Online Encyclopedia
Batgirl
Batgirl is a DC Comics superhero, a female crime-fighter modeled after and associated with Batman.
The most well known Batgirl is Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon. Introduced in the 1960s Batman television series and soon added to the comic book continuity, the Barbara Gordon Batgirl often appears in adaptations of the Batman mythos in other media.
Batgirl is also the title of the monthly comic book series starring the current Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. The comic features Barbara Gordon as Cain's mentor.
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Batgirls
Betty Kane
Bat-Girl was Betty Kane (first appearance: Batman #139, 1961), the niece of Batwoman, Kathy Kane . Batwoman and Bat-Girl were created to be romantic interests for Batman and Robin as much as crime-fighting associates (possibly in response to Fredric Wertham's allegations about the true nature of the Dynamic Duo's relationship), but the characters never gained a following. Bat-Girl, like Batwoman, was retconned out of existence following the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
In Post-Crisis continuity Betty Kane still exists. She however is not Bat-Girl but a professional tennis player not related to Batman who is also the superhero Flamebird . She was a sometime member of the Teen Titans and like the old Bat-Girl she has a crush on Robin.
Barbara Gordon
The Silver Age Batgirl was librarian-by-day Barbara Gordon (first appearance: Detective Comics #359, 1967), daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon. On her way to a masquerade ball dressed as a female version of Batman, Barbara intervened in a kidnapping attempt on Bruce Wayne, attracting the attention of Batman and leading to a crime-fighting career. She continued to be Batgirl before she semi-retired in the 1980s. Barbara Gordon was, and still is, a love interest for Dick Grayson, the original Robin, currently known as Nightwing.
In The Killing Joke, a graphic novel by Alan Moore, The Joker shot Barbara through the spine, paralyzing her. Now wheelchair-bound, Barbara adopted the code-name Oracle, and she is an computer expert, providing informational, tactical, and security assistance to many superheroes, including Batman and the JLA. Barbara is the leader of the all-female superhero team Birds of Prey.
(Unlike Bat-Girl Betty Kane, Barbara Gordon made it through Crisis on Infinite Earths mostly intact, although her relationship with James Gordon was retconned to niece-and-adopted-daughter after Frank Miller depicted him as having only fathered a son in Batman: Year One.)
Helena Bertinelli
During the late 1990s No Man's Land story arc, a new Batgirl emerged. She was revealed to be the Huntress, Helena Bertinelli. She resumed being the Huntress, soon after, as both Batman and Barbara Gordon were displeased with her methods.
Cassandra Cain
Cassandra Cain is the current Batgirl, having taken on the role with the approval of both Batman and Barbara Gordon. Trained by her father, assassin David Cain , to be the ultimate martial artist and assassin, Cassandra was not taught to speak. Instead, the parts of her brain normally used for speech were trained so she could read other people's movements and body language and predict, with uncanny accuracy, their next move. Although she has sinced learned to speak, Cassandra is still a gifted martial artist who managed to defeat Lady Shiva, the deadliest fighter of DC Universe. In 2000, Cassandra became the first Batgirl to get her own ongoing self-titled comic book series (the Gordon Batgirl having been featured in a couple of one-shot releases).
Batgirl in other media
The Barbara Gordon Batgirl appeared in the final season of the live-action Batman television series in 1967, the same year as her comic-book debut. In fact, she had been created at the request of the show's producers, who wanted a female character who could be added to the show's regular cast (some uncertainty exists about who invented the details of the character, however). In this series, she was played by Yvonne Craig.
Barbara Gordon was also a recurring character in Batman: The Animated Series, voiced by Melissa Gilbert and then by Tara Strong. In the animated series, she originally adopted the Batgirl identity to help her father when he was framed by Two-Face. An older version of the character, voiced by Stockard Channing, appeared in the futuristic spin-off, Batman Beyond. Here she had given up on ("grown out of", she insisted) costumed crime-fighting and followed her father into the police force, eventually becoming Police Commissioner herself. (The animated series contained no version of The Killing Joke, so Barbara Gordon kept the use of her legs and never became Oracle.)
The 1997 movie Batman and Robin included a new Batgirl. Barbara Wilson, played by Alicia Silverstone, was the niece of Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred Pennyworth. This Batgirl was similar in many ways to Barbara Gordon, but James Gordon's relatively small role in the films contributed to the differences.
The short-lived Birds of Prey television series (2002) featured a paralyzed Barbara Gordon (Dina Meyer) donning her Batgirl costume both in flashback sequences and in the present, thanks to a device that allows her to walk. Although based loosely upon the continuity established by The Killing Joke, elements of the Cassandra Cain Batgirl were also incorporated as one episode saw Gordon/Batgirl fighting Lady Shiva, Cain's nemesis.
External links
- The Batgirl/Oracle Site http://www.bat-hound.com/batgirl/ , mostly focusing on Barbara Gordon
- TVObscurities.com - Batgirl Promotional Short http://www.tvobscurities.com/pages/batgirl.php