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For some reason there is a world where there are both Batwoman and Batgirl. The history of these two names have quite a history. The Batgirl who we knew as Barbara Gordon (before getting her spine injured and becoming the hacker Oracle) was a teenager in high school when she began being part of the bat family, hence the title “girl”. There was also an already existing Batwoman named Kathy Kane. Even after Kane retired and discussed the title change for Barbara (because she was no longer a girl at that point) she decided to keep the title Batgirl anyway.
So that’s the reason why Barbara Gordon remained Batgirl. But the Batwoman you may be thinking of is someone else entirely. It is Kate Kane, the cousin of Bruce Wayne. That’s not confusing at all, right? This version of Batwoman is a much more brutal and serious version that was truly inspired by Batman himself. Also like Batman she is intelligent and a good detective.
So now that we established the differences between Batwoman versus Batgirl, who would win in a fair fight? Since they have never been in this scenario it is impossible to say. But the closest thing would be from the comic (Affiliate Link) Batgirl issue 12, the 4th series and published in 2012. In this comic we have the two of them brushing feathers as they assess each other. Unfortunately Barbara discounts Kate’s combat abilities and Kate gets the jump on her. In fact Barbara doesn’t get a single hit in as Kate proceeds to knee her in the stomach and smash her face in. Hardily what I would call a fair fight. Although it is hard not to notice that Batgirl seems to be a softer character with her strength in detective work versus Batwoman who is more combat oriented and less empathetic.
Even more interesting than the story is that Batgirl issue 12 was illustrated by Ardian Syaf. A mere five years later the artist was outcast from the industry for controversial hidden messages in X-Men Gold issue 1. This is a shame because his art is nothing to brush off. Both his drawings of women and men look amazing from all angles.
What is your opinion of Batwoman vs Batgirl? Would one win over the other if the situation were different? Leave a comment.