When you’ve been a billionaire playboy philanthropist superhero since 1939, you probably build up quite a little black book. While Bruce Wayne’s may not be as populated by actual named characters as Tony Stark’s, that just makes it more interesting. Bruce Wayne often uses his highly publicized dating life as a way to divert attention from his activities as Batman, so when he meets a girl he feels a real connection with, it matters. To be on this list, however, they have to fit two criteria: they have to had genuinely loved him whether it’s Bruce or Batman they loved (so no, Jezebel Jet, you snake-in-the-grass out to break his spirit for the Black Glove, you don’t get to be on my list), and they have to have made a significant impact on the overall saga that is Batman’s life.
Julie Madison:
I can hear you all saying “Who?”, but yeah, Bruce’s first real love interest in the comics was wealthy heiress and aspiring actress Julie Madison. First appearing in Detective Comics #31, she was introduced as Bruce’s fiancee, who was being used as a pawn by the sinister Mad Monk, a vampire who Batman had to take down. She also was a key character in the first Clayface story, as she was acting in the movie that the original Clayface, actor Basil Karlo, was running amok murdering the actors for them daring to remake one of his horror movies. As the book ran on, Julie ended their engagement due to his constant absences, and the two remained good friends. In the modern age, prior to the New 52 reboot, Julie was reintroduced in the graphic novels Batman and the Monster Men and Batman and the Mad Monk, two stories that updated classic Golden Age stories to fit in the post-Year One period of the modern Batman’s existence. While she may not have the same impact or fan love as the others on this list, she does have the honor of being the first genuine love of Bruce’s life, and playing a major role in his early adventures, even if it was mainly as a damsel to be saved.
Catwoman:
You all knew she was going to be on this list. Catwoman first appeared as simply The Cat, back in the first issue of Batman self-titled comic. As a jewel thief whose main thing was being a mistress of disguise, Batman and Robin stopped her from making off with a small fortune, although Batman “accidentally” let her escape. Selina Kyle would return constantly, with a constant shifting costume and background. Sometimes, she’s an airline stewardess who got amnesia and became a supervillain. Sometimes, she’s a former prostitute who became inspired by Batman and became a costumed cat-burglar. And currently, she’s a hard-luck orphan who became a thief and then an anti-heroine with an interesting relationship with Batman. Prior to the New 52, Selina was one of the few people who Batman revealed his secret to, and since she never betrayed that trust, and always had his back when he needed it, Catwoman may be Batman’s greatest love he’s ever had.
Vicki Vale:
Vicki was an… odd creation of the Silver Age. Essentially, she was Batman’s own Lois Lane, a reporter (photojournalist, technically) who frequently was attempting to discover the story on Batman’s secret and constantly getting in danger for it. She rarely caught on back then, other than being a new love interest. She seemed to have more of an impact in the 80’s and 90’s, even playing a major role during Batman’s return from his supposed death during Final Crisis a few years ago, with her biggest impact being his primary love interest in the Tim Burton film, as well as the animated The Batman Vs. Dracula film I reviewed two years ago. She may have started as a derivative of the Man of Steel’s stalker, but she’s made enough of an impact to earn a place here on the list.
Batwoman (Kathy Kane):
No, not the popular lesbian superheroine that is one of the best of the current comics. Back in the Silver Age, due to the anti-comic psychology book Seduction of the Innocent, DC rushed to create female heroes to serve as love interests for Batman and Robin (the book claimed that the two were a homosexual couple), resulting in wealthy socialite Kathy Kane becoming Batwoman, with her niece serving as her sidekick Bat-Girl (note the hyphen, indicating this was not the Batgirl we’d all come to love and accept as the one true Batgirl). Kathy…. was a flat character. She popped up to help Batman out, and try to get him to marry her, and that was it. The main reason she’s on this list is because, in the first storyline featuring Ra’s al-Ghul, Kathy was murdered as a message to Batman. Her death not only introduced one of the biggest threats to the Dark Knight, but signified the end of the Silver Age’s innocence for the character, and the start of Batman’s return to his darker roots during the Bronze Age.
