Batgirl Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Batgirl or Bat-Girl is the name of a fictional character in DC Comics. She appears predominantly in the Batman family of comic books. There have been several regular Batgirls in comics since the character was originally created, of which the best-known (due to her relatively long tenure and exposure in various television versions) is the second, Barbara Gordon.Batgirl is also the title of a comic book series featuring the current Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. Barbara Gordon is also a regular character, appearing as Cassandra's mentor.
Batgirls
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 partners 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), and they never really caught on. Bat-Girl, like Batwoman, was retconned out of existence following the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The first 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 would continue to be Batgirl before she became semi-retired in the 1980s. Barbara Gordon was, and still is, a love interest for Dick Grayson, the original Robin, currently known as Nightwing. She was paralyzed in , a graphic novel by Alan Moore, in which The Joker shoots Barbara through the spine and kidnaps her father. A wheelchair-bound Barbara Gordon developed a Bat-independent identity as Oracle, and provides invaluable information to Batman and other superheroes, and is a member of the superhero team Birds of Prey. (Barbara Gordon made it through the 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 childless in .)
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 quite displeased with her performance.
Cassandra Cain is the current Batgirl, having taken on the role with the approval of both Batman and Barbara Gordon. She is a formerly mute girl who had never learned verbal communication; her father, assassin David Cain, taught her how to use violence instead. She is a gifted martial artist, with abilities that can rival her new mentor, Batman. In 2000, she became the first Batgirl to get her own self-titled comic book series.
Other media
The Barbara Gordon Batgirl began appearing in 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 , 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 movie Batman and Robin included a new Batgirl (although based on Barbara Gordon). Barbara Wilson, played by Alicia Silverstone, was the niece of Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred Pennyworth.
A short-lived television series based upon Birds of Prey was broadcast in 2002 in which Barbara Gordon (Dina Meyer), both in flashback sequences and thanks to a device that allows her to walk, dons her Batgirl costume once more.
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