Batwoman: Who Is The Detonator?

Batwoman returned Sunday night on The CW after a lengthy delay thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, but “A Narrow Escape” was well worth the wait. The episode wove together a number of dangling plot threads from earlier in the season culminating in the solution of one long-simmering mystery by way of the introduction of a villain familiar not only to the citizens of Batwoman‘s Gotham but fans of DC Comics as well — a master assassin and explosives expert known as the Detonator.

Spoilers for Sunday night’s episode of Batwoman, “A Narrow Escape”, below.

In the episode the “villain of the week” is discovered to be the Detonator after a police office is strapped with an explosive device and given a terrible decision: allow the timer to run out on his bomb so that he explodes and, thus, save countless lives by preventing another detonation nearby or press a button saving themself by detonating that other bomb. It’s the M.O. of the criminal known as the Detonator who vanished seven years previously.

The comic book version of the Detonator has a less dramatic story. First appearing in Robin Vol. 2 #168, Detonator is an assassin and explosives expert who is a member of the Seven Men of Death which itself is part of the League of Assassins. Detonator works with White Ghost in the search for Vicki Vale when Ra’s al Ghul puts a bounty on her head. Vicki, you see, has discovered the true identity of Batman and Ra’s wants her dead in order to prevent her from revealing it. Detonator managed to locate Vicki but is defeated by the vigilante called Insider (who himself turned out to be Bruce Wayne), allowing Vicki to escape.

On Batwoman, Detonator turns out to also be trying to tie up loose ends, as it were. In the series, it turns out that the Detonator Batwoman is trying to stop is actually the leader of the Crows’ homicide division, Miguel Robles. He picked up the M.O. of the real Detonator — a now-deceased George Adler, Sr. — as a way to eliminate any possible evidence or person that could lead authorities to the truth: Robles murdered Luke’s father while working for Tommy Elliot, as Tommy wanted a journal belonging to Lucius. In the end, Batwoman and Luke are able to defeat Robles, stopping this Detonator and bringing him to justice for all of his crimes.

What do you think about Batwoman‘s take on the Detonator? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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