As part of the announcement that Ralph Dibny, aka the Elongated Man, will be joining the the Arrowverse in Season 4 of The Flash, the official release compared the character's detective skills to none other than Batman. And while that was more likely intended to be used as a shorthand way of letting casual viewers know just how formidable Dibny's skills are, it did get us thinking. Yes, it's been merely hinted at for years, but is it possible that Batman actually exists in the DC Comics television universe?

That Bludhaven Connection

The hints that the Dark Knight is operating in some capacity in the Arrowverse aren't exactly new. His presence has been felt in small ways since the first season of Arrow, way back in 2012.  Bludhaven, the city that once was (and is again) the home of Nightwing in the comics, shows up in the show far too frequently to be a mere Easter egg, and has done so since the very beginning.

Bludhaven is seen in the Season 1 episode of Arrow titled "Honor Thy Father," when Oliver threatens an embezzler to return his employees' pensions.  Oliver mentions the city again in "An Innocent Man" two episodes later.

In "Dead to Rights," China White meets with Deadshot in the Bludhaven Apartments in order to contract him to kill Malcolm Merlyn. Late in Season 1, Malcolm also holds Walter Steele hostage within the city. The city gets name dropped again in Season 2's "The Man Under The Hood" and "Unthinkable."

In the comics, Bludhaven is established as the sister city of Gotham, which perhaps explains why it shows up so often in Arrow. The show practically takes the Batman template and places it over Green Arrow, so it makes sense it would take Bludhaven as well. It's also established in the in-universe tie-in comic that a train runs from one city to the other. Clearly, Starling City (or Star City) as a stand-in for Gotham City is more than just a fan theory.

It would be easy to pass this off as nothing but fan service, and yet Bludhaven just won't go away. In the Season 3 episode of The Flash, "Attack on Gorilla City," Julian Albert mentions a conference in Bludhaven that provides the perfect cover for both him and Barry Allen to travel to Earth 2 without having to worry about their jobs.

The Wayne Name

The first confirmation that the Wayne family exists in Arrowverse continuity comes as a tiny Easter egg in The Flash's 2014 pilot episode. When the fake Harrison Wells reveals himself to the audience at the end of the episode, he cues up a newspaper headline from the year 2024 detailing the disappearance of the Flash in some kind of crisis.

If you're a fan of the show, you remember the future newspaper and its revelation, but what you may have missed was the accompanying story published on the same page. At the bottom of the page is an article covering the merger of Wayne Tech and Queen Inc. We can assume that Queen Inc. is some future incarnation of Queen Consolidated, while Wayne Tech seems to confirm the existence of the Waynes.

The name sticks around when we find out in "Power Outage" that the merger failed in an alternate future. It's also mentioned again in "The Trap."

My Friend Bruce

The Flash showrunners get a little more daring in the 2015 season 2 episode "Welcome to Earth 2" by dropping the name Bruce. The technology on Earth 2 is shown to be a little different than it is on Earth 1; specifically to this point, on this Earth, people still use push-button desk phones. Barry's phone is shown to have contacts that include "Dad" (Joe West), "Mom & Dad" (his biological parents), and "Eddie" (the counterpart to Iris's Earth 1 boyfriend).

The remaining three contacts on the phone add a little bit of fun and intrigue. The names Bruce, Hal and Diana don't correspond to anyone on the show, but they do correspond to Batman (Bruce Wayne), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), and Wonder Woman (Diana Prince).

Do these names actually correspond to other unnamed Earth 2 superheroes? We don't know, but it's a pretty big breadcrumb!

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Men of Steel and Dark Knights

At this point, we have the Wayne name and someone called Bruce, but Legends of Tomorrow dropped a bombshell on us in the 2016 episode "Blood Ties."

While making a speech to his crew, Captain Rip Hunter tells the assembled Legends that "I've seen darker days. I've seen men of steel die and dark knights fall, and even then, I accomplished my mission, no matter what."

rip hunter

This is an obvious reference to Superman and Batman, as well as the Death of Superman and Knightfall storylines. It's unknown who exactly he is referring to, but this is the first confirmation that someone, likely in the guise of Batman, has existed out there in the universe. He uses the plural form of the nicknames, so we aren't sure if he is referring to multiple versions of Superman and Batman, multiple people taking up their mantles, or is simply taking a bit of poetic license to heighten the drama.

As a time traveller, it's not impossible that Hunter has witnessed Bruce Wayne's, Dick Grayson's and whoever else's time as Batman. Since the actual Man of Steel has shown up in Supergirl on Earth 38, it can't be impossible that Batman is out there somewhere too, right?

The Vigilante

It turns out that the Dark Knight might be closer than we all think. Supergirl took things further in Season 2 when Superman strongly hinted at the existence of a Batman-like vigilante.

Following the name drop of Gotham City in "The Adventures of Supergirl," Clark Kent mentions that he "worked with a vigilante once; tons of gadgets, lots of demons," an obvious Batman reference.

arrow supergirl guardian

In 2017's "City of Lost Children," James Olsen discusses his career as a vigilante. He's worried that people find the Guardian too scary and intimidating, like "Clark's friend." In response, Winn puts his finger to the side of his head like a bat ear. It's another subtle reference to Batman, but we picked up on it.

Where in the Multiverse is Batman?

That's all four shows within the Arrowverse that have made some form of reference to Batman or Batman-related characters -- and this is all without mentioning the many Batvillains that have shown up in this continuity.

It's clear that the Arrow and the Flash of Earth 1 don't know of a Batman-like vigilante. However, the existence of the Wayne family and Rip Hunter's reference to the Dark Knight indicate that someone has, or is, or will be operating in the shadows at some point in the timeline.

Batman with green arrow

The Earth 2 reference seems to suggest that there could simply be an alternate version of Bruce Wayne there who never became Batman. That leaves Earth 38 as the likeliest of places where a Batman could be active. There's a Gotham City, there, and explicit reference to a mysterious vigilante running around that exhibits all the habits of Batman.

Does this mean we will one day see Batman show up in Supergirl as her darker counterpart, in the same way Barry and Oliver play off of each other? We hope so. So far there has been no official confirmation that Batman actually does exist, but it's pretty clear that he's lurking around the DCTV universe, just waiting for the right time to step out of the shadows.

What do you think? Is Batman lurking about? Who do you want them to cast as Bruce Wayne?