Talia al-Ghul:
Speaking of Ra’s, we cannot forget his daughter. The most important thing about Talia is that she wasn’t a bad person, she was just loyal to her father despite his obvious insanity and genocidal plans. Initially, her love for Batman was a redeeming factor, allowing her to help him against her father, even if she never really betrayed him. That all changed after the storyline Death and the Maidens, when her formerly unknown sister brainwashed her and they murdered Ra’s. Since then Talia has risen to take her father’s place as one of Batman’s greatest foes. She’s even went as far as revealing that she was raising Bruce’s son, Damian, in secret. In Grant Morrison’s run on the character, she now leads the evil group Leviathan, and her plans have resulted in the death of Damian. One of the most tragic love stories in Batman’s life, Talia will always represent one of the biggest failures and losses in his life.
Silver St. Cloud:
During Steve Engleheart’s run, known collectively as Strange Apparitions, he introduced the character Silver St. Cloud to Bruce’s world. Silver was a socialite and event coordinator, and during Bruce’s battles during the run with villains like Hugo Strange, Rupert Thorne and the Joker, she quickly figured out his secret. That knowledge was too much for her, so after witnessing him fighting for his life against the Joker, Silver broke up with him, then left Gotham. Batman took the break-up hard, at one point brutalizing some thugs due to his anger that he could never have a normal love life. Silver briefly returned to try and make it work, only to suffer an attack by the non-powered hero-serial-killer Onomatopoeia. With the question of her existence up in the air since the New 52 reboot, one can only hope she does still count in Batman’s life.
Shondra Kinsolving:
Shondra has the distinction, as far as I know, to be the first African American love interest of Batman (if I’m wrong, feel free to use the comments to tell me who else there was). Dr. Kinsolving was introduced as a physiotherapist that was helping the father of Time Drake (the third Robin), using her at the time unknown superhuman empathic and healing powers. She then started working with Bruce Wayne as he was dealing with exhaustion and burnout prior to Bane’s assault on Gotham during the Knightfall storyline. After Bane broke Batman’s back, he started spending more time with Shondra, whose power was helping him recover, and quite naturally they started to fall in love. When Shondra (and Mr. Drake) was kidnapped by her evil brother Benedict Asp, who planned to exploit her powers, Bruce left Gotham in the hands of his replacement, Jean Paul Valley, and went after her. Despite his injuries, Bruce managed to rescue Shondra, but she suffered a nervous breakdown, her mind regressing to that of a child. Her last act before completely breaking was using her powers to fully restore Bruce’s back, allowing him to face Valley and reclaim his role as Batman from the unstable youth. During the Hush storyline, it’s mentioned that she made a full recovery.
Vesper Fairchild:
Vesper was a radio host who Bruce met while on her talk show. They quickly became an item, but her pursuit of a journalist career, along with her deductive skills, were starting to lead her to Bruce’s secret, so he broke it off. Then the Gotham earthquake happened, and during No Man’s Land she took to the air to keep reports of the battle for the damaged city to the populace. It was more than implied that Bruce and her still had feelings for each other, which made her death all the more tragic. She was killed by assassin David Cain, as part of a plot by Lex Luthor as revenge against Bruce Wayne for keeping his involvement in the repair of Gotham after the earthquake to a minimum, with the final payoff being that Bruce Wayne was framed for the murder. It took months for Batman to clear his name, but Vesper is still a loss that will haunt him.
As Batman continues through the 21st Century, the question of who will win his heart is rather irrelevant. Bruce’s love life is meant to be a source of drama, and while in my humble opinion Catwoman is the one he should settle down with, as more women attempt to bridge the emotional gap to his heart, it will lead to great stories for us fans.
