The retcon history of Batman and Catwoman discovering each other’s secret identities is rather complicated. Before I dive in, the great Brian Cronin has an excellent series of articles about this very topic, to which I’m incredibly indebted:
https://www.cbr.com/batman-catwoman-secret-identity-revealed
https://www.cbr.com/batman-catwoman-secret-identity-repeated-retcon
Joshua Lapin-Bertone, to whom I am also indebted, also has a highly informative article about this subject too:
https://thebatmanuniverse.net/catwoman-29
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THE GOLDEN AGE
In the Golden Age, Catwoman uses a variety of false names, not revealing her true identity of Selina Kyle to Batman until Year Twelve—in Batman #62 Part 1 by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Lew Sayre Schwartz, and Charles Paris (1950).
Five in-story years later (Year Seventeen), thanks to a retcon that sees the Bat marry the Cat (thus further distinguishing the Golden Age Earth-2 from the Silver/Bronze Age Earth-1), Batman reveals his secret identity to Selina. This big moment occurs via flashback from The Brave and The Bold #197 by Alan Brennert and Joe Staton (1983).
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THE SILVER/BRONZE AGE
Turning to the Silver/Bronze Age, we get a super-compressed version of the Golden Age in regard to Batman’s dealings with Catwoman. Her use of false names and Batman learning her secret identity all occurs in Year One! Batman #208 by E Nelson Bridwell (1969) is a clever story that re-contextualizes old material via the framing device of Ma Chilton talking about the history of Batman’s love life. Thus, instead of having the typical non-canon reprint issue, all the reprinted (prior continuity) material, including Batman #62 Part 1, is canonized in full.
Year Sixteen’s Batman #355 by Gerry Conway and Don Newton (1983) is the first issue that definitively reveals that Catwoman knows Batman’s secret identity. It’s possible she knows earlier than that, but in any case, she 100% knows by Year Sixteen. Not long afterward, Detective Comics #526 by Conway and Newton (1983) doubles down on this, emphasizing that Catwoman knows who Batman is under the cowl. However, DC editorial royally complicates the matter after that. In Year Nineteen’s Batman #389 by Doug Moench and Tom Mandrake (1985), Batman blindfolds Catwoman to bring through an alternate Batcave entrance. This scene that makes it seem like she doesn’t know who he is under the cowl. However, as Conway had already definitively shown in Batman #355 and Detective Comics #526, Catwoman already knows Batman’s secret identity—so the need for her to be blindfolded in Batman #389 makes no sense. An easy fanwank is that Batman simply doesn’t want her to know about one of the alternate entrances into the Batcave. However, in a rare attempt to cover their asses, DC editors actually publish a letter of explanation in Batman #393 by Moench and Paul Gulacy (1986) saying that Catwoman shouldn’t have been blindfolded since she already knows Batman’s secret identity. They actually own up to a continuity error! But then, in Batman #397 by Moench and Mandrake (1986), DC editors retract their statement in a second letter! Instead of letting things go and providing an easy out for the blindfold thing, they disavow all prior instances of Catwoman knowing Batman’s secret identity, even going so far as to say that she never knew—even in Batman #355 and Detective Comics #526! What?! That is a huge (and bogus) retcon. She definitely knew, and, if she doesn’t know by 1986, then she was friggin’ mind-wiped. Go with your headcanon on this one because it’s better than anything DC has to offer.
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THE MODERN AGE
Believe or not, Batman’s knowledge of Catwoman’s secret identity (and vice versa) is just as complicated in the Modern Age. Due to vague hints in Frank Miller’s “Year One” (1986-1987), Mindy Newell’s Catwoman #3-4 (1989), and Denny O’Neil’s Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #1 (1989), it’s possible Batman knows Catwoman’s secret identity as early as Year One. (At the very least, he likely has a hunch who she is under the mask.) However, it’s not until Year Two that we can be more certain that he knows. Of course, the references to Batman learning Catwoman’s secret identity as early as Year Two on the Modern Age timeline—specifically in Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (1996-1997), Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #140 by Moench and Gulacy (2001), and The Batman Files by Matthew Manning (2011)—are, like the earlier references, also a bit vague, still merely hinting at Batman finding out. Because of this haziness, various arguments can be supported. Furthermore, over the course of the following seven in-story years, Batman’s interactions with Catwoman—and Bruce’s with Selina—are coy enough to keep things deliberately vague. For example, Batman: Dark Victory by Loeb and Sale (1999-2000) keep things so vague, you could read it either way. It’s actually downright perplexing. While we are at like 90% certainty that Batman knows Selina is Catwoman by Year Two, it’s not all the way until Year Nine—via flashback from Catwoman Vol. 3 #50 by Will Pfeifer (2006)—that we learn definitively that Batman knows Catwoman’s secret ID. But 90% certainty ain’t bad. Therefore, all signs point to Batman learning Catwoman’s secret ID in Year Two (if not earlier). This is your personal headcanon call, of course.
I should mention that, for decades, I had regarded Batman Confidential #17-21 by Fabian Nicieza and Kevin Maguire (2008) as an important arc in regard to Batman learning Catwoman’s secret ID, but upon a recent re-read, this simply isn’t the case. There’s a scene in issue #18 where a nude Batgirl fights a nude Catwoman, and the latter is referred to as Selina Kyle by multiple people at the Gotham Hedonist Society, but it’s unclear if it’s within Batgirl’s earshot or not. Either way, neither Batman nor Batgirl refer to her as Selina in this arc. Like the other stuff above, it’s kept vague. Although, as mentioned, I no longer think this arc has any particular bearing upon our Bat/Cat secret identity topic at hand.
