Gotham City is a busy place, with a lot going down each and every week. In this monthly column, Joshua Lapin-Bertone helps you stay on top of it all by letting you know what you should be paying attention to within the Bat-Family…and why.
Batman is currently sleeping with the daughter of the man that killed his parents. Oh, and she might be connected to a recent string of Gotham teenagers being murdered.
Needless to say, this isn’t one of Batman’s wiser decisions.
We’re a few issues into Tom Taylor and Mikel Janín’s run on Detective Comics, and their story is going to some interesting places. There’s a mysterious serial killer named Asema that has been targeting Gotham criminals. Bruce Wayne has allowed himself to undergo a mysterious medical procedure which may slow his aging. Batman is being forced to examine the question of whether some lives have more value than others. To top it off, we’re learning more about Thomas Wayne’s past.
Like I said, there’s a lot of interesting stuff here, and all this leads back to Scarlett Martha Scott, Bruce Wayne’s latest love interest. Scarlett was once WayneTech’s chief geneticist, until she started her own company, Theromise Health. She’s now currently developing a drug called Sangraal that could reverse aging, allowing its user to extend their lifespan while remaining vital.
For reasons that seem questionable at best, Bruce is allowing himself to be one of Sangraal’s first test subjects. And speaking of bad judgement, Bruce winds up sleeping with Scarlett in Detective Comics #1092.
“This is a mistake. I know it. But at the moment, I don’t care,” Bruce muses to himself as he passionately kisses Scarlett.
Why is this a bad idea? Let me count the ways…
First, Bruce is investigating Scarlett. He isn’t sure if Sangraal is safe, and circumstantial evidence has linked Theromise Health with Asema’s mysterious killing spree. In fact, Bruce had initially taken Scarlett out to dinner to see if he could learn anything. This means that he’s already going into the new relationship under false pretenses. Romancing Scarlett complicates the investigation and threatens Bruce’s objectivity.
It also threatens Bruce’s secret identity. After spending the night together, Scarlett immediately realizes there’s more to Bruce than meets the eye.
“Those scars from your various sports car crashes,” she says. “You know I’ve had to study a lot of medicine, right? Were those sports cars built with bullets? I mean, I think you have some secrets, Bruce Wayne.”
To make matters worse, Bruce is covertly stealing data from her computer during this conversation, which is never a good thing to do after spending the night with someone.
But here’s the big twist: Scarlett Scott is the daughter of Joe Chill, the man who killed Bruce’s parents. Scarlett’s mother Evelyn Scott was involved in an abusive relationship with Chill shortly before the Wayne murders. Thomas and Martha Wayne helped her escape the relationship, placing Evelyn and her newborn daughter in a Wayne shelter. Evelyn never forgot how the Waynes helped her, and in return she gave her daughter the middle name Martha.
Bruce is currently unaware of this. He knows that his parents helped Scarlett’s mother, but he doesn’t know the identity of her father. To be fair, Scarlett’s father shouldn’t be held against her. But it’s another complication this ill-conceived romance will have to contend with.
So why is Bruce risking his secret identity and entering another morally dubious relationship? It’s a pattern of behavior Bruce can’t seem to break. Let’s face it, Batman has made a ton of mistakes when it comes to his love life. I’ve previously written about the complicated nature of Batman’s forbidden romance with Catwoman. I’ve also written about Batman’s brushes with marriage, all of which have fallen through so far. Think about that. Do you know anyone else who has almost tied the knot as many times as Bruce Wayne and failed to see any of them go through? (If you do, I doubt you’re looking to them for relationship advice.)
Batman is someone that prides himself on being prepared for every contingency, but romance seems to be his blind spot. Prior to becoming Batman, Bruce Wayne traveled the globe, training himself to be a master of disguise, a martial arts expert, an escape artist and everything else imaginable. Yet he never trained himself to have a sensible romantic life.
Let’s be real, Bruce Wayne never stood a chance. He knows he’s making a mistake with Scarlett Scott, but he can’t help himself. It just means that Batman is as human as the rest of us, and that’s why we love him. Tangling with the Joker or Darkseid is one thing, but navigating the minefields of romance is something else.
Detective Comics #1093 by Tom Taylor and Mikel Janín is now available in print and as a digital comic book.
Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, movies and comics for DC.com, is a regular contributor to the Couch Club and writes our monthly Batman column, "Gotham Gazette." Follow him on Bluesky at @joshualapinbertone and on X at @TBUJosh.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joshua Lapin-Bertone and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
