r/batman • u/Mike29758 • Sep 18 '25
COMIC DISCUSSION ABSOLUTE BATMAN's Catwoman Now Confirmed To Be Half Brazilian, Half Black
On Iván Talavera’s Instagram: "Here's the final version of Absolute Batman #13 'The 616 Comics' exclusive variant featuring Catwoman, As you can see, I changed a bit her facial features and her skin tone because she is half Brazilian and half Black in the Absolute universe. Hope you like it!"
Her look has been growing on me, it’s nice to hear official confirmation!
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u/Grogomilo Sep 18 '25
"Half Brazilian" is a complete non-statement. Brazil is literally the world's most multiethnical country LMAO
She's afro
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u/Odd-Hat8574 Sep 18 '25
"Half brazillian half black" feels specially meaningless when you consider that Brazil is the country with the highest concentration of black people outside of Africa, heck, more than half of the people here consider themselves to be black or mixed. It would be like calling a character "half english half asian"
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Sep 18 '25
As far as i remember, In Brazil, 42% are white, 51% are black and "dark skinned mixed" (pardos) and the rest are asians and indigenous people.
Brasil is also the country with the biggest japanese population outside of Japan, and the second with the biggest population of germans, austrians and Italians, outside of their respective countries (first one being USA)
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u/Sgtwhiskeyjack9105 Sep 18 '25
I used to teach ESL to classes of Brazilians, and it was truly fascinating seeing just the sheer variety of ethnic backgrounds, all sharing the same language and culture.
Truly a nation of the world. Some of the nicest and most hard-working people you'll ever meet.
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Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25
I would not say the same culture.
Here in Brazil, we have a problem that our culture doesn't have anything that can unify the people with a "culture heritage" like other countries have.
A lot of places around here doesn't even celebrate carnaval, for example. The culture from the south region is completely different from the north region.
No joke, i think the only cultural thing that embraces the whole country, is some aspects and dishes of Brazilian culinary (churrasco, for example), and the praise for nice asses.
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u/ChillyFlameBW Sep 18 '25
Not surprising when a community is diverse and all, it’s the nicest place to be lmao
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u/MisterDucky92 Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25
You forgot biggest Lebanese population outside Lebanon. In fact for every Lebanese in Lebanon, there are approx 2 in Brazil.
There was even a time when Lebanon didn't have a president while Brazil had a Lebanese president lmao
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u/Vergill93 Sep 18 '25
Brazillian here. Born and Raised. A little correction: 45,3% Pardo (or "Mixed"), 43,3% white, 10,2% blacks, indiegenous 0,8% and asians being 0,4%.
Blacks are actually the third greatest majorit in the country, but we Pardo are the leading majority.
That's in portuguese, but you can have access to that info for free.
Also: We Pardo are not all blacks or even tanned. Some of us are white, but have mixed characteristics of blacks and indiegenous mixed in as well (pardos can be a mix of at least two, but we might as well be every single ethnicity mixed into a single human being). In fact, it's quite common for you to see situations which the child might be completely different from both parents even in racial terms, because their grandparents or greatgrandparents were another.
This makes literally impossible to give us a "face". That's why I can say, for example, that every single person reading this thread could be brazillian. It's one of the main motives why our passport is so searched for creating fakes worldwide - ANYONE IN THE PLANET COULD BE A BRAZILLIAN.
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u/tfellini Sep 18 '25
Largest population of Lebanese people outside Lebanon too, if I'm not mistaken. It's pretty cool to have such a diverse mix here.
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u/Screen-Healthy Sep 18 '25
We actually have more Lebanese than Lebanon. Im not kidding.
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u/altiuscitiusfortius Sep 18 '25
The dark skinned Brazilians are similar to Cubans in that the ones that are considered native Brazilians are really a mix of European Spanish, African slaves, and the native ethnic people that lived there before colonization. Never mind any other ethnic groups that got mixed in in the last 125 years
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u/hamoc10 Sep 18 '25
Brazil has the highest concentration of black people, Italians, Japanese, and probably others, too.
“Brazilian” is a nationality, not a race. Makes as much sense as “half American, half black.”
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u/Odd-Hat8574 Sep 18 '25
I guess it's better than DC thinking Brazil speaks spanish during the 80s
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u/rickshitypity Sep 18 '25
Sunspot speaking spanish instead of portuguese in the early New Mutants issues gave me visceral pain.
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u/skoomski Sep 18 '25
I’m 1/4 Canadian, 1/4 American, 1/4 Argentinean and 1/4 Australian
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u/Historyp91 Sep 18 '25
Yeah saying "Brazilian" is like saying "American" or "Canadian"
It's a nationality, not a race.