The other way around—Catwoman learning Batman’s secret identity—has an even more complex history in the Modern Age. At the time of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot in 1986, the Catwoman status-quo was that she was a superhero that had learned Batman’s secret identity much akin to how she had in the Bronze Age. This is confirmed via reference in Detective Comics #569-570 by Mike W Barr and Alan Davis (1986). Notably, Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales (2004) would later retcon that Catwoman, in Year Nine, becomes a superhero due to a Zatanna mind-wipe, at which time the Dark Knight reveals his secret identity to her as a gesture of goodwill. Wanting to revert Catwoman back to her old ways, Barr (in Detective Comics #569-570), has Catwoman mind-wiped yet again (this time by Dr. Moon, and this time it turns her back into a super-villain). This mind-wipe also causes her to permanently forget Batman’s secret identity.
And this is the status quo for a while. In Batman #499 by Moench and Jim Aparo (1993), Bruce, Alfred, and Selina board a plane together. The dialogue between Alfred, Bruce, and Selina makes it sound like Alfred has no idea who Selina is and that Bruce has only met her once. Alfred says, “Good lord, who are you and how did you get—” and Selina cuts him off with, “My name is Selina Kyle, Mr. Wayne—we met at a charity function and I desperately need to reach Santa Prisca.” When Batman #499 originally came out in 1993, Bruce and Selina really had only interacted (out-of-costume) one or two times prior to this moment and definitely not romantically. When Loeb and Sale’s The Long Halloween was published in 1996-1997, it retconned things so that Bruce and Selina did have an intimate relationship outside of their Batman/Catwoman relationship, thus changing this Batman #499 sequence entirely.
It’s not until Year Nineteen’s “Hush”—specifically Batman #615—by Loeb and Jim Lee (2003) that Batman finally reveals his secret identity to Catwoman. Interestingly, DC Comics editors, in a halfhearted attempt to erase any head-scratching Catwoman continuity, tried to cover up their messy mind-wipes by labeling Detective Comics #569-570 as occurring on the alternate Earth-85 (in 2005’s The Crisis on Infinite Earths: The Compendium). Of course, Detective Comics #569-570 is dead smack dab in the middle of John Ostrander and Len Wein’s major “Legends” crossover arc, so its details are definitively canon.
In the end, continuity is as follows: Catwoman gets mind-wiped in Year Nine, becoming a superhero, at which time Batman reveals his secret identity to her. In Year Eleven, Catwoman is mind-wiped again, becoming a villain again and losing knowledge of Batman’s secret identity. In Year Nineteen, Batman reveals himself to Catwoman for the final time.
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THE NEW 52 ERA
In the New 52, Batman first meets a fully-costumed Catwoman in the Year One story, Young Romance: A New 52 Valentine’s Day Special #1 by Ann Nocenti and Emanuela Lupacchino (2013). While there’s no indication as to whether or not Batman knows Catwoman’s secret identity in Young Romance, as referenced in Catwoman Vol. 4 #1 by Judd Winick and Guillem March (2011), a tale that occurs five years later, it’s entirely possible that Batman knows right from the get-go. But, as before, it’s very vague. Catwoman’s inner dialogue in Catwoman Vol. 4 #1 says, “I don’t think he knows who I am. Although he is the master detective. So, mabye.” However, any vagueness here can be thrown out because Young Romance is immediately chronologically followed-up by Batman/Superman #1-4 by Greg Pak and Jae Lee (2013). In Batman/Superman #2, Bruce travels to Earth-2 where he meets Earth-2 Batman and Earth-2 Catwoman, learning the secret identity of the latter—and therefore learning the secret identity of her primary Earth counterpart. If Batman didn’t already know a few days earlier, then he certainly knows by Batman/Superman #2. So, yes, Batman definitively learns Catwoman’s secret identity in Year One.
Catwoman, on the other hand, doesn’t learn Batman’s secret identity until fairly late—not until Year Eight (out of ten total years of the shortened timeline). While the New 52 version of “Hush” includes a Bat/Cat romance, the latter does not learn the former’s secret identity.
Notably, there is the much-maligned “Gothtophia” crossover (written by multiple authors) where Catwoman learns it, but only while under a drug induced haze, and by the story’s conclusion, she has no recollection of it whatsoever. Ultimately, the first reference of Selina learning Batman’s secret identity doesn’t come until a reference inCatwoman Vol. 4 #49 by Frank Tieri (2016). In this issue (again, in Year Eight), there’s no big reveal that is shown (she just all of a sudden knows it), meaning that the discovery occurs off panel.
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THE REBIRTH/INFINITE FRONTIER ERA
This is the most straightforward of them all, as the discovery of each other’s secret identities are connected to the very same issue—Batman Vol. 3 Annual #2 by Tom King and Lee Weeks (2018). In regard to Batman discovering Catwoman’s secret identity, we are told (via reference in Batman Vol. 3 Annual #2 Part 1) that he has “known since the beginning,” meaning since Year One. Catwoman Vol. 5 #3 by Joëlle Jones and Fernando Blanco (2018) and Catwoman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular Part 6 by Newell (2020) both nod toward some form of Catwoman #1-4 happening in the Rebirth/Infinite Frontier Era. These references also tell us that, during Year One, Selina slightly suspects Batman may be the same man she first encountered on the street in the East End (in the Rebirth/Infinite Frontier Era’s version of Miller’s “Year One,” but she still doesn’t know his true secret identity. Catwoman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular Part 6 actually functions as a direct precursor to Batman Vol. 3 Annual #2 Part 1, which leads with Catwoman having discovered Batman’s secret identity, after which she breaks into the Batcave. In this same story, Batman and Catwoman kiss for the first time ever.
And what better way to end than with a kiss. That’s all folks!
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