Created by writers Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and artist Alex Ross, Kane is a wealthy heiress who becomes inspired by the superhero Batman and chooses, like him, to put her wealth and resources toward a campaign to fight crime as a masked vigilante in her home of Gotham City as Batwoman.

Introduced as Kate Kane, the modern Batwoman began operating in Gotham City in Batman's absence following the events of the company-wide crossover Infinite Crisis (2005).

[1] Described as the highest-profile gay superhero to appear in stories published by DC, Batwoman's sexual orientation drew wide media attention following her reintroduction, as well as both praise and criticism from the general public.

Ross and comic book author Paul Dini initially planned to revive the former Batgirl Barbara Gordon using an updated version of the character's original costume, with red accents in place of the traditional yellow.

[27] On the twins' twelfth birthday, Jacob could not come home to celebrate with them due to a security crisis, so Kate and Beth were taken by their mother, Gabrielle "Gabi" Kane, to the Grand-Place for chocolate and waffles, their favorite dish.

[28][29] Kate attends the United States Military Academy, where she receives excellent grades, performs well in physical fitness and sports, earns prestigious awards, and achieves the rank of Brigade Executive Officer in her senior year; she also maintains a secret romantic relationship with her roommate, Sophie Moore.

[30] Kate then moves back to Gotham City where she attends college and descends into a wild social lifestyle, consisting of parties, heavy drinking, and one-night stands.

During this time she also gets three tattoos: a black version of the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) arrowhead insignia on her right bicep,[b] a bluebird on her left shoulder, and a large red-and-black nautical star on her upper back.

After being confronted by Jacob, Kate accepts his offer of assistance and begins an intense two years of training across the globe with some of her father's friends from the special operations community.

In issue #48 of 52 (2007),[38] when Intergang realizes that the image of Batwoman in the Crime Bible and the cited "twice-named daughter of Cain" were one and the same, they ransack Kane's apartment, kidnapping her with the intention to sacrifice her.

Montoya arrives too late to stop the ritual, finding Kate bound and gagged to an altar as prophet Bruno Mannheim plunges a knife through her heart.

"[38] Batwoman subsequently appears in the fifty-two-issue weekly series Countdown, intended to act as a prelude to DC's summer crossover event the following year.

Following the events of Final Crisis and Battle for the Cowl, in which Bruce Wayne has supposedly died and is replaced by Dick Grayson, Kate becomes the lead of Detective Comics from issues 854 to 863.

[43] While attending a fundraising gala for the Gotham City Police Department, Kate meets and flirts with detective Maggie Sawyer, and runs into her cousin Bette Kane (better known as the Teen Titans member Flamebird).

Through a conversation with Abbot, Kate discovers that Alice has kidnapped her father and plans to destroy Gotham by spreading a deadly airborne chemical from a hijacked airplane, thus succeeding where Mannheim failed.

When the Justice League of America splits up following Bruce Wayne's death and a disastrous confrontation with the Shadow Cabinet, Green Lantern Hal Jordan leads a group of superheroes to Gotham to track down Prometheus.

[46] Batwoman later contacts both Leagues at the JLA Watchtower, informing them she encountered and engaged supervillain Delores Winters, who mysteriously collapsed and died right as she was about to be taken into custody.

[52] Batwoman also begins hunting down a crazed serial killer known as the Cutter, who has been abducting young women and cutting off parts of their faces to create the perfect woman.

[54] Batwoman appears as a member of an all-female team of heroes created by Wonder Woman to repel a faux-alien invasion of Washington DC masterminded by Professor Ivo.

[56] In the Detective Comics title, Batman recruits Batwoman to help run a "boot camp" for young heroes, consisting of Red Robin, Orphan, Spoiler, and Clayface.

[61][62] Batwoman plays a minor role in the first arc of the Young Animal series Mother Panic, where she tracks down and briefly interacts with the title character, who is a new vigilante in Gotham.

[64][65] The new series follows Batwoman as she, accompanied by Julia Pennyworth, works to dismantle a global terrorist group known as The Many Arms of Death while dealing with resurfacing issues from her past.

[84] In particular, Kate takes after her father Jacob, as she specifically emulated his levelheaded demeanor in the wake their family tragedy to counteract her grief and inherent hotheadedness.

[29] Rucka notes that Kate considers her vigilantism no different than military service[84] and likens her adoption of the Batsymbol to fighting under a flag; following an ideal instead of an individual.

[91] Larry Hama's short story "Honor Code" establishes that Kate, early in her senior year as a cadet, was skilled enough in both psychological warfare and the Pashto language to be sent on a mission to Afghanistan to capture a terrorist leader.

[92] While traveling the world during her post-West Point debauchery, Kate fractured her skull in a diving mishap off the coast of Coryana, a so-called "pirate nation" located in the Mediterranean Sea.

[65] After washing up on the island, her head wound was crudely stitched together with gold thread,[94] which left Kate with a limited ability to detect electromagnetic fields, similar to the notion of dental fillings picking up radio waves.

[85] Kate learned a much wider variety of martial arts during this time, including karate,[45] Krav Maga,[45] Muay Thai,[97] taekwondo,[85] and Wing Chun;[45] she has mentioned knowing a total of at least 14 styles.

[31][85] Batwoman's suit was designed and built by Jacob Kane in a red-and-black color scheme and incorporates features similar to Batman's own batsuit.

[108] Batwoman appears in the Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel comic as a member of Batman's Insurgency and wife of Renee Montoya, who later dies after overdosing on enhancement pills.