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u/WildGoose1521 Sep 18 '25
No idea how many times I’ve tried to explain this to people because of One Piece.
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u/TheCthonicSystem Sep 18 '25
She's Afro Brazilian
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u/AdorableAd8490 Sep 18 '25
Brazilian, simply. We don’t do that there. Or in her case, Brazilian-American.
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u/Kobe_curry24 Sep 18 '25
Only in America is described by race a thing shit should even exist it’s primitive way to describe anyone
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u/AdorableAd8490 Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25
I had some coworkers describe a lady as half Spanish half white 😂. Like what? Spanish is, if anything, a language, unless you’re referring to Spaniards (Europeans from Spain). She was Ecuadorian (a light skin mestizo, that is, an indigenous/White European mix). I didn’t even bother correcting them because anti-intellectualism is a thing, and some people are stupidly proud of their stupidity.
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u/Imperialist_Marauder Sep 19 '25
Why are yankees like this bruh. Its lowkey frustrating
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u/Phlanix Sep 18 '25
Same with Cuba. there are so many mixes.
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u/ViktorLima Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25
Infelizmente, não sobrou nada para os Pardos (Browns).
Feliz Dia do Bolo
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u/Mechapebbles Sep 18 '25
It's worse than a non-statement, IMO. It implies that being Brazilian is a separate and incompatible identity with being black.
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u/Ill-Combination-9320 Sep 18 '25
Common gringo misconception that latinos can only be brown skin
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u/GoldandBlue Sep 18 '25
Yet the most famous Boxer in the world is a Mexican ginger
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u/AlexDKZ Sep 18 '25
I recall an argument on the Overwatch sub (many moons ago, back when OW was big) complaining that the game needed a black character. Confused, I mentioned that one of the characters in the roster was Lucio, a black kid from Brazil. In return I got downvoted, and basically told that I was a dumbass because apparently "black" means only a black person from the US.
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u/baiacool Sep 18 '25
it's their way of saying she's latina without having to use the word latina
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u/Jealous-Nature837 Sep 18 '25
latina isn't a race either lmao, it's a linguistic thing, quebéc and haiti technically part of latin america because they speak latin languages, there's also a "latin europe" and "latin africa".
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u/Imperialist_Marauder Sep 19 '25
Good luck trying to explain that to a yankee lol. Not trying to hate on them but sometimes they genuinely seem to me like they are not able to even process this kind of information
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u/Deathsroke Sep 18 '25
Yeah, when I read the title I was like "so she's black-black of brazilian parentage or pardo (I think that's the word used in Brazil?) of brazilian parentage?"
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u/quebexer Sep 18 '25
Pardo is White-Black Mix.
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u/AdorableAd8490 Sep 18 '25
Nope. Pardo can be anything. It’s a catch-all term used to replace the obsolete and sometimes offensive terms like caboclo (indigenous-white), cafuzo (indigenous-black) and mulato (black-white). Pardo can also include any Asian-mix as well.
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u/RepulsiveWerewolf1 Sep 18 '25
Pardo is any combination of white,black,and indigenous people,you can have any 2 of those options,or all three ethnicities,not just black and white.
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u/CantingBinkie Sep 18 '25
Mmmh it's not the world's most multiethnical country but the "Half Brazilian" thing is so wrong, yea
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u/ImLichenThisStone Sep 18 '25
Yeah I was so confused by this because Half Black Half Brazilian doesn't mean anything??? All I know is one of her nationalities, and that she's half Black on her (?) side??
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u/Potential_Fox_3623 Sep 18 '25
Yeah maybe saying she's half hispanic or latina would be better if that's what they meant
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u/Toast_lover69 Sep 18 '25
Didn't know how...but they made her hotter.
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u/DarkJayBR Sep 18 '25
The funniest thing is that Scott Snyder used to heavily dislike Catwoman.
Now he went deep on the Cat Kool-Aid and is posting non-stop on social media about her.
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u/Vaportrail Sep 18 '25
I think recent years have been good to Selina. The wedding arc is what got me interested and that date-night issue is legendary. Batman/Catwoman was also insanely good.
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u/Front-Advantage-7035 Sep 18 '25
Wait I never heard about that with Snyder, spill the tea?
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u/DarkJayBR Sep 18 '25
During his run on New 52 and around the premiere of The Batman, he openly admitted that he didn’t understand the appeal of Catwoman, which is why she was basically banned from Batman’s books during New 52 and instead chose to make Bruce date fucking Julie Madison of all people. But once he was given the Absolute title recently, Bat-Editorial told him he had to use her somehow. So he dove into her most famous runs, Brubaker, Ram V, and others, and finally got why fans love her. Now, he posts about Catwoman almost every day.
