Barbara Gordon

Batgirl Barbara Gordon in Batgirl v4 #35.

Barbara Gordon is a female comic character who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Pre-Crisis

Becoming Batgirl in Detective Comics v1 #359.

Barbara Gordon was the red headed daughter of Gotham City's Police Commissioner James Gordon. She made her PhD at Gotham State University and had graduated Summa Cum Laude leading to her being a doctor where she began to work at Gotham Library. (Detective Comics v1 #359)

Whilst at the Library, Bruce Wayne regularly visited in order to collect rare books and often requested Barbara Gordon to use her contacts to find as well as secure such items. A few nights later, Barbara found an opportunity that would ultimately change her life forever. The Gotham City Police Department decided to host the Million Dollar Masquerade Ball at the Bristol Country Club. Dozens of Gotham City's most affluent leading citizens, including the likes of Bruce Wayne, and J. Devlin Davenport, were expected to attend. Barbara sewed a stylish, feminine version of Batman's costume based upon designs that she first conceived as a child. For the most part, she intended on crashing the party as this 'Batgirl' merely to spite her father. Whilst travelling there, she noticed Killer Moth had targeted the limousine of Gotham millionaire Bruce Wayne and she went to save him. Gordon used her skills to battle the criminals when Batman arrived who helped defeat the supervillain. He would ask the Batgirl her identity but she decided to hide it instead with her returning to her normal life. However, she began to use the costume to continue to operate as a vigilante and sought to capture Killer Moth. (Detective Comics v1 #359)

An expert on radiation and crime named Ira Radon doused Batman and his gear with radiation. Radon informed Batman that his body was now radioactive, and unless he auctioned off all his crimefighting career and quit, Radon would boost the radiation in his system and kill him. Batman called a press conference announcing his retirement and the auction, and at the auction Barbara Gordon wondered what his retirement would mean for her career. Batman was only playing along with Radon in order to capture him, and after removing the radiation from his system he announced his comeback. (Batman v1 #191)

Post-Crisis

Oracle in Oracle: The Cure v1 #1.

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Barbara Gordon

Humpty Dumpty, Super Saboteur had wrecked trains, elevators and traffic patterns. Batgirl uncovered his identity by researching overdue books at the Gotham library that coincided with the engineering skilled needed to pull off what Dumpty had done. Dumpty was fixing a clock tower when one of the hands sprang off, leading to a catastrophe that toppled the giant-size advertisements and toys that littered the Gotham City skyline. Humpty slumped down, upset because those giant novelties gave Gotham a storybook feel that he always loved. Batgirl had been after him, and when she appeared he fell off the clock tower. She swung from a cable to save him, but pulled both her arms out of their sockets. She was afraid of what he'd do to her, but he simply put her joints back into place. He was no real villain, just a disturbed man obsessed with fixing things by taking them apoart and putting them back together. He led her to his home to show her one last thing he tried to fix. He wanted to fix his grandmother's evil, so he took her apart, and put her back together again. Humpty Dumpty was sent to Arkham Asylum. (Arkham Asylum: Living Hell v1 #3)

She was inducted as the secret member of the new Justice League where she served as data central and helped in getting information on the supervillain Prometheus. (JLA v1 #17)

Freed from Darkseid's control after the restoration of the Multiverse, she attempted to shut down the criminal "Ünternet" set up by her opposite number, the Calculator, as a Darkseid-free replacement for the regular Internet and still used by tech-savvy criminals. However, the Calculator, preventing her moves, took control of Kilg%re, gaining the ability to thrive in cyberspace by controlling digital and cybernetic avatars, and tracked Oracle down with his newfound powers. Even though Oracle foiled him, she started doubting her abilities and feared she was losing her edge and brilliance, which resulted in her disbanding the Birds of Prey team to do some soul-searching. (Birds of Prey v1 #127)

Barbara was then messaged by one of her online contacts named Cheesefiend who informed her that she had encountered something unusual on the web. She came to believe it was the remnants of some form of equation with Oracle quickly deducing it was the Anti-Life Equation. (Oracle: The Cure v1 #1) Hoping to stop the Calculator from getting the Anti-Life Equation, Oracle traveled to Hong Kong to steal Calculator's data by the means of an advanced supercomputer, but after getting the data, Calculator tracked her signal and almost destroyed her. (Oracle: The Cure v1 #2) Oracle returned to Gotham, where she managed to defeat Calculator, curing the Anti-Life Equation's fragments and she vowed to help Wendy, who had become paralyzed just like Barbara. (Oracle: The Cure v1 #3)

