I Can’t Explain This One Away…
March 1st, 2008
scene from Superman/Batman #24 (Loeb, McGuinness)
Batman’s right, I don’t care if you are an other-dimensional female copy of Batman, it is simply impossible for the two of you to have identical DNA. There are those pesky little Y chromosomes — Batman has one, and you don’t.
I’ve tried to “no-prize” my way out of this one, but to no avail; differences remain.
On the other hand, I found it interesting that in an entire world of flipped genders (Superwoman, Miss Miracle, etc.), “Mother” Box was still Mother Box.
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Well, there is one way: The chromosomes may just work the other way ’round on that Earth, so XY gives a female and XX gives a male. We are dealing with alternate Earths; differences in the laws of science aren’t entirely beyond the pale, although it’s possibly somewhat cheap to go to.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 am
Official Comment
I thought of that, but even if chromosomes were switched around, Batman still has genes for testicular development that she’s missing.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:23 am
They’re both intersex and one set of parents chose to go with “female” and the other with “male” (complete with hormones, etc.)?
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 am
Well, the obvious explanation is that the test was wrong.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:04 am
What if she was the Batman from the dimension where everyone was surgically altered into the other gender? That way she would appear to be Female but still be male genetically.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:40 am
In fact there doesn’t even need to be surgical alteration - wasn’t there that House episode where that teenage model was genetically male? Couldn’t the alternative version of Batgirl be something like that? Or is that in itself a unique genetic condition?
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:56 am
“In fact there doesn’t even need to be surgical alteration - wasn’t there that House episode where that teenage model was genetically male? Couldn’t the alternative version of Batgirl be something like that? Or is that in itself a unique genetic condition?”
That’s Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, right?
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:50 am
DNA tests as the FBI does them check only a few genes, though, and the Y isn’t included. If the X is not included either, they could come up as identical FOR THOSE 20 OR SO GENES.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:07 am
She’s pregnant!
DUN DUN DUNNNNNN!
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I just took it as read that they actually meant, “identical, except for those pesky X and Y chromosomes”. And maybe even identical as far as they could tell between his Y chromosome and the roughly corresponding genes or base pairs on her X.
Or, yeah, one or the other or both of them could be intersexed. But I don’t think that was the implication the writers were going for, just “exactly the same, except for the obvious difference”.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Yeah, it can’t just be a matter of the meaning of the chromosomes being switched around since it’s the genes themselves which make the chromosomes do what they do. It’s not just them having identical (but differently-gened) chromosomes. So there’d have to be some major differences in the laws of physics which would allow the exact same protein sequences to have vastly different results (and considering that biology is an emergent property of chemistry which is an emergent property of physics which is an emergent property of what are probably extremely simple properties that are at the core of space/time/energy, you’d expect that the differences would be much more profound than a simple gender swap).
Of course, it’s just a comic book, not a medical text.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Dood. They did say it was impossible, after all.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:04 pm
OK, now I really need to see the 60’s issue of the alternate-universe Batwoman and the Girl Wonder dressed as hippies.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Wait a sec, Scott — I may be way off base here, but I always thought that the Y chromosome was essentially an incomplete X, and it was the MISSING information that caused the development of male sexual characteristics.
In any case, it seems to me like Batwoman is really saying that she and Bruce have “identical” DNA except for Bruce’s unfortunate chromosomal handicap.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:53 pm
She’s the goddamn Batwoman. That’s why.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Official Comment
YO Serpent,
I think you’ve got it reversed. The human embryo defaults to female unless a genetic factor (SRY - found on the short arm of the Y chromosome) is present that kicks it down the “male” pathway.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Well … when we speak of genes we mean sequences of base pairs that have a certain interpretation because the ribosomes are built to decode a certain codon into a certain amino acid. Maybe the ribosomes of the parallel world use a different coding system, so that the genes that code for testicular development in Batman code for ovarian development in Batwoman.
Granted, this is like imagining that the NYT Crossword puzzle has two completely different solutions that both satisfy the clues perfectly, but this is a comic book after all.
March 4th, 2008 at 10:09 am
If Batman and Batwoman each had 1 identical X chromosome, it would at least mean that they have the same mother – which would still blow Batman’s mind, I’m sure.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
OK. Batwoman is a shemale. Thanks for ruining my childhood wet dreams.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:46 am
She could be an XY male with a doubled Dax 1 gene (thought to compete with SRY), on the short arm of her X chromosome. That would lead to largely female somatic development, though she’d be sterile and have some pretty unique “female troubles”. As far as I know, comics don’t cover characters that intimately, so she COULD be his twin with a single crossing over alteration.
May 1st, 2008 at 12:01 am
What, she couldn’t have meant “other than the genes which cause gender difference”?
November 12th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
To make it even weirder, moments earlier they recognized each other as “Bruce” and “Helena”. So…on “Earth-Genderbender”, an identical copy of Bruce Wayne’s DNA from “Earth-Regular*” produces an identical copy of Helena (Wayne or Bertinelli*)?
Is Bruce this world’s “Hunter”? Do Hunter and Huntress also have “identical” DNA?
And in terms of costuming, I’m glad that it was Superlad who shows up in these scenes and not Power Boy.
*I’m not too clear on where this series stands relative to the latest round of Crises, so I don’t know whether the Batman in this scene is from Earth-1 or what, nor am I entirely sure what backstory applies to the Helena he knows.
Leave a Reply
Contact Me
About
Subscribe:
The Best Of...
Special Topics
Archives
Categories
Twitter
Comic Blogs
Medical Blogs
Currently Reading
Arbitrarily Interesting Medical Condition
The Net:
Contents may have settled during shipping. Past results are no guarantee of future performance. No animals were harmed during the production of this product. Void where prohibited by law. All rights reserved. Not valid with other offers or specials. Professional driver on a closed track. Your financial institution may impose other fees. All models are over 18 years of age. Employees must wash hands before returning to work. Results not typical. Many suitcases look alike. 18% gratuity added to tables of six or more.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
© 2004-2008 Polite Dissent. Powered by WordPress