Boomstick: The ladies! So obviously there's a bunch of awesome crime-fighting chicks out there.
Wiz: Like Barbara Gordon, DC Comic's vigilante known as Batgirl.
Boomstick: And Marvel's Gwen Stacy, the one you know as Spider-Gwen.
Despite being based off classic comic heroes, the two fighters of this episode have proven themselves as equals to their male counterparts. Acrobatic heroes patrolling their streets, training faces off against genetics and intelligence against instinct when Batgirl and Spider-Gwen come to blows in a death battle.
Starting off the episode is its first combatant, Batgirl; more specifically, the Barbara Gordon incarnation of the character. Growing up under the care of Gotham City's police commissioner James Gordon, Barbara's interest in crime-fighting was bolstered by the mythic reputation held by its sworn defender, the Batman. As Barbara grew, so did her fixation with the hero and that which he stood for. She eventually designed her own costume based off Batman's and intended to make her superheroine's debut at a police ball. The villainous Killer Moth, while an inconvenience to the ball, also gave Barbara the opportunity to make herself known; he and his henchmen had reached the ball earlier and intended to rob its patrons. Still in costume, Barbara fought off Killer Moth and made the final push to join the ranks of Gotham's heroes. She sought to be recognized as an official member of Batman's inner circle, and continued her nighttime activities under the identity of Batgirl.
Though Barbara faced opposition in her quest to prove herself to Gotham City, she was better equipped to overcome that doubt. Physical fitness has always formed a part of Barbara's life; James had Barbara tutored in a number of martial arts, and she received further training after being recruited by Batman. Judo, karate, and eskrima form the basis for her hand-to-hand combat repertoire, which synergizes well with her acrobatic fighting style. With a photographic memory and an innate knack for technology, Barbara is as intelligent as she is physically adept. Of course, any member of the Bat-family is most recognizable through their suits, and Barbara is no stranger to this idea. Her own custom batsuit is lined with kevlar and comes with technological features to accommodate her prowess. The suit's utility belt, another hallmark feature of the Batman, carries non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray, tasers, firearms with utility ammunition, and a variety of debilitating capsules. Rounding off Barbara's arsenal would be the hero's iconic batarangs, which she carries three specific varieties of: standard piercing batarangs, others which emit electric pulses, and a final set that explode on contact.
The streets of Gotham have an invaluable protector in Barbara. The leading lady of the Bat-family can dodge gunfire and electricity alike, and her strength is enough to where she can manhandle enlarged animals with minimal effort. Her durability is of a similar level to where she can withstand falling from multiple stories. Barbara shows her fortitude and willpower are her strongest weapons when in action; moreso in the face of weakness, such as when the Joker infamously shot and paralyzed her from the waist down. This injury failed to deter Batgirl even then, practicing martial arts and providing aid to the Bat-family even while confined to a wheelchair under the codename Oracle. While she have since regained mobility with neural implants, they can still be overloaded or tampered with, crippling Barbara once more. Regardless of what she faces, Barbara demonstrates herself as a hero for any situation, one that can push past her personal limits for the sake of Gotham and all who live in it.
Batgirl: Try me! (paces forward, using a metal lid to deflect Livewire's lightning)
With that, the fight moves on to Spider-Woman, better known as Spider-Gwen and better still as Gwen Stacy. To most, Gwen's claim to fame stems from two sources: being the first love of Peter Parker, and the guilt he faced in failing to save her life. The Marvel multiverse, however, is full of infinite possibilities, and the Gwen Stacy of Earth-65 is worlds different from the one of Earth-616. In this universe, it was Gwen who was bitten by the radioactive spider that otherwise gave Peter his powers. Between sessions as a drummer for her high school band, Gwen protected her friend Peter from being tormented by their contemporaries. For more pressing matters, Gwen took to the streets of New York City as Spider-Woman, despite her father advising otherwise. Peter, envious of Spider-Gwen, injected himself with an experimental serum in the hopes of attaining similar powers. The serum worked if on a technicality, as it also mutated Peter into a lizard monster. Gwen defeated the beast, but was aghast upon watching him transform back into Peter and die from his injuries. Blamed for her friend's death, Gwen became a fugitive, taking it upon herself to live up to the potential her father and friend saw in her and become a better person.