Working with Leslie Thompkins, Barbara began to mentor the Calculator's daughter, Wendy, who had become crippled following an attack at the Titans Tower, which took the life of her brother Marvin. It came to Barbara's attention that Cassandra Cain had once again stepped down from the role of Batgirl, having been replaced by Stephanie Brown. (Batgirl v3 #1) Still seeing Stephanie as an impulsive young girl, Barbara tried to talk her out of being Batgirl. When a new recreational drug known as "Thrill" hit the streets of Gotham, Barbara and Stephanie worked together to stop the drug trade which they discovered was being run by Scarecrow and Black Mask. After Stephanie defeated Scarecrow and proved her worth and maturity, Barbara gave Stephanie an unused Batgirl costume that was supposedly designed for Barbara. Barbara also accepted a new job as an assistant professor at Gotham University. (Batgirl v3 #3)

A new vigilante appeared in Gotham, the Insider, whom Oracle learned of when Batgirl confronted him stealing from WayneTech. Oracle tried to prevent further encounters against him and shortly after this, Barbara was interrogated about Batman by Vicki Vale, who had managed to discover their secret identities. (Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl v1 #1)

Post-Flashpoint

Wearing the mask again in Batgirl v4 #32.

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Barbara Gordon

She later decided to travel to Japan where she sought out Chiyo Yamashiro who was a woman that operated as a masked crime fighting vigilante named Fruit Bat in the 1940s before unmasking in the 1980s. (Batgirl v5 #1)

Barbara then went to the Clocktower in order to provide support to the entire city to help end the clowns rampage in Gotham. Thus, she brought Oracle back online where she coordinated the activity of the Bat Family whilst hacking video feeds in the city to reassure the citizens that united that they could end the Joker's reign of terror. (Batman v3 #100)

Afterwards, she came to learn that someone had hired her father to go on a manhunt for the Joker who had left Gotham for South America. The retired former police commissioner agreed to this proposal and the financial resources being provided him but wanted help from Batman by getting access to the Batcomputer. Batman gave him access to a phone that gave him access to Oracle where she opposed Jim Gordon going on this manhunt. He then revealed that he was aware that his daughter Barbara was actually Batgirl and Oracle. Barbara then asked her dad to meet her at the Clocktower where they had a talk with one another. (The Joker v2 #2)

Overview

Personality and attributes

As a vigilante, she came to take the name of Batgirl. (Detective Comics v1 #359) After being crippled, she came to re-brand her identity as an information broker and went by the name of Oracle. (Suicide Squad v1 #23)

Powers and abilities

Barbara was shown to have a photographic memory allowing her to recall details with perfect clarity. (Detective Comics v1 #369)

She used a special protein diet and intensive exercise regimen to become stronger and harder in a fight. (Detective Comics v1 #359)

She had a brown belt in Judo with her being a first Kyu. (Detective Comics v1 #359)

She was known to experience phantom pain despite the fact that the nerves in her legs being dead. (Oracle: The Cure v1 #1)

Despite its capabilities, the implants effectiveness began to degrade over time which meant that Barbara potentially could only operate as Batgirl for limited amounts of time. (The Joker v2 #2)

Notes

• Barbara Gordon was created by William Dozier, Julius Schwartz and Carmine Infantino where she first appeared as Batgirl in Detective Comics v1 #359 (January, 1967) with her becoming Oracle in Suicide Squad v1 #23 (January, 1989).
• Kim Yale disliked the treatment of the character and began to work on the development of the character in the years after Killing Joke. Ostrander stated that, ""There were no plans for her in the continuity at that time. We decided that if that happened, we weren't just going to make her better magically -- we wanted to explore what happened when someone like her was crippled and how she would respond."
• Editor Dan DiDio commented on the characters return as Batgirl, "We decided we'd bring back Barbara Gordon as Batgirl. We didn't want to turn our back on the diversity issue, but she'll always be the most recognizable. We are working with concerns to diversify the line. We're always looking to reposition to be reflective of today's audience."
• Writer Gail Simone in an interview noted on the New 52 version of the character, "For many years, I got to write the character as Oracle, and there is to this day, no character who means more to me. This is classic Barbara as she was originally conceived, with a few big surprises. It's a bit of a shock, to be sure, but we're doing everything we can to be respectful to this character's amazing legacy, while presenting something thrilling that a generation of comics readers will be experiencing for the first time ... Barbara Gordon leaping, fighting, and swinging over Gotham. Now, when citizens of that city look up, they are going to see BATGIRL. And that is absolutely thrilling."

Alternate Versions

• In Gotham City Garage v1 (2017), an alternate Barbara Gordon was shown to reside on this Earth in the dystopic world of the Garden. She joined the ranks of the Lexes as Oracle who oversaw their law enforcement with her father adopting Kara Zor-El who was raised as Barbara's sister Kara Gordon.
• In Old Lady Harley v1 #3 (2018), an alternate version of the Barbara Gordon was shown to had operated in a post-apocalyptic future where the villains ruled the world. She operated as Oracle and helped the JLA when the Joker engaged in his mass attack in the world that triggered the sequence of the events that brought about this dark future. In the aftermath, Barbara merged herself with the O.R.A.C.L.E. System and kept tabs with events where she operated a number of holographic agents that were known as Agents of O.R.A.C.L.E.

