Gordon, Barbara (person)

Barbara "Babs" Gordon is an intelligent young woman and daughter to Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon. She was the first **Batgirl**, a teenage vigilante inspired by Batman but also her foster father, Police Commissioner Jim Gordon. A life-changing encounter with the Joker made her lose the use of her legs, but she didn't let that stop her. Using her skills with the computer, she became **Oracle**, the premiere supplier of information for all heroes, and the founder of the Birds of Prey.

## Barbara Ann Gordon

### Relatives

Roger Gordon (father, deceased), Thelma Gordon (mother, dead), James Gordon senior (uncle/adoptive father), Barbara Eileen (aunt/adoptive mother)Martha (maternal aunt), James Gordon, Jr. (cousin/adoptive brother), Barbara Gordoun (ancestor)

### Affiliation

Batman Family, Birds of Prey, Batman Incorporated, JLA (formerly). Daughters of Liberty, Seven Soldiers of Victory, Suicide Squad

### Occupation

Detective, Student (formerly), Vigilante, Librarian, Adventurer

## Appearances

### Appears in

The Road to Amazing, Dracula and His Harem

## History

### Early Life

Barbara Gordon was born the daughter of Roger C. Gordon and his wife Thelma in the suburbs of Ohio. Even as a young girl, Barbara wanted nothing more than to be a superhero. She and her best friend, Marcy, would spend endless hours designing superhero costumes and heroic identities for themselves. At this precocious age, the seeds of Barbara's future crime-fighting career began to foment.

When Barbara was 13, her mother and father were tragically killed in an automobile accident (due largely to her father's drinking problem). Barbara adjusted as well as she could. After the accident, her uncle, Jim Gordon, adopted the orphaned Barbara. Jim and his wife (also named Barbara) lived hundreds of miles east in Gotham City, where James worked as the police Captain. Barbara immediately became infatuated with the Gotham City's most legendary phantom of the night – the Batman.

Barbara had become completely obsessed with the Batman and learned everything that she could about him. One evening, she snuck into her father's private home office to discover him engaged in a secret conversation with the Batman. Barbara had no idea that her adoptive father actually worked with the mysterious Dark Knight. Her obsession with the vigilante only intensified.

The following morning, Barbara insisted that James enroll her in martial arts classes. While reluctant at first, he recognized that the daughter of Gotham City's police captain could definitely benefit from some knowledge of self-defense. Barbara excelled in her training and earned her black belt within a short span of time.

As dedicated as she was towards her physical development, Barbara equally committed herself towards her academic achievements. Gifted with a photographic memory, she easily rose through the ranks of Gotham Heights High School and graduated early at the age of sixteen.

That same period, Barbara earned herself a scholarship to Gotham State University. She became one of the University's youngest students, graduating with honors before she was even a legal adult. She became friends with Katarina Armstrong, but that friendship ended when Katarina tripped Barbara on the running track to win a race. They did not speak again for several years.

Barbara continued with her self-defense training, this time learning the art of Jujitsu under a sensei named Dragoncat. To supplement her income, she accepted a position as a research assistant at the Gotham Public Library. Her true dream, however, was to one day work in the field of law enforcement. She asked her father about joining the police academy, but James laughed at her, claiming that she did not even meet the height requirements. She also attempted to enroll at the local FBI office as a field agent, but they dismissed her, citing many of the same reasons.

### Batgirl

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.

When she arrived, however, she found that somebody else had decided to crash the party before her. A costumed criminal named Killer Moth and his cronies raided the country club, grabbing Bruce Wayne as a hostage. It was their intent to rob the charity proceeds as well as extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from Gotham's wealthiest patrons.

Barbara now found herself acting as Batgirl in deed as well as in name. She tackled Killer Moth in the hopes of rescuing Bruce Wayne from his clutches. What she did not realize though, was that Bruce Wayne was actually Batman. He allowed Batgirl to "rescue" him so that he could sneak off to change into his "work" clothes. Returning to the scene with his sidekick, Robin, Batman discovered that Killer Moth had gotten the better of Batgirl. In order to free her from the morass of Killer Moth's silk-spinner gun, they were forced to let the criminals get away. Batman chided Batgirl harshly for her foolish antics and warned her against pursuing such a reckless lifestyle. Hearing such criticism from a man she idolized for so long was a shock for Barbara, but it did not deter her from her chosen path. Despite his disapproval, he sent her batarangs via Dick Grayson, who subtly revealed to her that he was Robin. Barbara was able to solve the case, and shortly after, Batman swore her in an oath and also revealed his identity.
Barbara continued her career as Batgirl for a few years, until it came to an abrupt end when the Joker showed up at her house, shooting and paralyzing her before kidnapping her uncle Jim. Batman rescued Jim Gordon, but 19-year-old Barbara Gordon's career as a costumed crime fighter was over.

### The Oracle of Gotham

Recognizing she could no longer be the kind of superhero she had been, Barbara instead devoted all her time to developing one of the world's most complex and powerful computer systems and set to work accumulating information, renaming herself "Oracle."
Oracle proved an absolutely invaluable resource to the Batman and his allies, as well as countless other superheroes, few of whom know anything about the person behind the name. Oracle's first official interaction with Batman was providing him information about the Order of St. Dumas. After that initial collaboration, Oracle became a permanent ally to the crime-fighting efforts of Batman and his allies in Gotham; providing information and assistance during the virus outbreak that ravaged Gotham as well as hacking into the mainframe of Ra's al Ghul, to steal his records of the Wheel of Plagues and put an end to his ultimate master plan. Oracle also assisted Robin and helped him remotely against Maxie Zeus.

