Is Batwoman Teasing the Many Arms of Death?

Batwoman is just a few weeks away from its midseason finale, and it looks like the series is headed for a significant confrontation between Kate Kane/Batwoman (Ruby Rose) and Elizabeth Kane/Alice (Rachel Skarsten). While there are definitely some unanswered questions surrounding Alice’s endgame, this week’s installment might have weaved in another major comic-accurate foe for Kate in the process. With the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover fast approaching — and Batwoman recently earning a full-season order at The CW, things in Gotham City could be getting a lot more complicated. Spoilers for this week’s episode of Batwoman, “Tell Me the Truth”, below! Only look if you want to know!

The episode saw Gotham City being attacked by The Rifle (Garfield Wilson), a sniper who seemed to be targeting employees of Hamilton Dynamics. The Crows, Kate, and Julia Pennyworth (Christina Wolfe) were all separately tracking down The Rifle, and trying to determine exactly who put him in the job in the first place.

The answer ended up being Alice, who had tasked him with killing the employees so that the Batsuit-injuring gun would be the only one of its kind. It became clear that Alice had employed The Rifle in order to get something in return from his employer, but it wasn’t clear exactly who that was. Later on in the episode, The Rifle mentioned the employer by name, and it sounded a lot like Safiyah. Alice then remarked that The Rifle should never speak that name around him again.

For those who are familiar with Batwoman lore in the comics, the mention of Safiyah is certainly interesting, as that character has a complicated history with Kane in the comics. In the comics, Safiyah Sohail is the ruler of a pirate nation called Coryana, who saves Kate’s life during the middle of her post-coming-out trip around the world. Kate and Safiyah become lovers, but they ultimately part ways when Kate accidentally carries a deadly disease onto the island, and Safiyah blames it on an innocent man.

Years later, Safiyah has become a leader of the Many Arms of Death, a terrorist organization with reach across the world. Kate tracks down Safiyah, who has apparently kidnapped and drugged Beth in order to bring back the “Alice” personality. Alice then becomes the leader of the Many Arms of Death, and Kate and Julia have to stop her.

While it’s unclear exactly when and how Batwoman could adapt the Many Arms of Death, they’ve certainly laid the groundwork for it. This week’s episode dove more into Kate’s sabbatical around the world, and revealed that part of it included her having a romantic relationship with Julia. With that in mind – and the way the Kate and Alice stuff has been going lately – it certainly stands to reason that the Many Arms of Death could be on their way to Gotham, and bring a whole lot of baggage for Kate along with them.

Do you hope Batwoman introduces the Many Arms of Death? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Batwoman airs Sundays at 8/7c on The CW.