History Characters / Batgirl

However, when the Joker invaded the Gordons' home, Barbara was shot by him, paralyzing her from the waist down. Refusing to give up her desire to help people, Barbara adopted the Oracle identity, to serve as support for the Bat-Family, and eventually for the superhero community as a whole. It was during this time that Barbara would form the Birds of Prey as well, while continuing to train so that she could protect herself. Barbara would also mentor Cassandra Cain, who became the second Batgirl. She would later also mentor the third Batgirl, Stephanie Brown.\\\

* MythologyGag: Her family name is almost certainly a reference to the original Bat-Girl's family name with a different spelling (Cain, as opposed to Kane).

* InsistentTerminology: Barabara originally refused to call Stephanie "Batgirl" for a variety of reasons, both personal and professional, and it was when she finally did that helped Stephanie accept that she had earned the name. When Steph was Spoiler she insisted her costume was "eggplant" not plain purple. Both she and Tim had a habit of correcting people who called it purple regardless of the present situation.

* LegacyCharacter: She picks up the immediate mantle from Cassandra Cain, becoming the third "real" Batgirl in continuity at the time, but she also struggles with the even larger burden of living up to Barbara's original legacy. This is exacerbated by the fact that Barbara serves as her mentor.

For a brief time during [[ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand No Man's Land]], Helena Bertinelli took on the Batgirl identity while simultaneously operating as Huntress on the side. At first, she enjoyed being Batgirl because criminals were more afraid of her than they were of Huntress, but difficulties working with Batman--he thought her too undisciplined and emotional to be trustworthy, while she chafed at having to live up to his standards and follow his commands--led her to give up the identity. As she never acquired real permission or acceptance from either Barbara or Bruce and her time as Batgirl has almost never been acknowledged since, she is not typically considered an official Batgirl; however, the costume she made and used would be given to Cassandra Cain, who would wear it throughout the majority of her run as the second main Batgirl[[note]]It used to have [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2022_02_28_at_14832_pm.png the mouth and eyeholes opened]], but she sewed them shut to keep spray paint from getting on her face in a vain attempt to make it harder for Batman to identify her[[/note]].

''Characters/Batgirl2000'' | ''Characters/BatmanAndTheOutsiders'' | ''Characters/DarkNightsMetal'' ([[Characters/DarkNightsMetalTheBatmanWhoLaughs The Batman Who Laughs]]) | ''Characters/IAmBatman'' | ''Characters/{{Nightwing}}'' ([[Characters/NightwingDickGrayson Dick Grayson]]) | ''Characters/RedHoodAndTheOutlaws'' | ''Characters/Robin1993'' ([[Characters/RobinTimDrake Tim Drake]]) | ''Characters/Robin2021'' ([[Characters/RobinDamianWayne Damian Wayne]])-]]]]]

[[Characters/BatmanTheCharacter Batman]]\\

* DisabledLoveInterest: Barbara Gordon is a wheelchair user, but [[BadassBookworm she can still]] [[HandicappedBadass kick your ass]]. She is one of the main love interests to Dick Grayson, the first Robin and currently ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}. After the ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} a CosmicRetcon puts her back on her feet. However, in the new continuity, she was in a wheelchair for at least three years, and her status as a Disabled Love Interest is hardwired in her character, as almost everything reminding her of her past handicap (getting a gun pointed to her belly, seeing a wheelchair lift...) acts as a TraumaButton for her post-traumatic stress disorder. Babs herself attained one of these of her own now in Ricky, an ex-gang member who lost a leg in a robbery gone bad and chose to get out of the crime business.

* TragicallyDisabledLoveInterest: To Nightwing, while she was Oracle, based on how became paralyzed (shot by the Joker).

* ''JLA: Created Equal'' (2000) [-as Oracle/Green Lantern-]

!!!'''AKA:''' Ethhan Cobblepot

A fan of Batgirl who followed Stephanie's exploits in the costume feverently. In a Black Mercy induced dream showing possible futures (that was designed so the writers could give hints of plots that would never come to be due to ''ComicBook/Batgirl2009'' being cut short by ''Flashpoint'') Stephanie saw herself mentoring Nell as the new Batgirl. In the elseworld of ''ComicBook/DCComicsBombshells'' Nell is one of the Batgirls, in this continuity a group of young baseball bat weilding crimefighters.