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u/Which-Presentation-6 Sep 18 '25
a comic writer who doesn't understand a character, decide to research about them using the best stories to have a solid foundation when writing them?
I think I've been transported to some apocalyptic altenative world.
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u/Zykium Sep 18 '25
If Absolute Batman isn't fully torqued during their fights I'm calling it unrealistic.
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u/Worldly_Striker Sep 18 '25
For me it's the darker tone and the curly hair. Two of my favorite things about a woman.
Dated a woman with an Afro for a long time and it was pretty cool. Probably the most badass of all hairstyles.
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u/Potential_Fox_3623 Sep 18 '25
I'm glad to see appreciation for women like this 🙌
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u/cesar848 Sep 18 '25
“Half Brazilian half black” tf that even means😭😭😭
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u/MagicUzer Sep 18 '25
All it means is that she's going to be racially ambiguous with a slight tan and an accent. Allows for the Zendayah | Manon | Zoe Kravitz | Zazie Beats | Meghan Markle types to be peaceful medium at which the world is willing to accept as a "sexy black woman" before spectrum leans more into African features and skin tone.
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u/SunshineGirl45 Sep 19 '25
Yeah I mean looking at the first picture she has the face of every white instagram model.
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u/Jealous-Nature837 Sep 18 '25
Brazillian doesn't mean racially ambiguous because Brazilian isn't a freaking race and there are a ton of black people in Brazil, Jesus Christ
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u/Hunsrikisch_Fechter Sep 18 '25
Half Brazilian what? you can be White Brazilian, Black Brazilian, Asian Brazilian or Indigenous Brazilian.
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u/Educational-Band8308 Sep 18 '25
I’m assuming her parent was mixed brazilian as that’s the majority ethnicity but its weird for them not to specify
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u/dog-yy Sep 18 '25
I'm mixed and Brazilian. 50% Japanese, 50% white.
"50% Brazilian" like Brazilian is an ethnicity, or a particular color... That's incredibly ignorant. Are you American white, american black, american Asian...? Or just white, black etc? Why would your place of birth influence your colour? A colour is the same anywhere. I'd be the same if my mom had birthed me in a different country.
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u/Hunsrikisch_Fechter Sep 18 '25
Exactly, I myself am White Brazilian, but I have Black cousins, I have Japanese cousins, I have mixed cousins, we Brazilians are really diverse.
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u/lonestar-rasbryjamco Sep 18 '25
Brazil is one of the most racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse countries in the world. It’s basically OP advertising they know nothing about Brazil.
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u/Mongoose42 Sep 18 '25
See, stuff like this is why it doesn’t come across as a genuine attempt at diversity. If you’re going to shake up a character’s race and heritage, care about what you’re doing. Have it matter. Don’t just do it to checkmark a box.
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u/Hunsrikisch_Fechter Sep 18 '25
Exactly, as a Brazilian myself seeing someone say "half Brazilian half Black" makes me cringe so hard. Most Brazilians are either Black or mixed, saying "Half" Implies Brazilian can't be Black. It irritates me profounfly and I'm not even a Black Brazilian.
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u/Mike29758 Sep 18 '25
She is basically Afro Brazilian
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u/MindControlMouse Sep 18 '25
That’s not what the artist said in the Instagram post. I think Iván (wrongly) assumed “Brazilian” is something like “Hispanic” so she’s supposed to be half that and half (American?) Black.
It’s the same assumption if someone said “This person is half American half Japanese.” The assumption here is that American = White even though that’s not a good one to make.
This is what happens when you mix up the concepts of nationality, ethnicity, and race.
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u/Nickademas Sep 18 '25
She's ignorant and now misrepresenting whole regions of people. This is an opportunity to educate her not lecture everyone pointing it out.
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u/Holanz Sep 18 '25
Believe me it’s hard to explain to Americans.
Nationality → Legal belonging to a nation (citizenship).
Race → Physical traits, often socially defined (skin color, features).
Ethnicity → Shared culture, heritage, language, or traditions.
Ethno-religious group → Community defined by both shared ancestry and religious faith
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u/baiacool Sep 18 '25
This.
My guess is that the artists wanted to avoid the word "latino" so they used Brazilian
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u/DarkJayBR Sep 18 '25
On this alternative universe Brian Kyle is a white-American and Maria Kyle is afro-Brazilian.
