Kate Kane

> *For other users of the "Bat" identity, see Bat.*
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"*I am done being the victim. I'm done being the villain. Now I'm the hero.*"
—Kate Kane to Bruce Wayne.[src]
**Katherine Rebecca "Kate" Kane** (January 19, 1983 – February 27, 2002; resurrected November 2014), also formerly known as **Kristen Kringle** and **Isabelle**,is the former records keeper at the GCPD and the first victim of Edward Nygma. She is the daughter of Jacob Kane and the late Gabi Kane, niece of the late Thomas Wayne and the late Martha Wayne and the adoptive daughter of Oscar and Maria Kringle. After her mother died during childbirth, Katherine Kane was given up for adoption and adopted by the Kringle family, who renamed her "Kristen". At the time Kristen was working at the police department, Nygma was the forensic who had a crush on her. However, Kristen despised him and was always sick of hearing his riddles. When the two were assigned on a case together, she said something that made him snap and he knocked her out and murdered her.

Her body was then buried in a forest on the outskirts of Gotham. However, her corpse was later retrieved by Hugo Strange who conducted experiments on corpses in an attempt to revive the dead. The experiment was successful and Kristen was resurrected and trained within a secret laboratory underneath Arkham Asylum. She eventually took on the code name **Echo** and became a member of Strange's Freaks. After her a sample of her blood was collected and tested by Batman, he discovered her true identity and also found out that the two were cousins. She eventually became an ally of his and also became the vigilante, **Batwoman**.

## Biography

### Early Life

Katherine Rebecca Kane was born to Jacob and Gabi Kane on January 19, 1983 alongside her twin sister, Elizabeth, in Gotham City. Tragically, Gabi lost a severe amount of blood during the twins' birth and passed away, leaving Jacob alone. Elizabeth was then believed to passed away during childbirth alongside her mother, however, in truth, the baby was taken by the cult known as the Religion of Crime.

Katherine lived with Jacob for several weeks until the grief completely overtook him, giving Katherine up for adoption and even covering her birth up all together. She was then adopted by the Kringle family who renamed the baby "Kristen". Growing up, Kristen was raised under a strict Jewish family who did not tolerate any rebellious behaviour. When she discovered she was a lesbian during her early teens, Kristen hid this fact from her family and tried dating several boys, which all ended badly.

### Cadet at West Point

#### Becoming Enrolled

In 1999, at the age of 16, Kristen became enrolled in West Point as a cadet. The academy is where she became acquainted with Sophie Moore and she was the first person Kristen came out to as a lesbian. The two then began a romantic relationship together, forced to keep it a secret from the rest of the academy.

#### Expulsion

However, Kristen was later anonymously accused of homosexual conduct and was questioned by her seargent along with Sophie. While being offered a simple demotion, Kristen came out to him as gay in order to prevent further investigation and protect Sophie. She was then expelled under the Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell policy.

### Working at the GCPD

#### Meeting Edward Nygma

Kristen was depressed and lost after her expulsion but didn't want to let her life fall apart completely. She managed to obtain a job as a records keeper in the GCPD. Many male police officers admired Kristen and would constantly attempt to ask her out only for her to turn them down as she was a lesbian but was too afraid to come out. Whilst working at the GCPD, Kristen met Edward Nygma, who she completely despised. However, he had a huge crush on her and always came to her with his best riddles.

The two were later assigned to work together on a case in order to find a murderer in the city. While they were working, Nygma finally worked up the courage to tell Kristen how he felt but this caused her to have an outburst and tell him how she felt about him, explaining that she absolutely hated him. When she was about to leave the room, something in Nygma snapped and he picked up a filing cabinet and hit her over the head with it, knocking her out.

#### Death

Kristen later woke up in Nygma's apartment and saw him in the kitchen, pacing back and forth wondering what to do. She then took this opportunity to try and escape, grabbing anything she could find for protection, however, it was all in vain as when she attempted to sneak to the door she was caught by Nygma, who disarmed her and pinned her against the wall with a kitchen knife pointed to her stomach. She apologised and begged for her life but he simply told her that she had her chance and stabbed her. She then slowly died, sliding down the wall and lying limp on the floor.

#### Post-Mortem

After her death, Nygma snuck into the GCPD at night when no one was there and placed Kristen's corpse in the medical lab. Once there, he cut her up in order to fit her inside of a suitcase and take her out to a forest on the outskirts of the city. He then buried the suitcase containing her deep inside the forest and hoped that she would never be discovered.

At some point in time, Kristen's corpse was recovered by Professor Hugo Strange who performed experiments on it alongside the corpses of James Gordon Jr. and Fish Mooney. The three were a project formed by Strange to prove that humans could be resurrected after death.

### Working For Hugo Strange

#### Resurrection

Whilst Strange had no problem resurrecting James Gordon Jr. and Fish Mooney, he had plenty of trouble with Kristen. The first time he tried resurrecting her, she woke up briefly and had several flashes of past memories, eventually flat lining again. The second time they tried, they were successful and Kristen woke up, scared and asking questions. Strange managed to calm her down and informed her on the situation. She later became acquainted with James and Fish and the Freaks were finally formed.

