Batwoman: Every Bat Family Member Who Exists In The Arrowverse
As Batwoman has brought in a lot of the Batman mythology into the Arrowverse, several Bat-Family members have been confirmed to exist on Earth-Prime.
While Batwoman is the primary Arrowverse series to feature a major Batman character in the lead, there are several Bat-Family members that actually already exist on Earth-Prime. When Arrow first began in 2012, The CW faced tough restrictions regarding what Batman characters they could actually use, as DC prioritized the Dark Knight for the big screen. Back before Greg Berlanti’s universe became a massive ever-growing franchise, Warner Bros.’ film division limited The CW's use, or even reference to, the world of Gotham City. But as the Arrowverse got fleshed out with several successful spinoffs, the Bat-mythology finally made it to The CW's shared universe when it was announced that Batwoman would appear in the Elseworlds crossover.
Once Kate Kane arrived, the Pandora’s Box of Batman Easter eggs and characters made it into the ongoing universe; however, while a lot of allusions and Easter eggs have been dropped, the restrictions from the film division still apply. Despite Kevin Conroy’s Bruce Wayne from Earth-99 and the recent reveal of Warren Christie being the Arrowverse’s Batman, there still seems to be a lot of compromises as to what and who can be referenced and what can actually be featured beyond a namedrop. Nevertheless, The CW has luckily been able to incorporate as much as they can in the last 2 years from the Batman mythology.
Some of the characters have appeared on-screen while others have either had their names mentioned or statuses stated to give viewers an idea where these members are at in the Arrowverse. With the second season of Batwoman coming in January 2021, that will star Javicia Leslie as the new lead, more Bat-Family members might possibly be referenced or show up at some point. These are all the members from the Bat-Family that the Arrowverse has so far confirmed to exist.
One of the first heroes to make it into the Arrowverse back in Arrow season 1 was Helena Bertinelli a.k.a. the Huntress. While she is mostly known for her status as one of the founding Birds of Prey members, Helena is also established canonically as a Bat-Family member in various DC stories. Despite her Bat-ties in the mythology, the Arrowverse version of Huntress hasn’t established any ties to Bruce Wayne, Gotham City, or even the Birds of Prey. In this incarnation, Oliver takes her under his wing to make her part of his crusade to take out corruption in Star City. But Helena had a grudge with her father that put her and Oliver on opposite sides, which didn’t get its conclusion until her return in season 2. Huntress hasn’t been back, on-screen at least, since that season, even though she appeared in the tie-in Arrow Season 2.5 comic as well as being referenced in the last few seasons, including a connection to Green Arrow and the Canaries.
While Blüdhaven has been mentioned multiple times in the Arrowverse, its main protector has never been spotted or mentioned on-screen: Dick Grayson a.k.a. Nightwing. However, thanks to the tie-in companion book, Arrow – Oliver Queen’s Dossier, the former Boy Wonder has now been confirmed to exist in The CW’s DC TV universe. Through an email by Amanda Waller, Nightwing is referenced as a vigilante that A.R.G.U.S. needs to be on the lookout for as he could possibly interfere. While it confirms that Dick is active in the Arrowverse, it raises the question of why he didn’t make any efforts to protect Gotham when Bruce mysteriously disappeared. Even if he never shows up on The CW, Nightwing can be seen in Titans on DC Universe.
During the Elseworlds crossover, several Batman mythology names were dropped, especially during the Arkham Asylum scenes: from several villains being patients of the asylum for the criminally insane to the storage room with tons of iconic items that belong to various Gotham characters. One of them actually belonged to a Bat-Family member as Selina Kyle’s cat-ear headband is seen hanging on a shelf, listed as belonging to “S. Kyle.” While Catwoman goes from villain to anti-hero to being an on-and-off-again love interest for Batman, she has frequently worked with the Bat-Family. Given that she hasn't been mentioned since the 2018 crossover, it's possible that Selina is still locked up at Arkham.
Another prominent member of Bruce’s extended family that has been called out multiple times is his faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth. Starting out with having his name referenced as the Wi-Fi password for Wayne Enterprises, Alfred has also mysteriously vanished from Gotham City prior to Kate becoming Batwoman. Based on the exposition that has been given thus far in Batwoman, Alfred definitely seems to be alive and out there somewhere. It’s possible that he may have left with Bruce when he decided to suddenly abandon his life as Batman to go wherever he is at right now.
While Alfred is one of Bruce’s closest allies in the Bat-Family, there is another who exists in the Arrowverse: Lucius Fox, the talented technical genius who aided the Caped Crusader with all of his toys. Unlike some other Bat-characters that have been name-dropped, his status was established early on in Batwoman season 1. In 2015 on the day of his son Luke’s graduation, Tommy Elliot, who later becomes the villainous Hush, hired a hitman to go after Lucius in an attempt to gain possession of Fox’s journal, which resulted in him being murdered. The journal, which was a driving storyline in the back half of Batwoman season 1, contains details about the technology he developed for Wayne Enterprises. Despite Lucius’ gruesome death, his legacy hasn’t been forgotten and lives on through Luke.
Even though the Arrowverse will never see Lucius Fox aiding Batwoman, Luke follows his father’s footsteps by becoming the technical guru of her team. While serving a similar role as his dad for Kate, Luke’s comic book role in the Bat-Family is significantly different: while this version of Luke has his father’s knack for technology, he has also become a fellow superhero himself, Batwing. In mythology, Luke becomes the second person to take on the mantle after David Zavimbe gives up the title. While he has yet to become his heroic comic counterpart in Batwoman, season 2 might see Luke get him closer towards suiting alongside the new Batwoman.
Dick was the first person to operate as Robin before becoming Nightwing, but in the Arrowverse, there seems to be another Boy Wonder at this point. In Batwoman season 1, Vesper Fairchild references the teen hero when speculating why “Batman” had gone MIA again, jokingly asking if it was perhaps Robin’s high school graduation. With Nightwing confirmed to exist, it’s unclear who the second Robin is and where they have disappeared to as they have also not emerged since Batman left the city. Since Dick and Jason Todd are both on Titans currently, it’s hard to say which person is currently carrying the Robin title in the Arrowverse.
Despite Alfred’s odd absence, Lucius isn’t the only Bat-Family member to have his offspring be part of Batwoman’s team. The first season introduced Alfred’s daughter Julia Pennyworth, who had a past with Kate and discovered her father’s alliance with the Dark Knight years ago. While she is one of the few Bat-Family members to actually be in the Arrowverse in the flesh, Julia’s introduction came with controversy as Batwoman changed her ethnicity as canonically biracial to white. Despite having a shady alliance with Safiyah Sohail, who will be the season 2 villain, Julia has grown closer to Team Batwoman, particularly with Sophie Moore as they have an ongoing romance.
For the time being, those are all the confirmed Bat-Family members that the Arrowverse have established to exist. As the franchise keeps growing, it's always possible that more characters from Bruce's second family will make their way into The CW's DC TV universe. Perhaps one day they'll clarify more about Arrow's multiple callouts to Oracle and where she's currently is on Earth-Prime. But compared to the access The CW had in 2012 to what they have today, the Arrowverse has surprisingly established a lot about the Bat-Family, primarily thanks to Batwoman.