From the same spider that bit Peter in another universe, Gwen has much the same powers. Chief among them are a heightened superhuman physicality and the ability to traverse walls. Another mainstay of any who uphold the Spider-Man legacy is their iconic spider-sense. A form of precognition, Gwen's spider-sense warns her of any threats in her surroundings well in advance. Web-shooters, mechanical devices that fire high-tensile webbing, are yet another part of the traditional Spider-Man equipment Gwen carries on her. While circumstances with other spider-people across the multiverse stripped Gwen of most of her powers, she has some temporary usage over them through experimental isotopes. That said, it would not be until Gwen merged with a laboratory-made Venom symbiote that she regained full usage of her powers and additional ones. The ability to turn invisible, shift her hands into clawed talons, and even summon symbiote-based spiders are all within her field of potential thanks to her bond with the symbiote.
Across the spider-people of the multiverse, Gwen stands out as a hero. The alternate Spider-Woman regularly evades bullets and lightning with her speed, and she has proven durable enough to survived physical trauma ranging from electrocution to explosions. Supporting material explicitly states that Gwen is strong enough to lift ten tons, with her striking strength on a similar level. Given their similar physiques and suits, Gwen can feasibly compare to the 616 Peter Parker himself, who withstood the force of a building-sized explosion. On a similar note, as Peter is fast enough to avoid beams of light for a brief period of time, so too can Spider-Gwen. Gwen may have much to live up to, but she succeeds at meeting these expectations without question. Traveling the multiverse, she eventually found herself reaching the mainline Earth-616 universe and befriending its local superhero populace. She took up the mantle of Ghost-Spider when in this reality and came to juggle her responsibilities between her home universe and the main Marvel universe. Regardless of where she ends up, Gwen continues to prove she has something to offer the world of heroes and Peter Parker in particular.
Sheath: I need— (muffled by Spider-Gwen webbing her mouth shut)
With both heroines covered, the time for conflict approaches. One advertisement for Harry's shaving razors later, and now, it's time for a death battle!
The reflections of the water beneath fill the Batcave with light. At its central computer platform, Barbara Gordon watches footage of her fellow heroes engaged in battle. A droning hum provides enough of a disturbance to pull her away from the numerous monitors; in a swirling vortex of green and purple, an orb of pure energy manifests above the Batcave's walkways. The orb dissipates and in its place, Spider-Gwen drops onto the path. The hero of Earth-65 complains about finding herself in the wrong reality, only to sense a set of batarangs closing in on her position. A quick backflip keeps Gwen out harm's way, but Batgirl storms into view not long after. Calling Gwen out for invading the Batcave, the teen rocker shows little beyond indifference towards Barbara's behavior.
FIGHT!
Batgirl takes the fight to her enemy, lunging forward with an axe kick that Gwen sidesteps. The Spider-Woman shows her agility well by dodging every punch thrown her way; what follows is a chase across the Batcave as Barbara attempts to keep pace. It takes her some time, but the Gothamite's persistance pays off with a kick that pushes Gwen against an enormous penny. Gwen, leaping atop the coin, concedes Barbara's point, and attempts to leave the Batcave, letting the coin topple forward with a flip. The Batgirl has other ideas in mind, cutting off Gwen's escape webbing with another batarang. Spider-Gwen corrects course and lands on another walkway, giving Barbara enough time to grab a pair of electrified batons and close back in on Gwen.
The police commissioner's daughter attempts to put her eskrima training to use, only for Gwen to nimbly dart around every swing of the batons. The alternate Gwen Stacy lands a few unassorted strikes that stagger Barbara, but they give her enough of an opportunity to flee. Another chase ensues, and the local heroine kicks her quarry down, only to be kicked into the Batmobile herself. With a few swings of webbing, Batgirl finds herself disarmed of her eskrima sticks; luckily, there are still alternatives for dealing with the situation. Redirecting a fist, the Gothamite plants a batarang onto Spider-Gwen, one that crackles with blue lightning. The electric discharge from the shuriken incapacitates Gwen long enough for Barbara to toss an additional pair of batarang and fire off a grappling hook gun. The hook's winch hoists Barbara back up, and when Gwen takes a flying leap at her, the Batgirl merely punts her back onto the walkway.
