CW President Confirms Batman Exists in Arrowverse

The CW network president Mark Pedowitz confirmed yesterday what many Arrowverse fans have long suspected: Batman does, indeed, exist in the network's shared DC superhero universe.

At the Television Critics Association press tour (via Entertainment Weekly) Pedowitz confirmed the Caped Crusader's existence, but also noted that fans shouldn't expect to see him anytime soon.

"There's no discussion about a series," Pedowitz said. "Batman already exists in the Arrowverse because last season Oliver Queen mentioned his name at one point. And Batwoman, if the series goes forward, lives in Gotham. There's no plan at this time to have Batman appear."

Pedowitz's confirmation that Batman specifically exists in the Arrowverse is interesting. While the character has been hinted at several times across all of the universe's shows -- Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow -- he's never been mentioned by the Batman name. Even the reference that Pedowitz mentions, last season's mention on Arrow, was a name-drop for Bruce Wayne and not his heroic alter ego. Now, though, any ambiguity that may have existed before has been resolved. Batman exists.

However, fans won't be seeing him. While many fans have hoped that Batwoman's introduction to the Arrowverse in this falls crossover and the possibility of her own, standalone show, would serve as a way to bring the fan favorite hero to The CW, Pedowitz's comment was clear that it's not happening. There are likely a variety of reasons for that, including Warner Bros. not giving the network permission to use the character, but the biggest one may be the direction of the Batwoman series itself.

The Batwoman series is set to follow Kate Kane, a character who has served as Gotham's protector in her own right in comics while Batman wasn't around. While there's no indication that that's the version of the story the show seeks to tell, a recent casting description for Batwoman drew heavily from her comic book history -- one in which the hero didn't exactly need Batman to help clean up Gotham. You can check out the description below.

"Kate is fully aware of how bad-ass she is whenever she enters a room, even though she prefers to put a smile on your face. Young Ms. Kane is physically and intellectually confident while being a woman who is proud to be openly gay. However, Kate still deals with her inner demons that go back to her history with her dad. Their relationship is quite complicated as she struggles to get praise from him. She once aspired to have a successful military career, but those dreams sadly came to an end as she was kicked out of West Point once she came out of the closet. But that didn't stop her from becoming the crime-fighting vigilante known as Batwoman. Striking fear into the criminals she fights, Kate is someone who must also fight the complications of living a double life, both as a citizen and hero of Gotham. While she has her shield up when fighting criminals, she lets herself be vulnerable when dating women."

What do you think about the confirmation that Batman exists in the Arrowverse? Let us know in the comments below.

The Flash's fifth season will premiere on Tuesday, October 9th at 8/7c, followed by Supergirl's fourth season on Sunday, October 14th at 8/7c. Arrow's seventh season will premiere on Monday, October 15th at 8/7c, with Legends of Tomorrow debuting Monday, October 22nd, at 9/8c.