Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Batwoman Season 2 Episode 2, “Prior Criminal History”
Alice utilized a unique gadget as part of her scheme in the second episode of Batwoman season 2, a sonic device capable of summoning swarms of bats from the caves under Gotham City. This trick was first utilized by her cousin Bruce Wayne in Batman: Year One as a non-violent distraction. Naturally, Alice’s intentions weren’t quite as noble as Batman’s.
The main plot of “Prior Criminal History” centered around the hunt for Alice, who had revealed to Julia Pennyworth that she was planning something big and public. As Ryan Wilder focused on trying to break up a public rally in support of Batwoman (which she had reasoned was Alice’s most likely target), Luke Fox and Mary Hamilton busied themselves with trying to figure out just what Alice was planning after their discovery of the corpse of Mouse, Alice’s adoptive brother. Mary’s toxicology report determined that Mouse had died from the same rare toxin derived from the Desert Rose that Alice had used to kill her mother. This led Mary to guess that Alice was planning to poison the crowd, but gave her no indication of just how she’d manage it.
The answer came after Alice tested the “imposter” (a.k.a. Ryan Wilder, the new Batwoman) who was wearing her sister’s “hand-me-downs.” After unloading several bullets into Ryan’s costume and determining that “the suit’s for real,” Alice engaged Ryan in a one-on-one martial arts match-up. Ryan held her own against the murderous lunatic, but the fight was just the warm-up for the night to come, as Alice activated a hand-held trigger and urged Ryan to listen. Nothing could be heard but the barking of the police dogs 20 stories below them until a swarm of enraged bats swooped down upon downtown Gotham City and began attacking everything in sight. Almost immediately people began dropping to the ground exhibiting the symptoms of Desert Rose poisoning, and it became clear Alice had made the bats poisonous with a formula that didn’t hurt them but was deadly to humans.
Comic readers will recognize the device Alice used as being similar to one utilized by Bruce Wayne in Batman: Year One. Written by Frank Miller with art by David Mazzucchelli, the four-issue storyline, originally published as Batman #404-407, is widely considered to be the definitive origin story of the Dark Knight. One of the most famous scenes of the comic centered around Batman’s daring escape after being cornered by a SWAT team made up of crooked cops. With his utility belt lost and only one dart and an experiment gadget available, Batman used the device to summon a swarm of bats to his location, providing the perfect distraction so he could make his escape as the children of the night frenzied around the crowd that had gathered near the ambush site.
While the Batwoman episode does a fantastic job of bringing this moment to life, it is not the first time this scene from Batman: Year One was adapted for live-action. Batman utilized a similar device, which was built into the sole of his boot, to summon a swarm of bats as backup in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. The Penguin created something similar in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, arranging for swarms of bats to attack the crowd as he framed Batman for pushing the Ice Princess off a rooftop at Gotham City’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony. It’s a device used often in Batman lore and it’s never not satisfying.
