Post-Infinite Crisis
Kathy Kane's history is rewritten and her role as the original Batwoman is reinstated follow the continuity-altering events of Infinite Crisis. Note that Infinite Crisis restored some pre-Crisis elements to the modern continuity and that Grant Morrison has made efforts to treat Batman's entire publication history as his backstory. In Detective Comics #824, the Penguin refers to Kate Kane as the new Batwoman (which is the first post-Infinite Crisis implication that there was an earlier Batwoman). Kathy, as Batwoman, appears in a flashback story in Batman #682 (which provides a brief look back throughout Batman's career and features a scene of Batman and the original Batwoman kissing, with Robin showing his distrust of her and Bat-Girl). In this story, Kathy is referred to as "Katy" Kane. In Batman #686, Alfred mentions that Bruce Wayne was once romantically involved with Kathy.
A heavily modified origin for Kathy Kane is later provided in Grant Morrison's 2011 Batman Inc. series. It is established that Kathy Kane was born Katherine Webb, and that she had been an aspiring independent film director prior to marrying a millionaire named Nathan Kane, the son of Roderick and Elizabeth Kane and brother of Martha (Kane) Wayne (mother of Bruce Wayne). The two were madly in love with one another, and it was Nathan who ended up buying Kathy her circus as a birthday present. After Nathan's untimely death, Kathy was approached by a young man known only as Agent-33, who recruited her into a covert spy organization called Spyral. As part of her first and only assignment, Kathy was tasked with tracking down Batman and discovering his true identity. Donning a female variation of Batman's costume in order to gain his attention, Kathy embarked on a career as a costumed crime-fighter, all the while attempting to get close to Batman. Though her plan succeeded, the two eventually fell in love with one another, despite Kathy legally being Wayne's aunt due to her marriage with Nathan Kane, though past this they are not related in any other way and share no similar DNA, and as a result Kathy refused to reveal his identity to her superiors at Spyral. Eventually, Kathy was confronted by the head of Spyral, a Nazi supervillain named Dr. Dedalus. Dedalus claimed to be Kathy's real father, and threatened to expose Kathy to Batman unless she continued her mission. Heartbroken, Kathy broke off her relationship with Bruce in order to save him from Dedalus' plan. In the present, Batman and the South American vigilante El Gaucho are told by the villainess Scorpiana that El Gaucho was responsible for Kathy's murder, as he had originally been Agent-33 prior to becoming a superhero. Batman tells Gaucho that Scorpiana must be lying since Kathy had been killed by the League of Assassins, but Gaucho claims that there is some truth in her accusations, and that Batman wouldn't understand.
The Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes one-shot introduces St. Hadrian's Finishing School For Girls, an English academy where female assassins are trained. The members of the school's elite class are shown wearing variations of Kathy's Batwoman costume, with the original masks replaced by skulls.
Read more about this topic: Katherine Kane, Fictional Character Biography, Kathy Kane
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