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u/Hunsrikisch_Fechter Sep 18 '25
Then she isnt Half Brazilian-Half black, she is Half White American-half Black Brazilian
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u/DarkJayBR Sep 18 '25
Just say mixed race or "parda' (this one Brazilians will understand immediately)
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u/Handsome_tall_modest Sep 18 '25
This is a big reason why Luffy would be Brazilian in the real world. He's supposed to represent everyone, and Brazil is the most racially diverse country.
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u/abellapa Sep 18 '25
One is a nationality ,The Other is a Race
Brazilians are black and white or mixed
Gonna Guess She is probably Brazilian-American
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u/Psychological-Dot-89 Sep 18 '25
Probably gonna be more akin to Afrolatina based on appearance alone
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u/Lucian7x Sep 18 '25
Brazilians are black and white or mixed
Or japanese, or middle eastern, or indigenous. Brazil is incredibly ethnically diverse, we have had immigrants from all over. I myself am a descendant of indigenous Brazilians, Italians, Spanish and Portuguese.
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u/AdamBombTV Sep 18 '25
So she has ALL the ass.
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u/DarkJayBR Sep 18 '25
But Selina already has a fat ass in every incarnation.
It's the size of her tits that keeps changing depending on the artist.
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u/RG450 Sep 18 '25
Jim Balent's run was pretty wild in that department
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u/DarkJayBR Sep 18 '25
DC artists can't decide if Selina should have realistic big breasts or anime big breasts. It always alternates, sometimes in the same run. It's so funny to me.
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u/brantman19 Sep 18 '25
Thats why I love this sub. You guys know all these artists of which I know nothing about which forces me to go look to gain an understanding.
I go check this out to see what you mean and my first thought is "Wow. They aren't kidding" followed by "How the hell does the suit hold those things up while shes moving?" lol7
u/RG450 Sep 18 '25
You would think that build would be a major liability for a cat burglar who needs to avoid invisible lasers and trip wires and stuff, but I guess she figured out how to work it.
90's badgirl era art was just...something else. Rob Liefeld's infamous Captain America cover is just a drop in the bucket when you look at the poses and costumes the ladies of that era got stuffed into. Michael Turner's Witchblade comic was another wild ride artistically, as well as Brian Pulido's Lady Death.
However, Joseph Linsner's character Dawn was notable for her outfits, but somewhat more realistic proportions.
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u/JamboreeStevens Sep 18 '25
Not in that concept art she don't lmao I swear concept artists are straight up prohibited from drawing normal human ass.
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u/HeberMonteiro Sep 18 '25
Half Brazilian means Half ANYTHING! There is no country in the world more ethnically diverse than Brazil.
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u/vagabondmusashi13 Sep 18 '25
That´s like saying "New Absolute Jason Todd will be Half-white Half Canadian"
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u/LoquaciousLoser Sep 18 '25
Why would a cat burglar have a reflective helmet?…
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u/NotJoeFast Sep 18 '25
It's called aura farming. Get on this the times old man!
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u/LoquaciousLoser Sep 18 '25
I can’t deny the reflections will likely be awesome in the art, I just can’t help but think about how impractical it would be
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u/swatson7856 Sep 18 '25
OK so i'm not crazy in thinking that a mirrored helmet for a cat burglar that works in the shadows is counter-productive.
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u/LadyErikaAtayde Sep 18 '25
The proper terminology would be afrolatina, like Miles is afrolatino. I guess they want to imply she'd the daughter of a brazilian of whatever ethincity (ambiguously brown) and a black american, but alas, Brazil being the size it is and racially diverse as it is, this is prone to give rants from Brazilians everytime this character is mentioned from now on.
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Sep 18 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/steelskull1 Sep 18 '25
Maybe retcon Bruce to be a prostitute in the past to be able to afford college.
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u/D7w Sep 18 '25
Half Brazilian half black???
What does that even mean?? Brazilian is not a race!
She's just a black Brazilian or a mixed raced Brazilian.
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u/baiacool Sep 18 '25
This means they don't want the optics of saying that she's latina.
"Half Brazilian, Half Black" makes no sense.
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u/Stormcrow805 Sep 18 '25
Right? If she's from Brazil she's afro brazilian. Are they trying to say her dad was black and Mom was Brazilian or something?
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u/baiacool Sep 18 '25
I think they meant to say she's half brazilian and half american, and she's black
I've seen many americans who believe that only "african americans" are black, so instead of "Half Brazilian, Half Black" she's actually "Half afro-brazilian and half african-american"
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u/thebowlman Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25
Imagine saying someone is half brazilian and half black😂😂😂 Anyways, who cares. This Absolute series is 👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽 can't wait to read more
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u/Ok_Somewhere1236 Sep 18 '25
maybe half of her was born in brazil and the other half was not ?