### Founding the Birds of Prey

Barbara founded the Birds of Prey, a team of female heroes, whom she employs as agents. Her first agent was Power Girl. However, when an early case went awry and several deaths resulted from it, Power Girl blamed Barbara and stopped working with Oracle on a regular basis.
Barbara joined forces with superhero Black Canary. The two – similar in both having lost their original abilities while fighting crime, yet managing to overcome their handicaps – would later meet in person and become best friends. The two formed the nucleus of the Birds of Prey.

The Huntress later joined the team as a full-time agent, as did Lady Blackhawk. Although the personnel on Barbara's team continued to grow and change, Huntress and Lady Blackhawk remained core agents.

During the quarantine of Gotham, Barbara employed various teenagers to be her eyes and ears on the street. One of these young agents was Cassandra Cain; who later saved Jim Gordon's life. Barbara realized that Cassandra was actually one of the world's top martial artists; it was revealed that her father, David Cain, had trained her to be a weapon from infancy. Barbara acceded to Cassandra taking up the Batgirl mantle and became Cassandra's mentor.

### War Games

When the gang war broke out in Gotham City, Batman started using Oracle in a way that made her feel like a "glorified operator" and at the same time, she broke up with Dick Grayson. Some days later, Batman took over the airwaves of Gotham, including Oracle's main system and prevented her from accessing her own information. Though it was a temporary measure, Oracle was further upset with Batman for not sharing his plans with her. However, when Batman's "war games" plan was foiled by Black Mask, Oracle was fast to contact the members of the Batman Family and sent them to Robinson Park to help Batman.
After this, Oracle supervised Robin's activities while he defeated the Ravens, Trickster and Mister Fun. Under Batman's instructions, Oracle hacked into the surveillance cameras of Gotham in search of Spoiler and found her location. Later, Tarantula contacted Oracle asking for help and Oracle reported the current situation to Batman. Oracle sent Batgirl to aid Onyx and a few minutes later, she realized that Black Mask had been gathering all the criminals in Gotham and leading them towards the Gotham Clock Tower; her home and secret headquarters. As the criminals stormed the tower, Oracle prepared a series of traps that stalled them while she tried to call for backup. Black Mask managed to overload the system by taking the power down and found Oracle in the main chamber. Batman arrived at the Clock Tower just in time to prevent Black Mask from hurting Barbara, and then both men engaged in a brutal fight to the death. Barbara couldn't stop them by talking and she activated a self-destruction mechanism to blow the entire place, which would have killed her as well. Batman was forced to stop fighting to save Barbara just as the building collapsed. Once outside, Barbara was carried by the reporter Arturo Rodriguez to a safe place. Barbara's home and headquarters was utterly destroyed, thus she decided that it was time for her to move away from Gotham.

### Metropolis

Having left Gotham, and after a temporary world trip with her team, Barbara relocated to Metropolis. She later became infected with an advanced virus delivered by Brainiac, which caused her to develop cyberpathic powers that allowed her to psychically interact with computer information systems. She lost these abilities, however, after the virus was rendered dormant. Following an operation by Doctor Mid-Nite, she discovered she could move her toes. However, this proved to be a short-lived effect, and Barbara remained paralyzed.

## Attributes

### Abilities

* **Computer Hacking**: As Oracle, Barbara is an expert computer hacker. With her computer hacking skills, she is able to breach the highest security systems. Her skills are rivaled by none.
* **Computer Operation**: Barbara is extremely proficient with computers. She is by far the most computer literate of the Bat-family, and one of the most efficient users of computers worldwide.
* **Genius Level Intellect**: Barbara is shown to have a naturally high intelligence.
	+ **Eidetic Memory**
* **Investigation**: Trained by Batman himself, Barbara is on a team of the world's greatest detectives.
* **Law**: Barbara took a correspondence course in law obtaining a Juris Doctor degree which allowed her to sit for a state's bar exam, leading to a license to practice law. After getting the basic degree, she took an extension course in Harvard University, earning a Master Degree of Laws.
* **Martial Arts**: Barbara is a trained martial artist. She was trained by Kung Fu master Richard Dragon who helped Barbara hone her martial prowess during a time when he too was using a wheelchair.
	+ **Boxing**
	+ **Jujutsu**
	+ **Karate**
	+ **Dragon Style Kung Fu**
	+ **Judo**
	+ **Escrima**
* **Sewing**: Barbara designed and sewed her first Batgirl costume.
* **Stealth**

### Other Characteristics

* **Restricted Mobility**: Barbara Gordon was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by the Joker, and uses a wheelchair.

## Paraphernalia

### Equipment

* Utility Belt: As Batgirl, her equipment included Batarangs, smoke bombs, a grappling hook, and some other gadgets.
* Cowl Lenses: As Batgirl, Barbara could press a button on her cowl which put various lenses over her eyes. She had a clear lens, a telescopic-vision lens, a microscopic-vision lens, a thermal lens, and a multi-light tracer lens. The multi-light tracer device had eventually replaced her Batcycle's function.

### Transportation

* Batcycle: As Batgirl, Barbara Gordon rides a specially modified motorcycle, with a built-in crime-detection lab.