“Justice League Unlimited”. “Batman and Wonder Woman”. A complicated relationship built up over several seasons as Wonder Woman tries to own up that she and Batman are closer than coworkers and could be something even more. It’s an ongoing subplot in the show that gives depth to both characters as you see who they are outside of being heroes. It is also a relationship built on censorship. In this article, I will attempt to convince you that Batman and Wonder Woman’s relationship started because the writers needed a beard for Wonder Woman. To do so, we’re going to travel back before “Justice League Unlimited” to its predecessor, “Justice League”. Specifically the episode, “Maid of Honor”.
In this episode, Wonder Woman forms a close relationship to the Kaznian princess, Audrey. They spend most of the first episode of the arc hanging out and getting to know each other. Despite that, the audience doesn’t actually see much of them being together. There are strange cuts between them planning to do something, to them already having done it. Batman is in a confusing position in this arc. He ends up playing a supporting role to Wonder Woman, but doesn’t give any information that affects the plot, and is completely left out of crucial moments in the first episode of the arc. Put together, I believe that Batman wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place, and was only added in later when the episode was censored for its lesbian undertone.
Let’s start with the parts of the episode that have nothing to do with Batman. There are two moments in the episode where Wonder Woman and Audrey mention that they are planning to do something, then we don’t see them do it. First, Audrey says she’s going to take Wonder Woman shopping, then it cuts to when they’ve finished. This leads into another scene where Wonder Woman and Audrey are about to go to a series of parties. They get all the way to the first location, get swarmed by other people, leave, then suddenly there’s a cut to the morning after where they are on top of the Eiffel tower. Not only that, but in both instances the women reference moments that the viewer never saw. Audrey mentions Wonder Woman said she looks good in scarlet, and has “feet of clay,” neither of which make sense based on what the viewer had previously seen. Notably, these scenes reference moments in which both characters seem very close to each other. Just look at the dialogue between the two women:
Audrey: “I hate to admit it, but you’re right.”
Wonder Woman: “You’re going to help me find out why those men tried to kidnap you?”
Audrey: “I meant about the dress. You can get away with scarlet.”
Audrey: “My last night as a free woman.”
Wonder Woman: “Disappointed?”
Audrey: “No. I rather enjoyed corrupting you.”
Wonder Woman: “I’d appreciate it if we kept some of the more embarrassing stories to ourselves.”
Audrey: “Don’t worry… I won’t tell anyone that their great hero has feet of clay.”
Notably, in the second example, both women are standing very close together, and Audrey brushes Wonder Woman’s hair back. While there’s no definitive proof that the scenes were cut for censorship reasons, I think it is a fair supposition, especially when considering the Batman of it all.
Batman’s presence in this episode doesn’t make a lot of sense. He is in three scenes, never talks to or even meets Audrey, and doesn’t give Wonder Woman any information she couldn’t have found out herself. Not only does his presence dilute the narrative and add plot holes, how he acts is extremely out of character because his entire character is driven by a need to be in charge paired with incredible detective skills. Three examples highlight clearly how Batman’s role in the story does not make sense.
In the first scene, Bruce Wayne rescues Wonder Woman from some nosy reporters and they share a dance. Immediately afterwards fighters attempt to kidnap Audrey. Wonder Woman goes off to save her, alone. Batman never shows up, and Bruce Wayne isn’t seen in the aftermath. Despite everything that happened, the only thing he did in that scene was dance with Wonder Woman.
Ostensibly, the reason Batman is in this episode is because he was researching thefts that link back to the Kaznian government. In all of his presumably extensive research, he never once saw a photograph of the fiancé of the princess of the country, who we learn is in charge of a large space project the government is funding, and therefore might be the most likely candidate for the thefts. How do I know he never saw a picture? Because the fiancé also happens to be Vandal-freaking-Savage, a recurring massive big bad Wonder Woman recognized on sight and had a very strong reaction to. Either he knew and didn’t say anything, or in all his research he didn’t find out. Both instances seem extremely unlikely to me.
After a conversation between Wonder Woman and Batman that essentially went:
Wonder Woman: “I don’t trust Savage, but I can’t find anything concrete.”
Batman: “I can’t either, but I support you.”
Batman looks to the left of his desk, where a full TV stand sits, and turns on the news. After the segment is finished, he then goes back to Wonder Woman on the phone and asks if she caught that. This is how Wonder Woman, the main character in this arc, learns about the King of Kaznia having a stroke. This series of events is an incredibly convoluted way for a main character to learn necessary information from a TV news segment while she was in her own room, which presumably has a TV set. To put it in plainer terms, The Dark Knight’s main purpose in this scene was as a middleman between Wonder Woman and a TV.
There are many more examples I could list, but these three give the gist of how Batman acts, and is used, as a character within these episodes. He is, as far as I can tell, there simply to be there. Given how his initial scene was to dance and flirt with Wonder Woman, and the way that Wonder Woman and Audrey act together in the rest of the arc, I genuinely believe that he was a last-minute addition due to censorship regulations that was intended solely to act as a beard for Wonder Woman. No scene highlights this more than the wedding scene in the second episode of the arc. The frames cut between Wonder Woman fighting her way to Audrey’s wedding and Audrey walking down the aisle as the “Wedding March” plays in the background. In the middle of the scene, Batman’s just there, laying down some fire and then exits the scene by parachuting away as Wonder Woman continues her quest. Wonder Woman and Audrey are having their moment, then Batman swoops in vaguely helping Wonder Woman so that the writers can say, “No, actually, he’s the love interest.”
This episode also happens to be the first moment the writers hinted at something going on between Wonder Woman and Batman, which means that the whole relationship that was built up over two different shows was based on someone not letting the writers make Wonder Woman queer. Life’s funny sometimes, isn’t it.
