There's a lot of people who love Starfire on Wattpad and I know that comics can be kind of hard to get into - money comes into play, whether or not you have a computer you can read on can get in the way, and it can be intimidating when looking at th...
Batman and Starfire's relationship is the subject of more than one debate across the internet and in comic shops alike, as people wonder if they like each other, assume they hate each other, but mostly don't know if they've ever even met.
Bruce and Kory met for the first time in Batman and the Outsiders #5 in 1983 - this issue is a crossover between Outsiders and The New Teen Titans and immediately, Bruce begins to take over directing the Teen Titans team, leaving Dick to stew by himself as he watches his team be misdirected. In this, Kory makes the observation that Bruce doesn't exactly treat Dick well:
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This isn't exactly a scathing remark or a comprehensive list of all of his flaws - which is important, as many debating this topic tend to say Kory is constantly insulting Bruce with a variety of insults, which is part of the fundamental misunderstanding of both Kory as a character and the nature of their almost non-existent relationship. What is important about this is that Kory recognizes Bruce's flaws, but still respects him enough to have him direct her in this issue of Batman and the Outsiders.
Batman and Starfire are in proximity to one another during various events but they never really interact for a while after this, however, in 1986 in Swamp Thing #53, Bruce defends Swamp Thing's relationship with his wife Abby by citing a multitude of relationships between aliens and humans - this includes Dick and Kory:
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This set the precedent for Bruce and Kory's relationship; while it is incredibly thin and not well-developed because of the nature of the Titans and Batman properties in the 80s, it is still a precedent. They don't necessarily dislike each other but they certainly aren't against one another - in fact, they were even featured on a mission together in Cosmic Odyssey (1988).
This dynamic changes in the early 2000s, which is what confuses most readers. In Gotham Knights #43, Scott Beatty made it clear that Bruce is no longer a neutral viewer of Dick's life (and his romantic life, specifically) as he tells Barbara Gordon that "the thing with the alien won't last" - referring to Kory and Dick's relationship because, apparently, Bruce has always wanted Barbara, a woman ten years Dick's senior, to get together with him:
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In this panel, he shows the xenophobia of the 90s and 2000s Batman that wasn't quite present in 80s Batman. Bruce as an active figure in the shadows of Dick's life, pulling strings to ensure that Babs and Dick would get together or at least have faith that they would get together one day is not only out of character for him but out of character for the history that Dick and Bruce shared during the 80s, where Bruce took a step back from Dick's life.
This retcon damages not only the modern interpretation of Bruce, but the reader's interpretation of Kory - despite there being an, albeit shallow, history of there being respect between the two of them, this retcon ensures that the reader will interpret Bruce as a xenophobe and Kory as not being good enough for Dick (when, really, it's the other way around !). It allows both xenophobia and misogyny to seep into Kory's narrative and the audience interpretation of her, because they won't question the word of Batman as it's handed down by writers.
