Batwoman season 2 is already darker than even Zack Snyder’s DCEU films. The Arrowverse series has recently gotten a new Batwoman in Ryan Wilder, who is replacing Kate Kate as the Scarlet Knight following Ruby Rose’s exit as the titular character last spring. However, Batwoman was always an admittedly dark show, with season 1 kicking things off with the revelation that Batman has been absent for years and the Crows, a security company run by Jacob Kane, rose to power to deal with the inordinate amount of villains running amok in the city.
The primary reason given for Batman’s years-long disappearance is that he broke his rule of no killing by allegedly murdering the Joker, his most terrifying nemesis. Weighed down by guilt and a sense of failure, Batman fled Gotham City, leaving it behind with no one to take up the mantle in his place for years to come. In his absence, the city became overrun by the criminal underworld while corruption flourished even more than before. Suffice it to say that things got really bad for a city whose villains had been kept at bay by the Dark Knight.
When Kate Kane returned to Gotham, however, she took up the mantle of Batwoman and it helped to bring back some balance to an otherwise dire situation. At least for a while. But, replacing the Joker as Gotham’s most disturbing villain was Kate’s sister, Alice, who sought the death of her remaining family and had no qualms about killing other Gothamites, either. However, in the span of a few years, Gotham City lost both Batman and Batwoman, with the situation in the city growing more darker and hopeless. Following a plane crash, Kate is now presumed dead and there are a couple of new villains and criminal organizations in town who are hellbent on wreaking havoc throughout the city.
In the wake of her disappearance and presumed death, Javicia Leslie’s Ryan Wilder has assumed the mantle of Batwoman, but she’s walking into a role that already has so many enemies. What’s more, Gotham is spiraling once again, with so much corruption lurking within the Crows, as well as within the criminal justice system itself. In short, there’s a lot of work to be done considering all of the imbalances that have been going on in Gotham as of late and Batman and Batwoman’s disappearances has turned the corner into much grimmer territory for Batwoman.
Meanwhile, in Zack Snyder’s DCEU movies, Batman is still very much still around in Gotham. Yes, the Caped Crusader has grown embittered and battle weary, but he still puts on the suit everyday to guard the city. He still hasn’t lost his sense of hope or his moral compass. Despite the fact that the Joker continues to scheme and kill and damage, Batman has not yet gotten to the point of murdering the Crown Prince of Crime. This shows some semblance of restraint considering that Batman v Superman revealed that the Joker was responsible for the death of Robin, Bruce’s former sidekick, years prior. Batman could have easily done away with the Joker in this instance, but he doesn’t. This isn’t to say that Snyder’s DCEU movies aren’t dark because they are, but one can argue that Batwoman is a whole lot darker because The CW series has more thoroughly explored Gotham and is comfortable wading into the darkness in the hopes to find what was lost.
