WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Young Justice: Phantoms, streaming now on HBO Max.
The entire cast of Young Justice grows more and more with each season, but the Bat-Family roster seems to be growing the quickest. Known as the fellow masked vigilantes who aid Batman in his battle against crime, the Bat-Family started simply enough with the sidekick Robin before growing with members like Nightwing, Batgirl, Batwoman, Spoiler and Orphan. And yet there are two notable names from the comics yet to be introduced.
Both Catwoman and Huntress have yet to make an appearance in the show. With the trend of the Bat-Family growing in each season, it wouldn't be surprising to see both included down the line, and fans may already have a good hint of how that may happen.
The Bat-Family of the comics originally came more as a result of Batman's continuity stretching over the course of several decades than it did as an initial desire for the lone vigilante to expand his operation into a full team of operatives trained in his methods of crimefighting. Various plotlines just converged to create the large cast known today. One Robin gets older and adopts a new identity; another Robin takes his place before doing the same; a civilian takes up the mantle after Batman inspires them; a villain becomes a hero. There are endless variations on isolated plots that, when taken together, result in a supporting cast of masked figures for Batman to mentor.
It's only natural that Young Justice feature some of those mentees, especially given the show's initial focus on sidekicks. Robin is the poster boy for sidekicks in superhero comics, and as the timeline of Young Justice progressed over four seasons to span multiple years, there have been three who served on the Team in tandem to their service with Batman. Not all of Batman's associated characters trained under his wing as children, however, and the latest episode showed a glimpse of Batwoman, who is often an independent figure who only comes to know Batman as an adult. But there are two more adult associates the show has yet to introduce: Catwoman and Huntress.
Catwoman is set to have her own spinoff show that is adjacent to the universe of Young Justice, so it could be that the creators are holding back in introducing her in the series. Catwoman: Hunted is set to partner Catwoman up with Batwoman, and given that we've seen nothing from the former, and so little of the latter, it could be possible that Young Justice will eventually give both more space just for the sake of synergizing with the new series. But far more directly tied to the goings on of the current plot of the show is the story for Huntress.
Although Helena Bertinelli -- the best-known Huntress of the comics -- has yet to appear in Young Justice, the mantle of the Huntress has been worn by one of the show's characters. Artemis and Cheshire's mother formerly went under that codename during her career as a criminal alongside Sportsmaster prior to the injury that paralyzed her for life and forced her into retirement. There has been so little revealed about her adventures as Huntress that it almost proves curious why the codename would be used for the character. But the possibility that the show is setting up one of her daughters to take up the mantle is very intriguing.
Tigress already utilizes Huntress' signature crossbows in her superhero gear, and likely has less connection to the identity of Tigress (which she only adopted initially to pose as a supervillain) than she does to that of her mother. The current arc in the series could be establishing her sister Cheshire's redemption as well, which could necessitate Cheshire's own shift to a new identity. As both women struggle to escape the torment of their past with their father, both have a perfectly good reason for taking solace in the identity of their mother.
Either way, Huntress and Catwoman's absences stand out among the already massive Bat-Family. Further complications are already bound to happen for the tight-knit crimefighters as the series builds up the return of former Robin, Jason Todd, as Red Hood and already introduced the infant Damian Wayne who one day takes the Robin mantle as well. The Bat-Family won't be forgotten anytime soon, but if the conflicts yet to come for them leave them a few members down, Huntress and Catwoman could be the next members to step forward and fill that absence.