With twin batarangs, the bat-family's leading lady is ready to end the fight as soon as she touches down, only for Gwen to vanish from view. Her suspicions grow as Batgirl tosses the shurikens at Gwen's position, planting into the floor, and they grow further hearing scattered noise around the Batcave. From behind her, a web is strung onto her back, and the young Gordon is jerked into the air; Barbara sees Gwen above her and snaps free from the web's grip. Now in freefall, the black-clad vigilate tosses another batarang which the alternate Spider-Woman reflexively catches. Gwen regrets her decision once the batarang emits a tense beeping; sure enough, the Batcave is rocked with an explosion that jars rock loose from the cave walls. Both women rappel their way onto the paths of the Batcave once again, with Barbara battered by debris as she lands.
Seeing a vulnerable target, Gwen fires a line of webbing and slingshots herself forward, a fist cocked back. Batgirl recovers and fires a second grappling hook, her free arm holding a new shuriken. They close in on one another and Barbara proves quicker, stabbing Gwen in the wrist. The Ghost-Spider maintains her composure even now as she meets the surprise attack with a swinging punch. A lull in the fight ensues as the pair assess their injuries; Barbara works to manage her neural implants, Gwen yanking out the batarang. To buy herself any time she can, the Gothamite unleashes a volley of projectiles at her foe. Batarangs, gavels, grappling hooks, all flying towards Gwen, but she deftly maneuvers around each as they come her way. Grabbing onto the cable of the grappling hook, Gwen jerks her arm back, with Batgirl flung towards her. The Venom symbiote around her sharpens her fingers into claws. With a final upwards strike as they cross paths, Gwen slashes Barbara's throat open, a shower of blood bursting from the wound. Gwen surveys Batgirl's corpse before departing from the scene.
K.O.!
The fight is over, and the match as a whole is not far behind. Barbara was the better of the two in terms of equipment, her training was more in-depth, and her intelligence far exceeded that of Gwen's; the hosts speculate she could even deduce and exploit the symbiote's weaknesses. While Barbara could theoretically win due to these advantages, Gwen's superior physical attributes would prove otherwise in most cases. The spider-sense counters Batgirl's acrobatics and stealth, and is overall one of Gwen's best tools. Other spider-people can stand their ground against accomplished martial artists, many of whom have similar skill as Batman. Gwen's capability to lift ten tons is well beyond Barbara's own strength, and her durability was of a similar level. By being similar in power to Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen can theoretically withstand the same blasts he has been exposed to; Batgirl, for comparison, has barely survived being in the epicenter of a similar explosion. Even the largest-scale explosion the Bat-family could be compared to have a payload half that the spider-people can survive. Batgirl may have been smart and well-trained enough to win, but Gwen proved to be more adept for battle, and thus, likelier to take that victory from Barbara.
Wiz: The winner is Spider-Gwen!
Batgirl vs. Spider-Gwen contains examples of:
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: Gwen's victory against Barbara ends the losing streak Spider-Man related characters were suffering since Miguel's loss to Terry in Season 4.
- Continuity Nod: Gwen is introduced complaining about her multiverse traveling bringing her away from her intended destination, that being the universe of fellow Spider-Man Miles Morales.
- Foreshadowing: Barbara's Funny Background Event has her requesting the Hulk vs. Broly, a fight that would end up happening two episodes later.
- Funny Background Event: At the beginning of the fight, Barbara can be seen leaving a comment on the YouTube upload of She-Ra vs. Wonder Woman; specifically, requesting The Incredible Hulk vs. Broly.
- History Repeats: The fight ultimately goes the same way their male counterparts' fight did: the Spider's superhuman abilities prove able to overcome the Bat's technical skills.
- Mythology Gag:
- Near the end of the fight, Gwen dives around a set of batarangs in the same slow-motion manner as the final battle from Spider-Man.
- The aforementioned Continuity Nod is also one to the rapport Gwen and Miles established during Into the Spider-Verse.
- Running Gag Stumbles: For the first time since its usage, the obligatory reference to All Star Batman's would-be Badass Boast is reserved not for Bruce, but for Barbara, the goddamn Batgirl.
- Shout-Out: Wiz and Boomstick introduce the episode by Waxing Lyrical- or trying to, anyway- about "Girls Run The World" by Beyoncé.
-
Spiritual Successor: One for two prior fights in the series carrying on the feud of Batman and Spider-Man heroes, this time featuring their distaff counterparts.
