WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman: Gotham Nights #15 by Mark Russell, Ryan Benjamin, Richard Friend, Alex Sinclair, and ALW's Troy Peteri, on sale now
Batman and Catwoman's relationship has always been one of the most important aspects of both their lives, especially in recent years. Despite this, the canon-pair of them have bickered over how they actually met in the current history of the DC Universe. And while Batman: Gotham Nights isn't strictly canon, it does have a surprisingly clever idea of how the pair actually met.
Batman: Gotham Nights #15 just had Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle may have met for the first time after being arrested - as teenagers.
HOW DID BATMAN AND CATWOMAN MEET THIS TIME?
A recurring beat during the Batman/Catwoman romance featured at the heart of Tom King's run on the character was the idea that both Bruce and Selina believe they met in a different way: Bruce believes their first interaction was while he was Batman (similar to Catwoman's Golden age debut), while Selina instead remembers the pair first encountering each other on the streets of Gotham before Bruce had decided on his Batman persona (similar to their first encounter in Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's Batman: Year One). It's was a surprisingly sweet indicator of how much their relationship has morphed over the years, but has always been an undercurrent - even when they're actively fighting each other.
However, Gotham Nights suggests the pair actually met when they were far younger. The two actually ended up coincidently next to one another at the Gotham City Police Department as teenagers. It turns out that at the same time a young Selina was brought in for running away from her "orphanage," (secretly a front for the mafia and their child-trafficking ring), Bruce was there for being drunk and disorderly in public - which Bruce at least somewhat admits to, arguing that he was at least not being "disorderly."
Long before he truly he began his training to become the Dark Knight, the snotty teenage Bruce is confident that he'll escape punishment completely when Alfred arrives to bail him out. The two briefly talk about Selina's habit of running away from her life - which has led to her current predicament. After Alfred arrives, Bruce is released without any charges. He turns to offer Selina one of the donuts Alfred brought with him but is surprised to see that Selina already has gotten loose of her handcuffs and made her escape without ever learning her name.
The majority of the issue focuses on Catwoman making her way through Gotham City after stealing a collection of diamonds. This enrages one of the gangs in the city, which is revealed to actually be the same gangsters who'd controlled the orphanage where she grew up. In the end, Catwoman - alongside a somewhat unwitting Batman - is able to bring the criminals to justice and help rescue the children who'd been held by the criminals. While the story may not be strictly canon, it's still a clever way for the pair to meet. Neither of them realized the direction their life would take them in and how it would entangle them together, but the core of their relationship is already there.
It's also a surprisingly prescient meeting between the pair, especially considering how their relationship would later be defined. Most of their first meeting in this issue is the pair sniping at each other and making jokes at the other's expense, something that still happens. Bruce does actually reach out, asking questions about her that do speak to his natural curiosity and concern for others. Even if this is the most privileged and snotty Bruce Wayne imaginable, there's still a kernel of the good in him that will eventually define him. Meanwhile, it's also a nice indicator of the kind of vulnerability that does exist in Catwoman, and how the right person can eventually get her to open up about it. Even if it does take years of them being on-again-off-again lovers while in costume to get to that point.