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Silver St. Cloud

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Silver St. Cloud
Silver St. Cloud in Detective Comics #475 (Feb. 1978), art by Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceDetective Comics #470 (June 1977)
Created bySteve Englehart (writer)
Walt Simonson (artist)
In-story information
Supporting character ofBatman

Silver St. Cloud is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the vigilante Batman. The character debuted in Detective Comics #470 (June 1977) and was created by Steve Englehart and Walt Simonson.[1] Silver St. Cloud is typically depicted as a romantic interest of Bruce Wayne.[2]

St. Cloud appeared in the second season of Gotham, portrayed by Natalie Alyn Lind.

Publication history

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Created by Steve Englehart and Walt Simonson, Silver St. Cloud debuted in Detective Comics #470 (February 1977).[3] The issues featuring her earlier appearances have been collected in trade paperback form as Batman: Strange Apparitions.

Fictional character biography

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St. Cloud is a socialite residing in Gotham City, hosting parties for the rich and influential. She later becomes a successful event planner outside Gotham.

Detective Comics debut (Batman: Strange Apparitions)

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Silver St. Cloud is Bruce Wayne's love interest in stories from Detective Comics #469–476, 478 and 479, later reprinted as a trade paperback collection of those stories titled Batman: Strange Apparitions. St. Cloud first meets Bruce Wayne following the Batman's defeat of new villain Doctor Phosphorus in a battle that occurred at a nuclear power plant on the ocean. She soon begins dating Bruce Wayne. She suspects from the start that Bruce is hiding something, citing his interest in crime reports and his encounters with Batman as evidence of a secret. When Bruce Wayne is captured and replaced by Hugo Strange in a prosthetic disguise, Silver quickly notices Wayne is not acting like himself and contacts Dick Grayson (Robin) to tell him about Wayne's strange behavior. Her insight and quick action leads to Robin rescuing Bruce.

Silver is one of the few characters to have discovered Batman's secret identity. Her relationship with Bruce was initially in trouble due to his repeated disappearances. However, over the time she was able to piece together the clues and eventually recognize her lover in the Batman costume. Silver confirms her suspicions by calling out to Bruce while he battled the villain Deadshot, causing him to turn and allowing Silver to recognize Batman's chin as the chin of Bruce Wayne. The initial appearances of Silver also represent the first time that it is explicitly recognized that Bruce Wayne or even Batman has engaged in a sexual relationship.

Silver witnesses Batman fighting the Joker. After defeating the Joker, Batman meets with Silver. She reveals to Batman that she knows his secret and that she still loves him. She says that she could not be with him because she could not stand worrying about him each night. She then ends the relationship, asking him not to see her again.

Silver's breakup with Bruce has repercussions in the following issues, where Batman takes out his frustration over the failed relationship on a couple of criminals. Most of his fury becomes concentrated on one criminal, whom he punches repeatedly. Bruce tells Alfred Pennyworth that he blames his crimefighting persona for driving Silver away, and for a time muses whether he should give up being Batman forever.[4]

Siege

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In the Legends of the Dark Knight story arc "Siege" (plotted by Archie Goodwin), St. Cloud briefly returns to Bruce Wayne's life while organizing a mercenaries' convention in Gotham, but is severely injured by the convention's leader when she discovers a plot to assault the city.

Batman: Dark Detective

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Silver returns once again in Steve Englehart's story arc Batman: Dark Detective, a sequel to Batman: Strange Apparitions. In this series, her relationship with Bruce Wayne evolves further, to the point that Silver prepares to leave her fiancé, a campaigning senator, to be with him, but her fiancé's arm and leg are cut off in the Joker's booby traps while he attempts to find her in the Joker's house. Wayne instructs her to continue her relationship with the senator until his campaign ends, but she is angered by this and leaves Wayne's life again.

Steve Englehart has written another chapter to his trilogy to resolve it, but DC has declined to publish the story and it has since been removed from continuity. [5][6]

Batman: The Widening Gyre

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Her character returns in Kevin Smith's Batman: The Widening Gyre,[7] in which she and Bruce rekindle their romance on an island beach that her family owns. At the end of the comic, her throat is slashed by the villain Onomatopoeia. This series, also left on a cliffhanger, has since been rendered out of continuity.

Batman/Elmer Fudd Special

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During Rebirth, Silver St. Cloud became the lover of Elmer Fudd from Looney Tunes after her breakup with Bruce Wayne. When she finds out that Elmer is a bounty hunter, she fakes her death at the hands of hitman Bugs "the Bunny". This sends Elmer into a depression and he attempts to kill Bugs and later Bruce Wayne for her death. When Elmer tells Batman his story, the two arrive at Porky's bar to confront Bugs, only for Silver to reveal herself, that she left Bruce Wayne for his dangerous lifestyle, and fell in love with Elmer for being safe and secure until he told her he was dangerous too. She explains she faked her death to escape from Elmer and told Bugs to send Fudd to Bruce Wayne if Elmer ever came after him since they had so much in common that they'd find something to do together.[8]

Reception

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The character was ranked 64th in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list.[9]

In other media

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Television

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Film

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Miscellaneous

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Silver St. Cloud appears in DC Super Hero Girls, voiced by Grey Griffin.

References

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  1. ^ Greenberger, Robert (2008). The Essential Batman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. pp. 334–335. ISBN 9780345501066.
  2. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Manning, Matthew K.; McAvennie, Michael; Wallace, Daniel (2019). DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle. DK Publishing. p. 167. ISBN 978-1-4654-8578-6.
  3. ^ "Detective Comics #470". Grand Comics Database.
  4. ^ Brice, Jason (June 15, 2005). "Batman: Strange Apparitions Review". Line of Fire Reviews. Comics Bulletin. Archived from the original on May 5, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  5. ^ "Batman: Dark Detective II". Steveenglehart.com. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  6. ^ "Batman: Dark Detective III". Steveenglehart.com. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  7. ^ "DCU | Comics". Dccomics.com. April 21, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  8. ^ Batman/Elmer Fudd Special #1
  9. ^ Frankenhoff, Brent (2011). Comics Buyer's Guide Presents: 100 Sexiest Women in Comics. Krause Publications. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-4402-2988-6.
  10. ^ Damore, Meagan (July 17, 2015). "'Gotham' Casts Natalie Alyn Lind as Silver St. Cloud". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  11. ^ "The Son of Gotham". Gotham (TV series). Season 2. Episode 10. November 23, 2015. Fox.
  12. ^ "Worse Than a Crime". Gotham (TV series). Season 2. Episode 11. November 30, 2015. Fox.
  13. ^ ""My Adventures with Superman" – Season 2, Episode 5: "Most Eligible Superman" Review - Superman Homepage". June 16, 2024.
  14. ^ The Batman:Revised First Draft Screenplay, Sci Fi Scripts.Com
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