For me, Batman getting married does not mean he can't be Batman anymore. If anything, him marrying Selina makes sense because she is probably the most likely person he can be married to and still be Batman at the same time. In my mind, I think the man just wants some peace.
Creators need to get over their hang ups about romance and marriage, and the marriage-means-the-end-of-the-story trope needs to die a fiery death. Superman and Lois Lane were married for fifteen years, hell, they’re married right now. Black Canary and Green Arrow got married, and the only reason their marriage ended was because DC Comics suddenly decided that superheros should be bachelors. The common thought seems to be that if Batman gets married (because marriage means happiness by default) he will become less dark and brooding and therefore less interesting. Earth-2 Batman was happily married for years and was still dark and brooding and heroic. Powergirl even once described him as being “really crazy.”
The superheros must have unhappy personal lives is so beyond tired.I said this in my criticism of DC’s status quo a couple of years ago but, you need good things and happy moments to counteract the bad because it makes things like tragedy more poignant and impactful when they happen.
Tom King said it himself: the well has run dry on the Batman-as-a-sacrificial-hero-endless-tragedy cycle, which coincidentally is almost the exact opposite of what Batman’s last writer had to say about him. Being bold and taking risks as a writer doesn’t always involve shock and gore. There’s way more opportunities story wise by allowing Batman and Catwoman to get married than not. There’s opportunities for developing character relationships that wouldn’t exist otherwise (like Selina and the batfam) and it opens more opportunities for stories across the DC Universe. Selina could turn down Bruce’s proposal and he’ll be sad then that’ll be it. He’ll brood for a few pages and then we’ll just be off to the next arc. But if she accepts it opens the doors for a lot of stories that have never been told, because DC Comics has never dared to do it before. For example I really want to know how the Justice League reacts to the revelation.
The thing that makes Batman and Catwoman work is their ability to reconcile both parts of who they are. They don’t compartmentalize Bruce and Selina and Batman and Catwoman: they see each other as one whole person. All of Bruce’s past relationships ultimately failed because his respective partner couldn’t ever be completely involved in his life. Silver St. Cloud ended things because she couldn’t handle the superhero lifestyle, and Bruce was briefly engaged to Julie Madison, when he had amnesia and had no idea that he was Batman. The second he regained his memory it was over.
Batman can’t be with someone who’s safety he has to constantly worry about. Selina is the only person that has really been able to share all parts of his life with and the only person he can form that type of partnership with. They’ve both been there for each other at their lowest and darkest moments, they’ve had access to each other that others haven’t, and because of who they are they understand each other in ways that are impossible for other people. Batman was there for Catwoman when her guilt over the Black Mask fiasco caused her to act out self destructively, and Bruce confided in Selina about his attempted suicide after his parents deaths.
Going by some of the recent events and some of things Tom King has said, I don’t know if the consensus is, where Batman and Catwoman to marry, that would mean the end of Bruce’s crime fighting career. I haven’t been reading so there could be something to indicate that I don’t know about, but the sense that I’m getting is that everyone, fans, writers, everyone is exhausted from grimdark Batman and think there’s room in his life and story for a little bit of happiness.
Batman and Catwoman work because of who they are and it would be a huge waste of opportunity to throw all of that away if they got married.
