WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Batman/Catwoman #1, by Tom King, Clay Mann, Tomeu Morey and Clayton Cowles, on sale now.
One of the most acclaimed DC animated movies is Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, a feature-length film spinning out of Batman: The Animated Series that hit theaters in 1993. And while elements of the DC Animated Universe have been incorporated into the comic books before, the new DC Black Label series Batman/Catwoman strongly suggests that much of the animated film's story has occurred prior to the main events of the comic story as several elements of the DCAU appear prominently in the maxiseries' debut issue.
As Batman and Catwoman prepare to take their romantic relationship to the next level, the couple is surprised by the return of Bruce Wayne's first love Andrea Beaumont to Gotham City. While this marks her first mainstream DCU appearance, the end of Bruce and Andrea's relationship helped drive Bruce to accept his mantle as the Dark Knight in the film, where Andrea secretly created the Phantasm alter ego to hunt down and kill the mobsters responsible for her father's murder years prior.
In this issue, Andrea seeks out Bruce and reveals that she has been absent from Gotham for well over a decade, and she's only returned to the city to locate her missing son, who Andrea fears has been targeted by Gotham's extensive host of supervillains.
Andrea's introduction not only marks her debut in comics not ostensibly set in the DCAU, and it also heavily implies that a recognizable version of the events of Mask of the Phantasm actually took place in some unseen chapter of DC history.
Bruce confirms in a conversation with Selina Kyle that the last time Andrea was in Gotham was when, as the Phantasm, she fought the Joker. Selina notes that the Phantasm was presumed to have perished in a fire during that fateful showdown, with Andrea having gone into hiding ever since, fearful that the Clown Prince of Crime would track her down to finish what they started all those years ago, spurred to return only after learning her son Andrew had apparently run away from home and was last seen in Gotham.
This description perfectly matches the fiery climax of Mask of the Phantasm, including the epilogue where Andrea secretly left Gotham behind. The opening issue reveals that the Joker apparently is aware that Andrea is still alive, targeting her through her son by promising to reunite the boy with his father. While searching for Andrew in the sewers beneath Gotham, Batman and Catwoman discover that the wayward youth has been murdered by the Joker, left with the supervillain's signature rictus grin. After learning what happened to her son, Andrea digs up the Phantasm costume she had hid in her mother's grave, with the bloody feud between the two Gotham City figures decidedly reignited and the Bat and Cat caught smack dab in the middle.
While Andrea and her Phantasm alter ego are loosely based on "Batman: Year Two's" Rachel Caspian and the Reaper, Batman/Catwoman marks the official debut of both Andrea and her Phantasm persona. Since this comic carries the DC Black Label banner, its place in DC Universe canon is not entirely clear, but Alfred explicitly mentioned to be dead in this series, much as he is in the main DCU.
Regardless of the specifics of its canon status, this still marks a major moment in the history of the fan-favorite animated character. And with details of the character's backstory indicating that much of her DCAU history is intact with the world of Tom King and Clay Mann's tale, Batman/Catwoman is quickly shaping up to be as much a love letter to the DCAU as it is an exploration of Bruce and Selina's star-crossed romance.