In other media

Television

• In Birds of Prey, Barbara Gordon appeared as a cast member in the live-action television series where she was portrayed by actress Dina Meyer.
• In the DC Animated Universe, Barbara Gordon made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
  • In Batman: The Animated Series, Barbara Gordon made her first appearance in the animated series where she was voiced by actress Melissa Gilbert.
  • In The New Batman Adventures, Barbara Gordon appeared in the animated series where she was voiced by actress Tara Strong.
  • In Gotham Girls, Barbara Gordon appeared in the animated series where she was voiced by actress Tara Strong.
  • In Batman Beyond, Barbara Gordon appeared in the animated series where she was voiced by actress Stockard Channing in the shows first two seasons and by actress Angie Harmon in the shows final season.
• In The Batman, Barbara Gordon appeared in the animated television series starting from season 3 where as Batgirl she was voiced by actress Danielle Judovits with Oracle being voiced by actress Kellie Martin.
• In Young Justice, Barbara Gordon appeared in the animated series where she was voiced by actress Alyson Stoner.
• In Beware the Batman, Barbara Gordon appeared in the animated series where she was voiced by actress Tara Strong.

Films

• In Batman & Robin, Barbara Wilson appeared in the live-action film where she was portrayed by actress Alicia Silverstone.
• In the DC Animated Universe, Barbara Gordon made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting that linked with the animated series.
  • In Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, Barbara Gordon appeared in the animated movie where she was voiced by actress Mary Kay Bergman.
  • In Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman, Barbara Gordon appeared in the animated movie where she was voiced by actress Tara Strong.
  • In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Barbara Gordon appeared in the animated movie where she was voiced by actress Angie Harmon.
• In Batman: Bad Blood, Barbara Gordon had a brief appearance in the epilogue in the animated film where she was wearing her Batgirl of Burnside costume in a non-voiced role.
• In Batman: The Killing Joke, Barbara Gordon featured in the animated film where she was voiced by actress Tara Strong.
• In Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Barbara Gordon as Batgirl appeared in the setting of the 2019 animated crossover film where she was voiced by actress Rachel Bloom.
• In Batman: Hush, Barbara Gordon as Batgirl appeared in the setting of the animated film where she was voiced by actress Peyton R. List.
• In Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, Barbara Gordon as Batgirl appeared in the setting of the animated film where she had no speaking lines. She was among the heroes that survived Darkseid's conquest of Earth and participated in attacking the towers used by Apokolips to strip mine the planet. Batgirl was alongside Batwoman as they fought against the enemy only to be brutally killed by the ParaDooms that were deployed against the heroes.

Video games

Oracle in Batman: Arkham Knight.

Batgirl in Batman: Arkham Knight Matter of Family DLC.

• In DC Universe Online, Barbara Gordon as Oracle appeared in the video game setting as a guide to the player characters where she was voiced by actress Kathy Catmull.
• In Young Justice: Legacy, Barbara Gordon as Batgirl appeared as a playable character in the video game tie-in to the cartoon setting where she was voiced by actress Danica McKeller.
• In the Arkhamverse, Barbara Gordon made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
  • In Batman: Arkham Asylum, Barbara Gordon made her first appearance in the video game series where she was voiced by actress Kimberly Brooks.
  • In Batman: Arkham City, Barbara Gordon appeared in the video game sequel where she was once again voiced by actress Kimberly Brooks.
  • In Batman: Arkham Origins, Barbara Gordon appeared in the video game prequel where she was voiced by actress Kelsey Lansdowne.
  • In Batman: Arkham Knight, Barbara Gordon returned in the final instalment in the video game series where she was voiced by actress Ashley Greene.
• In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Barbara Gordon as Batgirl was a playable character in the video game where she was introduced in DLC content and was voiced by actress Kimberly Brooks.
• In Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, Barbara Gordon as Batgirl was as a playable character where she was voiced once again by actress Kimberly Brooks.
• In DC Comics Legends, Barbara Gordon as Batgirl of Burnside was made as a playable character in the iOS video game.

Appearances

• Detective Comics v1: (1967)
• Suicide Squad:
• Birds of Prey v1:
• JLA v1:
• Batgirl:
• Oracle: The Cure v1:
• Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl v1:
• Birds of Prey:
• Batgirl and the Birds of Prey v1:
• Heroes in Crisis v1:
• Old Lady Harley v1:
• Batman v3:
• Nightwing:
• The Joker v2: (2021)

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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