you are looking for CAN exist. – Thaddeus Howze Feb 06 '15 at 16:02
  • @Thaddeus I've reworded the question a bit using your comments as a guide, and hopefully I've made the answering criteria a bit clearer too. I've also added a bit of background in case that helps with the question, but feel free to let me know if you feel that's just useless fluff. I'm always open to comments about how the quality of what I post here can be improved! – BiscuitBaker Feb 06 '15 at 16:47
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay#Gender_roles – Shokhet Feb 06 '15 at 19:42

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One of the few examples of parallel universes where Batman has been replaced with a woman who is still "technically" Batman (named Batwoman) is a gender-bent reality (Earth-11) where Bruce Wayne (Batman) meets his gender-swapped counterpart and he believes her to be Helena Bertillini.

  • Batwoman was Earth-11's counterpart to Batman. Earth-11's recent history reflects that of New Earth, as both Wonder Man and others note the killing of Maxine Lord for the murder of Booster, and mind controlling of Superwoman.

  • Batwoman's history and adventures are unknown, but presumably similar to the exploits of Batman, her New Earth counterpart. She was a hero of long standing, an ally of her world's Superwoman and an inspiration to her world. Recently, she and her fellow heroes fought against an army of Amazonian warriors when they invaded Washington DC.

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  • The characters appear in Superman/Batman number 24 produced by Jeph Loeb, Ed McGuinness & Dexter Vines.

  • An earlier depiction of Batwoman from Superman #349 in the 1980s, depicts a magically-altered world where the genders of all of Superman's friends have been gender-swapped. This is from the pre-Crisis version of the DC Universe. The perpetrator was the 5th dimensional meddler, Mister Mxyzptlk.

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Community
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Thaddeus Howze
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In Batman: The Animated Series (1992), in the episode Shadow of the Bat, Commissioner Gordon was arrested for supposedly taking bribes from Rupert Thorne.

A public rally was organized to support Gordon, and since the real Batman refused to make a public appearance, Barbara posed as Batman.

This led to her becoming Batgirl later, but her original intent was to appear as Batman.

Clockwork
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Timinator
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    This, to me, seems closest to the spirit of the question. She posed, however briefly, as the actual Batman. – BangBang Jan 23 '24 at 11:21
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Batman has turned into a woman in several stories, JLA ones I think. So yes Batman has been a woman who is still Batman, plus some other stories where he swapped bodies with...........Huntress? I forget who, it was in the Loeb Superman/Batman team up comic.

Jonny Sorensen
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    Based on my reading of the question body swap episodes don't count – Valorum Feb 06 '15 at 09:25
  • @Richard Agreed, though it wasn't explicit in the text, so this is still a good answer, but probably not the answer the asker is looking for. – Zibbobz Feb 06 '15 at 14:48
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    @Zibbobz I've actually upvoted this answer myself - it's starting to look as though the answer to my question is a "No, but...", so finding a close example may be the best answer. – BiscuitBaker Feb 06 '15 at 16:02
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    Hi Jonny, while this may be a useful answer can you back it up with sources/images/issue number please? I will end up with more upvotes that way – AncientSwordRage Jun 21 '21 at 10:49
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Bryce Wayne, aka The Drowned

Yes, there is a female Batman in the DC multiverse: Bryce Wayne, also known as The Drowned. From Earth-11, she is the counterpart of Bruce Wayne / Batman from Prime Earth. She first appeared in the Dark Nights: Metal event (2017), where she became part of a sinister team of corrupted Batmen from the Dark Multiverse, known as the Dark Knights. Bryce Wayne was the sole woman among the Dark Knights, who were all the Bruce Wayne / Batman of their respective universes.

Bryce Wayne in the Batman: The Drowned #1 cover

To address the comment asking if she goes by “Batman”, I’ve read the Dark Nights: Metal (Volume 1) series and the one-shot Batman: The Drowned, which reveals Bryce Wayne’s backstory, and as far as I can tell, she was not called Batman (nor Batwoman). That makes sense, since all of the Dark Knights are the “Batman” in their respective universes, and it would be confusing to call her “Batman” in the story. She is usually called “Bryce”, since she’s the only one with that name, while the rest of the Dark Knights are all “Bruce”.

But I think it’s fair to say that she’s a Batman, just like the rest of the Dark Knights, because the issue that tells her story, Batman: The Drowned, is a “Batman” title, not a “Batwoman” title. And as a member of the Dark Knights, she’s grouped with other Batmen, not Batwomen. She’s also obviously a gender-swapped version of Bruce Wayne (the Batman), with a similar origin story of how she became Batman.

I believe Bryce Wayne is a valid answer to what the OP is looking for: “a woman [who] put on the Batsuit made by Bruce [or Bryce] Wayne and claimed the identity of BATMAN” and "otherwise posing as Batman, rather than the obvious answer of Batwoman or Batgirl."

galacticninja
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  • But does she go by "Batman"? – Valorum Jan 23 '24 at 12:32
  • @Valorum I edited my answer to address that. – galacticninja Jan 23 '24 at 15:09
  • I remember coming across this story, and I did wonder whether or not it was worth posting as an answer. I guess it counts as an honourable mention – Clockwork Jan 23 '24 at 15:44
  • @galacticninja - I'm not seeing it. – Valorum Jan 23 '24 at 16:17
  • @Valorum Basically, she's a female Batman and fits what the OP was looking for: "a woman [who] put on the Batsuit made by Bruce [or Bryce] Wayne and claimed the identity of BATMAN, to whatever purpose" and "otherwise posing as Batman, rather than the obvious answer of Batwoman or Batgirl." It's similar to the current top-voted and accepted answer: a gender-swapped Bruce Wayne / Batman. – galacticninja Jan 23 '24 at 21:28
  • @galacticninja - I don't like that answer either, for much the same reason. She's clearly not Batman, she's BatWOman – Valorum Jan 23 '24 at 21:38