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In the Justice League cartoon, as well as the direct follow-on cartoon Justice League: Unlimited, Batman is subtly portrayed as being either in a relationship with Wonder Woman, or at least they are shown as mutually interested.

But today I saw, in another question that Superman was also, at least, romantically interested in Wonder Woman.

Having read Larry Niven's "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex," Superman replies, "Never with Terrans. They're fragile." This may be the explanation of why Superman turned from Lois to Wonder Woman.

So is this (Batman/Wonder Woman) something only made for the cartoons, or does it have a precedent in the comics also? I ask because I know the effort that has gone into making the entire DCAU self-consistent, does it also match up with the comics?

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    Superwoman =/= Wonder Woman... which character are you talking about? Commented Nov 7, 2012 at 8:14
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    Also, which Earth? Commented Nov 7, 2012 at 8:14
  • @JaredTritsch apologies for the mix up with Superwoman =/= Wonder Woman. I'm unfamiliar with 'earths' in DC comics. Whichever one was in print late nineties/early 2000 when I believe the cartoon was aired. Either that or the most current comic that covers this 'area'?
    – AncientSwordRage
    Commented Nov 7, 2012 at 9:32
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    @Pureferret My guess the Earth question was asked was because of Earth 2, where there is a Superwoman. (Usually that group is on Earth 3)
    – user1027
    Commented Nov 7, 2012 at 15:16

5 Answers 5

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Short Answer:

Did Batman and Wonder Woman share a more than platonic relationship? And was it canon? - Yes and yes. A brief relationship is hinted at in the DC Animated Series, Justice League Unlimited (You can see an episode featuring that relationship called "This Little Piggy.")

  • They also considered a relationship in a previous continuity, Post-Crisis in the Justice League of America comic written by Joe Kelly in The Obsidian Age Saga.

  • With the creation of the DCnU, any previous relationship between the Batman and Wonder Woman has been erased. Now Wonder Woman and Superman are an item but no knows how long their relationship may last.

DC Animated Universe

The DC Animated Series played with the idea of Batman and Wonder Woman as potential significant others:

  • A chief writer on this storyline is Dwayne McDuffie - creator of Static Shock and one of the larger story arches for the DCAU. Notable episodes where Wonder Woman and Batman hint at something happening are, "Maid of Honor," "Starcrossed," "This Little Piggy," "A Once and Future Thing, Part 1," and "Kid's Stuff."

  • In the first of these, Diana and Bruce have a lengthy dance and flirt before getting around to saving the day. In the end, Diana guesses that Batman is Bruce Wayne, but he plays it off. In "Starcrossed," the Justice League shares their identities before separating to rendezvous at a later point & Diana & Batman go their own way. To avoid capture, they "pretend" make out.

This clip from "This Little Piggy" pretty much sums up why they don't really ever work out.

JLU, Wonder Woman and Batman on a stakeout in "This Little Piggy"

In the DC Universe

As to whether Batman has ever had an interest in Wonder Woman, it has been shown in several continuities that Batman and Wonder Woman have had more than passing interests:

  • They are both martial artists, conversant in several styles. They have been seen to train against each other improving their abilities.
  • Wonder Woman gets to train with an excellent, highly trained fighter, and Batman gets to fight against someone who has superhuman speed, strength and reflexes. Both are improved by the experience.
  • They both study history, language and are very well traveled.
  • Both are highly intelligent and scholars in their own right, Bruce is self-taught, Diana trained by the scholars of Paradise Island.
  • Both are highly attractive, it only makes sense they might gravitate toward each other.

The Justice League comic series has hinted on and off depending on the writers but only Joe Kelly has ever done anything serious with it.

Joe Kelly decided to explore such a relationship during his 2003-2004 run on JLA. During the storyline "The Obsidian Age," in which the Justice League journeyed into the ancient past in order to save a time-lost Aquaman, Batman and Wonder Woman prepared to fight their enemies to the death and, before doing so, they surprised one another (and a lot of readers) by sharing a kiss. Once all the resurrection, time-travel, villain-fighting and day-saving was out the way, the two put off having to talk about their kiss for awhile, with Batman being the more reluctant of the two, even standing Wonder Woman up on at least one occasion.

Ultimately, Wonder Woman used Martian Manhunter's Martian Transconsciousness Articulator, a doohickey that plays out various possible futures in dream-like fashion for the user, in order to determine that maybe she and Batman were better off just being friends and teammates. REF: Comic Alliance > The Many Loves of Wonder Woman

Batman and Wonder Woman share a kiss before dying in The Obsidian Age saga

Batman and Wonder Woman share a kiss before dying in The Obsidian Age saga

Corrections and Clarifications

This question is rife with inconsistencies, so let's clear them up.

