DC Exploration: Batwoman (Kate Kane)

 

Definitely a much less obscure character than last time, but a lot of people still don't know who Kate is, her power level is a contentious topic, and with International Women's Day, I thought this would be a good blog. 

Who is She?

Kate Kane is a member of the Bat-Family who was kidnapped alongside her mother and twin sister at the age of 12. Her military father broke into the terrorist's organization however only Kate could be saved, leaving Kate with emotional scars. Shaped by the experience and wanting to serve her country Kate joined the military and did fairly well though was disbanded under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule, due to it coming out that she was a lesbian. Despite this, Kate retained a positive view of the military and still considered herself a soldier at heart which, combined with some inspiration from Batman, lead to her taking up the vigilante persona of Batwoman in order to continue to try and serve her country.

How Strong is She?

So this is actually a fairly contested topic with DC writers tending to rank her higher in the Bat-Family hierarchy than most fans do and with her own series being infamously inconsistent feeling, with it feeling like she gets weaker later in her own series. She goes from with slight aid outright beating metahuman threats that are some of Batman's strongest rogues like Bane and Killer Croc anf fighting against and alongside mythological monsters, urban legends and magic wielders and outright demigods to struggling against a completely normal art thief like Wolf Spider. She manages to restrain and bring down a mutated monstrous Nightwing who should be as strong or stronger than normal, Nightwing being a character who was able to beat Batman who wasn't holding back in an extremely hard-pressed fight (albeit where neither of them were using any tech) yet has to use an elaborate plan of unleasing Batman's villains on Gotham and fighting him after Bane when he's worn out just to have a chance of beating a holding back Batman who is strongly implied would have won anyway. 

Some of this can be attributed to the switch in writers that changed the tone of the series very notably during her series. However if I were to try and explain it, I would say that Kate underwent heavy military and paramilitary training that trained her body to an extremely high physical level of strength, durability, and stamina which is what allows her to take blows and do considerable damage to these metahuman tier characters but that she lacks the outright supernatural feats or training in skill or intelligence that other Bat-Family members do meaning she can be relatively easily off-guarded by normal humans. Kate suggests something similar in Volume 1, Issue 30 of Batwoman saying "You'd think after fighting werewolves and child-drowning ghosts, a guy in a spider-costume would be easy. But Wolf Spider is clever. Fights dirty. Uses distractions well..."

How she compares to the other Bat-Family members therefore can be kind of tricky to tell as she is functionally somewhat of a bruiser, having stats high enough that Batman thought she could help physically train a team including Stephanie Brown, Tim Drake, and CASSANDRA FREAKING CAIN (though this was likely mostly training them in literal physical stats and teamwork), but could more than likely lose a fight due to being outwit or outmaneuvered.  The Bat-Family in general range from Mid Vigilante Tier to Low Metahuman Tier, with Kate being probably in the middle at High Vigilante tier. She's strong enough to at least temporarily go up against Metahuman threats and can win in certain conditions as well as being a threat to pretty much anyone who's not Metahuman tier, but still struggles occasionally against street crime and would likely lose most prolonged fights against metahuman tier enemies. I will mention how I think she'd fare against some other Bat-Family members later. 

What are Her Powers?

Like the majority of the Bat-Family, Kate Kane doesn't have, in-universe, any metahuman abilities and instead fights with trained physical skills and capabilities as well as tech. Due to her extreme military and paramilitary training, Kate developed a high degree of strength, speed, accuracy stamina, and willpower, the last of which gives an inordinately high pain tolerance and a minor resistance to mental manipulation. She has a very keen mind and many trained skills for vigilante work. From a cross-verse powerscaling perspective the most notable of these is the signature Bat-Family ability of stealth, hers being potent enough that she can hide her presence from Supergirl despite Supergirl's super-senses. This means that functionally speaking in most verses she would essentially have the ability to turn invisible. 

Batwoman also uses a variety of technology, mostly famously Kate has no aversion using firearms and lethal force the way Batman is due to her personal mindset as a soldier and military training. She also uses batarangs, a flamethrower, and an electrified net. Her cowl has infrared vision and telepathic shielding and her cape can be used for gliding. She also has some gold thread in her skull used to help patch up an injury which gives her a limited ability to sense electromagnetic fields. 

What are Her Weaknesses?

Like most of the Bat-Family with the possible exception of Tim Drake, Kate is working through psychological demons and trauma and is a dramatic, stubborn, and headstrong personality. Compared to her fellow Bat-Family members, Kate is not especially skilled in hand to hand or intelligent. Now that's not to say she is unskilled or dumb. She's very smart by real world standards and would be extraordinarily skilled in the real world, but she is the only member of the Bat-Family with no training from Batman or otherwise supernatural training. While her paramilitary training was extremely physically intense, compare the 14 martial arts styles she knows to the hundreds Batman is said to know. While very impressive mentally from a real world standard, she is far more grounded in mental capacities than some of her peers. 

In conclusion I think Batwoman would be roughly a High Vigilante Tier character, in the middle of the Bat-Family range which generally extends from Mid Vigilante Tier to Low Metahuman Tier.She's definitely below the tier of Bruce, Dick, and Cassie. These three though they don't technically have powers, would be classified as low metahuman tier as through physical stats mistaken for metahuman, technology, and extreme mental stats, they can beat metahuman tier enemies one on one while Kate needed at least the element of surprise and minor backup from Flamebird or Maggie Sawyer to defeat Bane or Killer Croc. However I do think she could beat Tim, Barbera (whom Kate has beaten before), and possibly Damien as being able to beat literal Batman tier opponents in any context means she could probably overwhelm them physically. I think Jason would be a more interesting fight, but would probably guess Jason would win as he could evenly fight a holding back Batman only to get beaten when Batman uses his full strength while Kate required a large plan to wear down Batman by making him fight Bane to fight a holding back Batman and would probably have lost regardless. Still being able to physically contend at all with the modern versions of Bruce, Dick, and their enemies is insanely impressive and means Batwoman would be a major threat against almost any character without outright superpowers beyond normal humanity and threaten lower metahuman tier enemies.