Batgirl

Barbara Eileen Gordon was inspired to become Batgirl after the appearance of Batman in Gotham. Estranged from her mother, she took up the mantle and began working alongside Batman and Robin. While studying at Burnside College, she briefly dated Charles Dante. Her time as Batgirl was cut short after the Joker shot her through the spine, leaving her paralyzed.

During her recovery, Barbara met Francine Charles, and the two became friends as Barbara taught her techniques for physical therapy. Seeking a new way to fight crime, she reinvented herself as the Oracle, a highly skilled hacker and information broker, and formed the Birds of Prey. After undergoing surgery to install a neural implant, she regained her mobility and returned to her role as Batgirl.

Back in action, Barbara rented an apartment from Alysia Yeoh and confronted a killer named the Mirror, a former soldier targeting survivors of near-death experiences. Despite a series of losses, she lured him to an amusement park and defeated him. Soon after, her estranged mother returned to her life.

Barbara encountered Gretel, a mind-controlling woman who had survived a gunshot to the head. After Gretel attacked Bruce Wayne and tried to assassinate him, Batgirl and Batman stopped her, discovering she was driven by revenge against a crime lord. Gretel was sent to Arkham Asylum.

During a hostage rescue mission, Batgirl unmasked one of the criminals and discovered it was Danny Weaver, a thug from the night she was shot. Letting him go out of conflicted emotions, she later saw him sacrifice himself to help her defeat the villain Grotesque. At home, her mother confessed she left the family because James Jr. had shown signs of psychopathy.

Batgirl rejoined the Birds of Prey during a mission against Choke and his mind-controlled agents. She also helped defeat a Talon assassin during the Night of the Owls and later assisted the team against another Talon, with help from Poison Ivy. Barbara then encountered Knightfall, a vigilante crusader leading a group called the Disgraced, intent on executing criminals. Knightfall was revealed to be Charise Carnes, a traumatized billionaire who had escaped Arkham. Despite Batgirl’s efforts, Knightfall evaded justice.

Barbara later clashed with Talons again and convinced one, named Mary, to abandon the Court of Owls. During this time, the Joker returned, targeting Barbara in a twisted mockery of a wedding. He proposed to her using her mother’s severed ring finger and attempted to kill her in front of Batman. She was saved when James Jr. intervened with a grenade, forcing the Joker to retreat. Later, Barbara, Batman, and their allies defeated the Joker.

James Jr. resurfaced, drawing Barbara into a confrontation on the pier where she was forced to push him into the water. Commissioner Gordon witnessed this and blamed Batgirl for his son’s apparent death. Traumatized, Barbara decided to leave Gotham and moved to Burnside for a fresh start, enrolling in post-graduate studies and continuing her work as Batgirl.

In Burnside, she battled an out-of-control A.I. she unknowingly created and uncovered plots involving the Penguin’s son, Ethan. Teaming up with Supergirl, Barbara ventured into the Phantom Zone to stop Xa-Du and later returned to Burnside. She exposed a fraudulent professor who had trapped a student in another dimension, resolved a case involving the Red Queen—a woman driven by grief over her sister’s death—and foiled a plot by the Penguin to control voters using mind-control tech.

Barbara faced repeated mental threats, including hypnosis and mind loops. One such instance involved breaking free from a hypnotic trap by acting unpredictably. Meanwhile, James Jr. continued manipulating events from prison, grooming a killer to challenge Batgirl. She reluctantly agreed to maintain contact with him to keep tabs on his schemes.

Investigating a string of murders, Barbara confronted Grotesque, whose electrical weapons damaged her neural implant. Despite recurring seizures, she pursued him relentlessly and uncovered his true identity as Detective Evan Douglas, who was planning to destroy a museum. Batgirl stopped the attack with Grotesque’s last-minute help, though he died in the process. Barbara’s implant was successfully repaired afterward.

Barbara later protected congressional candidate Luciana Alejo from the assassin Cormorant, uncovering a web of political corruption involving Jason Bard. Despite Bard’s claim of reformation, Barbara remained wary. She continued her work in Burnside, protecting the city from threats while wrestling with personal and political entanglements, never losing sight of her mission as Batgirl.

Appearance: Batgirl has long, reddish-brown hair and a black domino mask covering her eyes. She wears a black bodysuit with a yellow bat emblem across her chest. Her gloves, boots, and utility belt are yellow. The belt features pouches and a central clasp. She has a dark blue cape and yellow boots.

Barbara Gordon possesses a genius-level intellect, eidetic memory, and formal education in both law and forensic psychology. She is a highly trained investigator, multilingual in English, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese, and skilled in interrogation, leadership, intimidation, and computer hacking. She also runs a green energy company.

Physically, Barbara is an expert in multiple martial arts including boxing, judo, karate, muay thai, taekwondo, and eskrima. She has trained in self-defense since childhood and is adept at throwing batarangs, lockpicking, and athletic pursuits like driving and dancing (ballet).

Following a spinal injury caused by the Joker, Barbara was paralyzed for three years before receiving a neural implant that restored her mobility. The implant allows her to fight crime as Batgirl again, though it is vulnerable to strain and damage, occasionally forcing her to rely on a wheelchair.

Her equipment includes batarangs, a batrope, and her own personal Batcycle.