  • Wonder Woman and Super-Woman are two different characters, though their physical powers are almost the same.
  • Wonder Woman first appeared in All Star Comics #8 (1941)
  • Super-Woman first appeared in Justice League Vol 1, #29 (1964)
  • Wonder Woman has been around since the Golden Age of Comics and has had her own comic for over forty years.
  • Super-Woman is an alternate Earth (Earth-3 by Pre-Crisis parlance) character who shared an origin with Wonder Woman, having come from an island of Amazons. But Superwoman was not an emissary of Paradise Isle, she was a renegade who left the island for her own reasons.
  • Super-Woman would later join the Crime Syndicate from Earth-3 consisting of Ultraman, Owlman, Power-Ring and Johnny Quick. This would almost be the same Crime Syndicate of Amerika to appear in the Animated film: "Justice League, Crisis on Two Earths."

(Well, not exactly. The parallel Earth this group originated from was destroyed. They were later reconstituted on an Anti-Matter Earth after the Crisis. Now with the reconstruction of the DCnU, there is an Earth 3 again, so no one has decided what to do with the Anti-matter CSA. If you want to know more, check out Cosmic Teams, Crime Syndicate of Amerika entry. It's awesome.)

Crime Syndicate of Amerika (the Anti-Matter Universe version)

Crime Syndicate of Amerika (the Anti-Matter Universe version)

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    Yeh, I never meant to write 'Superwoman' that was a mistake on my part. So by your reckoning, the JL cartoon's depiction of their relationship pre-dates the comic version?
    – AncientSwordRage
    Commented Nov 7, 2012 at 9:53
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    Every time I wish to read something, I look back this answer and smile ^_^ Wonder Woman and Batman look good together...
    – ABcDexter
    Commented Mar 13, 2016 at 20:12
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I remember first seeing Wonder Woman and Batman flirting in an early comic book...nothing came of it, but they were clearly flirting with each other. I remember her wearing go-go boots and traveling with some Asian guy, if that puts a better time stamp on it.

As for throughout history, most writers have paired W and Superman together. They shared a kiss in an Action Comic Superman 50th Anniversary edition, and in Kingdom Come they get together and later have a child.

Well, when JLUnlimited came out, the Powers That Be decided that was sort of routine. I think Timm said it was like the head cheerleader and star quarterback getting together, so they never pursued it. Then when the Gorilla City episode aired and fans responded to Batman's distress when he thought Wonder Woman had died, they decided to explore that route, which then leached into the comics a bit but was again dropped.

There seems to be interest on both sides in pairing Wonder Woman with either Batman or Superman, but the majority seem to want the red, white, and blues together.

Oh, and there is one three-part comic series where Wonder Woman and Batman share a kiss (as well as Superman being in awe of her too): Trinity.

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    Hi Sandy, Welcome to Science Fiction and Fantasy! It looks like your answer is quite anecdotal, do you have any more information to add? Here added references to the points you make would help back up your answer :)
    – AncientSwordRage
    Commented Jun 17, 2013 at 19:37
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referring to the question of if batman and wonder woman had a relationship in canon. Joe Kelly's Run was the only one that explored that possibility, which then lead to the BlACKEST NIGHT WONDER WOMAN, written by Greg Rucka. In this wonder woman was possessed by death and the only thing that could bring her to light was love. So she was put up against the people she loves in her life, from cassie to donna to her mother hippolyta, but they all failed. Then came "her lover" (as it said on the summary of the book). guess who that was.... BATMAN.. who kissed her and brought her back. (shame he was only an illusion and bruce was considered dead at the time, but was actually lost in time)

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  • You should separate this into multiple paragraphs and restrict your use of capital letters. Otherwise, this is a good first answer! Commented Dec 9, 2016 at 15:47
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The answer is yes, in some versions of them across the multiverse and alternate earths, for example they were in a relationship together on Earth-12 until batman killed her accidently while he was Merciless

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Well in JL season 1 Wonder Woman ends up stopping the missile but supposedly gets crushed doing it. Batman runs over and tries digging her out just when he thinks she's gone, Wonder Woman then lifts up the missile. Then when she sees that his gloves are dirty, Batman tries to hide them in his cape but then she kisses him and he gets nervous. Then in season 2 of the JL episode starcrossed pt.2 Diana and Bruce has to hide from the Thungarians so Wonder Woman reaches over and kisses Bruce. The Thungarians leave when they think that Wonder Woman and Batman aren't there. Diana says "sorry" and Bruce says "don't be" like he enjoyed it. Then in JLU Batman speaks his feelings for Diana on episode "this little piggy." It is obvious that if they were to make more episodes that their going to start making Batman more interested in Diana and may even make them start dating. As for Superman he should continue dating Lois.

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    Hi thanks for answering but this has morning to do with the comic...that was my main question.
    – AncientSwordRage
    Commented Feb 20, 2015 at 17:57

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