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Batgirl
Art from Wizard Magazine (2006), featuring Barbara and Cassandra as Batgirl. Art by Matt Haley and David Hahn (cartoonist).
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Batman #139 (1961)
Created by	Bob Kane Sheldon Moldoff
Characters	Bette Kane ("Bat-Girl") Barbara Gordon Helena Bertinelli Cassandra Cain

Batgirl is the name of several fictional characters, in comic books published by DC Comics. She has in all incarnations been an ally to Batman, one of DC's most popular characters.

Although a lesser-known Bat-Girl appeared six times in early 1960s, the best-known Batgirl was Barbara Gordon, daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon. After her debut in 1967,^[1] she made regular appearances in Batman related comics from 1967-1988. However, in the one shot The Killing Joke,^[2] The Joker shot her in the spine, leaving her paraplegic. She later reinvented herself as Oracle,^[3] the premiere information broker of the superhero community and leader of the Birds of Prey team.^[4]

In 1998, the Batgirl mantle was taken up by Helena Bertinelli, who is better known as the Huntress. The stories of her as Batgirl are confined to the events of the long-running No Man's Land storyline. Batman stripped Helena of the mantle near the end of that story, leaving her to return to her Huntress identity.

In 1999, the martial arts prodigy Cassandra Cain became the third Batgirl, under the tutelage of Batman and Oracle, and was given Helena's Batgirl costume. She was the first Batgirl to star in an eponymous monthly series,^[5] which was canceled in 2006, ending with Cain relinquishing her title as Batgirl. However, following the events of Infinite Crisis, she has taken back her former mantle, now as a villain rather than a heroine.

In 2006, Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe temporarily took the name of Batgirl,^[6] but was forced to abandon the role by Oracle. Still determined to become a superhero, she then adopted the name "Misfit."

Contents 1 Character History 1.1 Betty Kane 1.2 Barbara Gordon 1.3 Helena Bertinelli 1.4 Cassandra Cain 1.5 Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe 2 Adaptations in other media 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Main article: Bette Kane

The original Bat-Girl is Betty Kane^[7], niece of Kathy Kane — the vigilante known as Batwoman. Batwoman and Bat-Girl were created to be romantic interests for Batman and Robin as much as crime-fighting associates. Bat-Girl wore a red-and-green costume to "flatter" Robin. Bat-Girl appeared seven times between 1961 and 1964, but then disappeared in 1964 (along with Batwoman, Ace the Bat-Hound, and Bat-Mite) when new Batman editor Julius Schwartz decided these characters were too silly.^[8]

Batwoman and Bat-Girl were revived in the late 1970s. Bat-Girl became a member of Teen Titans West. However, she only appeared a total of four times in this era.

Bat-Girl was retconned out of existence following the Crisis on Infinite Earths.^[9] However, even though Bat-Girl did not exist in Post-Crisis continuity, a superheroine named Flamebird was introduced who had many similarities to Bat-Girl in her costume, her interest in tennis, her history with Titans West, and her romantic connection to Robin. Flamebird's real name is similar to the first Bat-Girl's: Mary Elizabeth 'Bette' Kane.

In Infinite Crisis, it was implied that Flamebird originated from Earth-Two and was Bat-Girl's Earth-Two counterpart.^{[citation needed]} According to the new continuity, the Earth-Two Flamebird replaced the Earth-One Bat-Girl during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.^{[citation needed]}

Main article: Barbara Gordon

The Silver Age and Bronze Age Batgirl was librarian-by-day Barbara Gordon,^[10] daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon. On her way to a masquerade ball dressed as a female version of Batman, Barbara (also known as Babs) halted a kidnapping attempt on Bruce Wayne by the villainous Killer Moth, attracting the attention of Batman and leading to a crime-fighting career. The most recent version of Batgirl's origin can be found in the Batgirl: Year One mini-series, published in 2003.^[11]

At first, Batman did not approve of Barbara's involvement in crime-fighting, but as she solved more cases, beat more villains, and became more skilled, Batgirl gained Batman's respect and trust. In Detective Comics #363, the character's second appearance, Batman revealed his secret identity to Barbara, but made it seem to her to be a ruse meant to trick a villain; she did not learn Batman and Bruce Wayne were really the same person until much later; similarly, it took numerous appearances before Batman learned Batgirl's real name. Barbara Gordon appeared as Batgirl from 1967 to 1988, but she is frequently featured as Batgirl in "flashback" stories.

After relinquishing her role as Batgirl, Barbara Gordon was later shot in the spine and crippled by the Joker.^[12] She continued to fight crime, even though she was wheelchair bound, under the guise of Oracle, a free-lance information broker and expert hacker who has supported a number of different heroes, but most notably as the founder of and brains behind the Birds of Prey.

