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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.

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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 2, 2015 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 2, 2015 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 2, 2015 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 2, 2015 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 6, 2015 at 15:49

3 Answers 3

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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.

enter image description here

  • 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.

enter image description here

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    Ha! +1, and I'd give you another if I could for introducing "Black Condor" into my life. As if all canaries are gender-specific, hahaha. Oh, and condors are black by nature, so the name is... yeah.
    – Nerrolken
    Feb 6, 2015 at 22:16
  • LOL at Wonder Man's outfit. Love those shorts.
    – Joshua
    Mar 20, 2016 at 0:01
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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.

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    In which animated series?
    – Valorum
    Jun 20, 2021 at 14:07
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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.

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    Based on my reading of the question body swap episodes don't count
    – Valorum
    Feb 6, 2015 at 9:25
  • @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 6, 2015 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 6, 2015 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, 2021 at 10:49

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