Harley x Batman?

There's also his obsession with Dawn Golden, but mostly because they were childhood friends and goddamn that opening reminded me of a typical harem anime asdfhsjfhakjdhfsdkj

In any case, unless Bats stabs her with a syringe of anti-psychotics, no.

The flashbacks of Batman 666, published after the 'drugged and asleep' retcon in Batman and Son, show Bruce and Talia quite willingly about to go at it, so I think Morrison retconned his own retcon away.

Leave it up to Grant...

And what about the woman for whose murder he was arrested in Bruce Wayne: Fugitive?

Vesper Fairchild? I don't think they ever went past the flirting-brief dates part. He told her he loved her at the end of Doug Moench's 90s run, but then No Man's Land cut that subplot. By the time they brought her back, bam, she was killed.

"Doesn't DC have some sort of rule, though, that flirting is just about all Batman (Bruce Wayne version) can have with a woman? He seems completely unwilling or unable to enter into anything resembling a conventional romantic relationship."

If we're talking about sex, he most certainly did with Selina Kyle, numerous times since Hush. It mostly happened in her own title, but it sometimes took place in his titles (like Batman, Inc #1). Those two seem to have been definitely defined as star-crossed lovers who settled for the next best thing when they realized they couldn't be 'together'.

And well, there is of course Talia. Damian is still there after all!

Damien was a product of rape...not consensual sex.

Again, the flashback scene in Batman 666 suggests otherwise.

Give me a recap?

We just see the two of them naked in an embrace, Bruce going for the kiss. Morrisson said that Bruce was drugged when it happened, so I don't think this flashback is a retcon : it simply means that Bruce was drugged to 'obey' Talia, not knocked-out, weakened drugged.

I thought Harley went insane because she was working at Arkham Assylum to cure the Joker and he charmed her into letting him out,which caused her to go insane with an obsession to get Joker's love? I don't keep up with the comics,so I don't know if that's right.

That's the gist of it, but the Harley Quinn comic gives a more in depth reason for it, too.

Turns out in Grad School she had a boyfriend who was all about Chaos Theory (or something like that), and she decided to involve him in a Sociology experiment of sorts, which led to him mistakenly killing some in retaliation for what he thought was her being attacked (or something like that), and when he found out the truth he killed himself despite her pleas that they could fix things. This instilled in her a deep-seeded idea that life is meaningless, if a single mistake could utterly destroy you.

Basically, she was pretty mentally fragile long before she came to Gotham. Then, at the exact wrong time - when she'd emotionally hit rock bottom, she saw a program about the Joker on television and saw him as a kindred spirit, becoming obsessed with him long before Joker ever said one word to her, leaving graduate school with the sole mission of getting to Arkham and becoming his doctor.

In other words, she's pretty much the perfect storm.

In a way,she's just another one of Joker's victims...

Judging from her personality, it's a distinct possibility she could have become some sort of threat without any interference, nowhere near as dangerous as she turned out to be, but still a possibility

But the Joker goaded her fragile state into a part of his own twisted game, yes.

I wouldn't call her a victim anymore, though. Initially yes, she may have been considered that once, but she's now quite the villainess herself, even when the Joker's not involved.

Does being a villain exclude someone from being a victim?

No, but treating her like a poor pitiable victim when she's not entirely one is a mistake a lot of people make.

Same deal with Mr. Freeze.

The guy may have a tragic past, but he's become too much of a dick to sympathize with him anymore.

I agree with that. Miscommunication prize goes to me.

Well, I must say I just love the pairing, as crack as it may seem. In that sense, the new Harley series gave me a lovely date between Bruce and Harley... That said, about what had been said before about Harley... I would love it. It's like... Becoming the Mask? She had a plan, all put forth, but after the acid bath everything was fuzzy? It's kind of implied she's not really crazy by that Secret Origins issue... That she choose to be ‘crazy' because it let her free... And thenI found this fic: Actress by Disgrayceful Ways, on ff... I love it, and its sequels. Just... I really need more of that storyline...

At various times I know Bruce Wayne has had a reputation as a player, both among fans and in-continuty. Whether it's based on anything other than fan perception or only carefully constructed persona, I don't know, given that I can't remember any of Bruce's casual relationships being portrayed in-story. I recall that in the first issue of The New Teen Titans that showed Dick Grayson and Starfire in bed together, a lot of fans reacted with surprise that Dick was "following in Bruce's footsteps" in regards to sex. So Bruce has at least had this reputation for awhile.

From what I've seen, Bruce has relations for three reasons:

• 1 Sex/stress relief
• 2 Keeping up the public image of being an entitled billionaire playboy
• 3 As a part of his job

Long term, meaningful relationships are completely out of the question for him. Everybody is either too dangerous (Harley), too untrustworthy (Talia), out to destroy him (Jezebel), a "co-worker" (Wonder Woman, Oracle, Black Canary) or too naive to understand his world (Pretty much any civilian woman with no idea of who he really is or what he's really all about).

The one potential exception would be Selina Kyle. She's the only one that he considers both knowledgable enough about him and his life mission, trustworthy enough to keep his secrets, and sane enough to date or carry a romantic relationship with. And even then their relationship is an incredibly strained and rocky one, though the reasons for said rockiness depend on the writer or how much of a thieving douche Selina is in that timeline.

Hard to say on that one. Tim Drake really varies depending on continuity. In some cases he's just as driven as Bruce when it comes to crimefighting and considers romance a distraction, in other cases he's much more of a playboy, and in some he actually tries to put effort into making his relationships last.

edited 25th Jun '15 5:44:09 AM by SgtRicko

Most interpretations of Harley tends to be Joker-Sexual. I think it's only recently with the DC Reboot that they really started breaking that mold.

She's had Les Yay with Ivy almost from the start.