Real name: Kathy Kane (Deceased)
First Appearance: Detective Comics #233 (July 1956).
Known relatives: Bette Kane (niece)
Height:N/A
Weight: N/A
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Created by: Bob Kane, Sheldon Moldoff

In Detective Comics #233, July 1956, Batwoman swooped in and became the first woman to wear the mantle of the bat. Kathy Kane appeared to help Batman and Robin. Kathy was a circus trapeze artist who wanted more in life. Admiring the Batman, she used her inheritance to get the supplies she needed to become Batwoman and fight crime. Kathy even built a Batcave under her house.

For years Batwoman would help the Dynamic Duo by her self. It was only when her niece Betty discovered she was Batwoman that she decided to take on a partner. The duo would team up, much to the Dark Knights dismay and help fight crime.

Batman tried to convince Kathy to give up the mantle, stating that it was no place for a lady. He never succeeded. In fact, Kathy proved herself to Batman and got his respect. After a few years however, Kathy lost the will to keep being a crime fighter. She retired and bought a circus, Kane's Kolossal Karnival. Kathy did occasionally team up with the new Batgirl, Barbara Gordon to help her out.

Following a tip that the League of Assassins was going after Kathy Kane at her circus, Batman showed up just as she was attacked by the League. Batman was knocked unconscious by the Bronze Tiger, who at that time was in the thrall of the leader of the League of Assassins.

He awakened to Kathy's scream and found her dead, holding on to her Batwoman costume. Batman later tracked the killers to their lair and fought the Bronze Tiger and several of the league members. The Sensei and the Bronze Tiger escaped, but Batman captured Kathy Kane's two killers.

There was also a Batwoman on Earth-Two, who was very much like her deceased Earth-One counterpart. This Kathy Kane retired when the Batman of that world married the Catwoman. She did marry and have children, but her husband was never revealed. However she later came out of retirement following Batman's death when Gotham City was threatened by the return of Hugo Strange.

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the histories of Batwoman and Bat-Girl were heavily retconned. In the new continuity, Kathy Kane existed but apparently Batwoman never had. Bat-Girl never existed either, but a superheroine named Flamebird was introduced who had a somewhat similar costume and almost the same name ("Bette Kane").

Kathy Kane and her murder by the Bronze Tiger have been mentioned on occasion. It may be that Kathy Kane existed but was never Batwoman in the post-Crisis DC Universe. In Batman, Dark Detective #2 (2005), Bruce Wayne is seen in the Batcave and on the wall is a large portrait of Batwoman. Whether she is a part of DC Comics current mythos is inconsistent.