Main article: Huntress (Helena Bertinelli)

During the late 1990s No Man's Land story arc, a new Batgirl emerged. She was revealed to be Helena Bertinelli (a.k.a. The Huntress). An earthquake had leveled Gotham City, the government declared the city a No Man's Land, and Batman disappeared. To bring order to the city, the Huntress assumed the mantle of The Bat discovering criminals feared her more as Batgirl than they did when she was the Huntress. When Batman returned, he officially dubbed her "Batgirl" and said if she failed him, she would have to give up the costume. When Batgirl failed to protect Batman's territory from Two-Face and his gang of over 200 criminals on her own, he held her personally responsible and stripped her of the mantle. As Huntress, Bertinelli would later join Oracle's Birds of Prey,^[13] thus giving the group two former Batgirls.

Main article: Cassandra Cain

Cassandra Cain was a young woman of partly Asian descent who became the third in-continuity Batgirl, with the approval of both Batman and Barbara Gordon. She was given Helena Bertinelli's Batgirl costume. 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. This also caused her brain to develop learning functions different from most, a form of dyslexia that hampers her abilities to read and write. She eventually gave up the identity of Batgirl, with her solo series canceled. ^[14]

Cassandra reprised her role as Batgirl in the Titans East storyline of Teen Titans, where it was discovered that she had been influenced by a mind-altering drug administered by Deathstroke; the drug had forced her to become evil.

Main article: Misfit (DC Comics)

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe, a young girl with inherent superpowers temporarily became the new Batgirl in the Birds of Prey series, until Oracle told her to drop the identity. She later returned under the alias of "Misfit". She became the third former Batgirl to join the Birds of Prey.

Main article: Media Adaptations of Barbara Gordon

Barbara Gordon's incarnation as Batgirl has become one of DC Comic's most recognizable female superhero icons. To date, Gordon's version of Batgirl has been adapted into all media relating to the Batman franchise including merchandise, television, animation and feature film. Notable adaptations of Batgirl include:

• Batman: 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.^[15] In fact, she was created in cooperation with the show's producers, who wanted a female character who could be added to the show's regular cast.

• Birds of Prey: 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.^[16]

• Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder: Batgirl made her first animated appearance in 1968, turning up in a handful of episodes of the animated Filmation series The Batman/Superman Hour and voiced by Jane Webb. The character was voiced by Melendy Britt^[17] in the 1977 animated series entitled The New Adventures of Batman.

• Batman: The Animated Series: More recently, Barbara Gordon was a recurring character in Batman: The Animated Series, voiced by Melissa Gilbert,^[18] and later in the follow-up series The New Batman Adventures, by Tara Strong. In the animated series, she originally adopted the Batgirl identity to help her father when he was framed by Two-Face.

• The Batman:A young Barbara Gordon assumed the role of Batgirl in the third season of The Batman, voiced by Danielle Judovits. In that series, Barbara was close friends with the teenaged eco-terrorist Pamela Isley, who became transformed into Poison Ivy in the same two-part special that introduced Batgirl.

• Batman & Robin: The Barbara Gordon version of Batgirl was the inspiration for the character Barbara Wilson that was portrayed by actress Alicia Silverstone in the 1997 movie Batman & Robin. This Batgirl was similar in many ways to Barbara Gordon (such as having a penchant for computers and motorcycles), but James Gordon's relatively small role in the films contributed to the differences.

• Gotham Girls
• Catwoman, her arch-rival (Gotham Girls)
• Batwoman (other female counterparts of Batman)
• List of sidekicks
• List of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture

• TVObscurities.com - Batgirl Promotional Short

v • d • e Batman
Creators	Bob Kane · Bill Finger · Other writers and artists
Supporting characters	Robin (Tim Drake) · Nightwing (Dick Grayson) · Batgirl · Batwoman · Alfred Pennyworth · Lucius Fox · Barbara Gordon · Commissioner Gordon · Harvey Bullock · Azrael · Huntress
Villains	Bane · Catwoman · Clayface · Harley Quinn · Joker · Killer Croc · Mad Hatter · Mr. Freeze · Penguin · Poison Ivy · Ra's al Ghul · Red Hood (Jason Todd) · Riddler · Scarecrow · Talia al Ghul · Two-Face  · Ventriloquist
Locations	Arkham Asylum · Batcave · Gotham City · Wayne Enterprises · Wayne Manor
Equipment	Batarang · Batmobile · Batcycle · Batsuit · Utility Belt
Miscellanea	Publications · Storylines · Alternate versions of Batman · Batman in popular media