## Legacy

### Creation of The Riddler

After killing Kate, Nygma became the well-known criminal known as "The Riddler" and later joined Barbara Kean in the Kean crime family. However, Barbara was later killed by detective Jim Gordon who also went after Riddler. Preparing to flee the city, he went back for Kate's body but was tracked by Jim and incarcerated. Kristen's remains were then taken to Gotham Cemetery and she was given a proper eulogy.

### The Kringle's Downfall

Kate's death caused her adoptive parents to fall into a great depression, eventually ending up in her adoptive father committing suicide. This event then lead to her adoptive mother becoming the criminal "Mother".

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Meta-Human Physiology:** After her corpse was somehow experimented on by Hugo Strange and then resurrected, Kate's physiology was enhanced and she was given the meta gene, giving her access to her powers. However, her powers were later repressed after the administration of the meta-human inhibitor. However, Kate is still considered a meta-human that is simply unable to use her powers.
	+ **Shadow Realm Connection/Teleportation:** Kate had the ability to teleport through another plane known as the "shadow realm" and appear out of another shadow of any physical object or person. She primarily used this ability to to her advantage when infiltrating organisations for her team.

### Former Weaknesses

* **Cellular Degeneration:** After using her newfound powers for a few weeks, Kate, as well as the other subjects, began to suffer from cellular degeneration in which their bodies began to reject the changes their powers brought to them. This was later cured due to the administration of the meta-human inhibitor.

## Equipment

* **Batwoman Suit****:** After becoming an ally of Batman's team, Kate was given a female bat costume that she now uses whilst helping citizens of Gotham City as Batwoman.

* **Utility Belt:** When wearing her suit as Batwoman, Kate keeps a utility belt around her waist, full of several gadgets she uses during combat.
	+ **Batarangs:** Kate uses small boomerangs designed to look like bats, similar to her cousin's only painted a dark red to match her suit.

## Appearances

### *Batman: Anarky*

Season 1
* "Hey, Diddle Diddle" (flashback)
* "Treat Them Mean, Keep Them Kean" (mentioned)
* "The Secret Six" (mentioned)

Season 2
* "Fallout" (corpse)
* "Loyalty" (corpse)
* "Lost Love" (corpse)
* "Abandoned"
* "Fractured Minds"
* "We Are The Freaks"
* "Man of Steel" (mentioned)
* "Frostbite"
* "Hello, Junior"
* "Swimming With The Fishes"
* "Bat Family"
* "Welcome To Earth-2"
* "Escape From Earth-2"
* "Vengeance"
* "Metapocalypse"
* "Arkham Has Fallen"

Season 3
* "New Beginnings" (mentioned)
* "Pain Is Weakness Leaving the Body" (mentioned)
* "Bloodlines, Part 2"
* "Jokes On You" (indirectly mentioned)
* "Batgirl Begins, Part 2" (mentioned)

Season 4
* "Amazons Attack, Part 3"
* "A Tale of Two Sisters"
* "So You Wanna Start a War?"
* "Shadows"

Season 5
* "Underworld Unleashed, Part 1"
* "Regrets"
* "Harley & Ivy"
* "Attack on the Nest"
* "The Joke's On You"
* "The Gray Son of Gotham"
* "Sisters Are Forever"
* "Judgement Day, Part 1"
* "Judgement Day, Part 2"

Season 6
* "No Man's Land"
* "Fear the Reaper" (mentioned)
* "We Are Legion" (mentioned)
* "Enter the Sirens" (mentioned)
* "Hope"

Season 7
* "Trial of the Batman"

### *Green Arrow*

#### Season 1

* "Bloodlines, Part 1"
* "Meet The Count" (mentioned)

### *Superman*

#### Season 1

* "Two's Company"
* "When Hero Meets Hell" (mentioned)
* "General, Care to Step Outside?"
* "Amazons Attack, Part 1"

#### Season 2

* "Oh, Brother"
* "I Am Zod" (mentioned)
* "Underworld Unleashed, Part 3"

### *Batwoman*

Season 1
* "Pilot"
* "Drink Me"
* "Sister, Sister"
* "Curiouser and Curiouser"
* "A Mad Tea-Party"
* "No Use Going Back To Yesterday"
* "The Duchess! The Duchess!"
* "Off With Her Head"

## Behind The Scenes

* The character, **Kristen Kringle**, was created by Danny Cannon for the FOX TV series Gotham which aired from 2014 – 2019. In the series, she was simply portrayed as the GCPD records keeper and love interest of Edward Nygma, who he later murdered.
* In DC Comics, **Isabelle Cheranova** is a Russian assassin and spy that goes by the alias **Echo**. She is also a frequent enemy of Batman.
* In DC Comics, **Katherine "Kate" Kane** is a vigilante known as **Batwoman**. She is also the cousin of Bruce Wayne/Batman and prominent member of the Bat family.
* Kate's shadow teleportation abilities are also extremely similar to the DC villain, Shadow Thief, who has the power to teleport through the shadow realm and appear out of any normal shadow of anything.

## References

1. ↑ *Batman: Anarky: 2.15: Bat Family*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Batman: Anarky: 1.02: Hey, Diddle Diddle
3. ↑ Batman: Anarky: 2.01: Fallout
4. ↑ *Batman: Anarky: 2.05: Abandoned*