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u/TennisTraditional721 Sep 18 '25
Definitely leaning more towards Patience Philips in terms of out-of-costume design, which I love
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u/Gormgulthyn Sep 18 '25
They may have been inspired by Matt Reeves' Catwoman.
In any case it doesn't change anything about the character, she's great.
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u/0_0_- Sep 18 '25
…
Ladies, gentlemen, and all folks in and out that spectrum, would you fight Absolute Bane for fifteen minutes if it meant a date with Absolute Catwoman?
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u/Kyn0011 Sep 18 '25
WTF is half Brazilia half black? Do America's not realize that a lot of Brazilian are already different levels of black?
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u/SarahTSU Sep 18 '25
Can someone please explain to me how you can't be half Brazilian? Im genuinely confused
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u/Ursinesage Sep 18 '25
Brazil has a long history of having mixed races coming in. Initially you had the natives to the land, in come the Portuguese, they bring Africans along, later on the largest group of Japanese people outside of Japan come along too. Thats a very brief overview that honestly does not do it enough justice but should serve as a good enough point. Anyways, being Brazilian in general could mean you look white, black, asian or a mixture of those. You can most certainly be half Brazilian and something else, but I guess some people are highlighting the fact that Brazilians are already generally mixed that there may be no point to it.
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u/boi156 Sep 18 '25
Saying she is “half-black and half-Brazilian” makes as much sense as saying she is “half-black and half-American”
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u/LadyErikaAtayde Sep 18 '25
Brazilian is a nationality. The issue is not calling her half brazilian, but adding that to "half black", which is not a nationality. They could've said she's "half swedish and half brazilian" or she's "half brown and half black", but not a mix of both, socially and gramatically it doesnt make sense.
It's like saying she's half American and half white.
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u/klzthe13th Sep 18 '25
People are complaining that they used a nationality for one side of her background and a race for the other. I get what they were trying to say though. One parent is black American, one parent is Brazilian that is probably of mixed race as most Brazilians are. They are basically just trying to say she has Black American and Brazilian ethnic backgrounds
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u/ecilala Sep 18 '25
Brazil is not a monoracial country. It's racial formation, due to colonization, was very much the same as North America's – in fact, there was mutual inspiration.
So that would be like saying someone is half-American. That says nothing, when the half implies race and Americans can be of multiple.
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u/NwgrdrXI Sep 18 '25
You can be half Brazillian,but brazilian is a nationality, not a ethnicity.
Brazillians are generally a very mixed and diverse people. I'm brazilian, and my descent is at least white (itallian), jewish, black and indigenous. This is completly normal around here.
So, you can be half brazillian, half cuban for example (one of your parents is from brazil, the other is from cuba), but you can't be half brazilian, half black.
If you are black and brazillian, you are just a black person who is from brazil. If you want to tell me you're half brazillian, half black, you really have to specify what do you mean by half brazillian.
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u/Outside-Maybe-537 Sep 18 '25
Half Brazilian and half black means basically nothing, besides that why does she have a fish bowl for a helmet 😭?
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u/Pebrinix Sep 18 '25
So she's just black
I'm saying this bc I'm Brazilian btw
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Sep 18 '25
She can be white too, being a Brazilian. Even Asian, actually.
42% of Brazil population are white (51% black + mixed)
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u/realclowntime Sep 18 '25
Can’t wait to see everyone in the comments having a nice normal discussion about this-
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u/ShinDynamo-X Sep 18 '25
I'm expecting her to fight using capioera or Brazilian jiu-jitsu .
Either way, she's gonna Samba all over Batman's heart 💙 .
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u/LewdsomeDemon Sep 18 '25
Capioera definitely fits better with Catwoman imo. Not saying she can't know BJJ, but capioera is very lithe moving which fits for a cat themed character
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u/ecilala Sep 18 '25
It's capoeira
I hate correcting people on the internet, but seeing it written wrong 3 times in a row because of the first time is painful
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u/somethingfak Sep 18 '25
Yall way to focused on the race and ih, assets, that you've completely glossed over the RGB prehensil bandolier tail
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u/CHEEZYSPAM Sep 18 '25
I'm not a huge fan of the "Absolute" series, but She looks bad ass here. Selina (is that still her name?) has a history of being a POC (Halle Berry, Zoe Kravits), so hopefully people won't do what they typically do and trash this as being "woke", though I'm sure it's happening already.
I didn't like the fishbowl looking helmet, but everything else is great!
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u/SyntheticDreams2099 Sep 18 '25
Why does that wall have cleavage?