Barbara Kean

> *For other characters with the same first name, see Barbara.*
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"*I'm sorry, Jim, for everything. I terrorised you for years and destroyed your family. I regret almost everything I've ever done but just know, I'm trying my best to be better.*"
—Barbara Kean to Jim Gordon.[src]
Dr. **Barbara Eileen "Babs" Kean**, M.D. (formerly **Kean-Gordon**; May 16, 1974 – June 12, 2002; resurrected April 2012)is the ex-wife/good friend of Jim Gordon, mother of Barbara Gordon and James Gordon Jr., daughter of the late Everett Kean and the late Elizabeth Kean, former best-friend-turned-enemy of Tabitha Galavan and good friend of Edward Nygma. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Barbara had a difficult upbringing, which would lead to mental difficulties later in life, until she met and fell in love with rookie officer, Jim Gordon, leading the two to get married and eventually have two children, a boy, James Jr., and a girl, Barbara. After moving with her family to Gotham City, Barbara's life remained mostly ordinary until she was kidnapped by Jason Skolimski and tortured until she was driven insane, bringing up old wounds from her childhood. After this incident, Barbara became a mentally unstable crime lord and attempted to take over Gotham until she was electrocuted and killed.

Many years later, she was resurrected by Ra's al Ghul, joined the League of Assassins. After Ra's' death, Barbara was made the leader of the League and the new "**Ra's al Ghul**". After Ra's' daughter, Talia, stole the title of Ra's al Ghul from Barbara, her and Tabitha decided to go back to their old criminal ways. However, after befriending Jim once again, Barbara decided to turn over a new leaf and turned The Sirens into a legit business, severing her ties with the criminal underworld. She later aided both Jim and Batman in taking down the Court of Owls and opened up her club as a free clinic to treat the wounded during Gotham's troubled era of "No Man's Land". After the city was saved by Batman and was reinstated, Barbara left town for good and returned to Chicago, establishing Kean General Hospital, deciding to use her skills to help people once again.

## Biography

### Early Life

Barbara Eileen Kean was born on May 16, 1974 to Everett and Elizabeth Kean in Chicago, Illinois. She was never was close to her parents and held a strong grudge against for not letting her be herself and making her put up a front to make herself seem perfect. Furthermore, her mother also presented plenty of body issues for her, pressuring her to remain thin and criticizing any weight she would have gained. At a Christmas gala Barbara attended with her parents and an unnamed date, she first met and fell in love with Jim Gordon and after the two graduated, they moved in together in Chicago. After two years of dating, Jim finally proposed to her and she accepted. At some point, Barbara was able to go through medical school and later became an extremely successful surgeon. Jim then went through police academy and after he graduated the two moved back to his childhood home, Gotham City, and bought a penthouse. Barbara also later became employed at Gotham General Hospital.

### Early Years in Gotham

#### Marriage to Jim

Jim and Barbara later got married in a lovely ceremony in Gotham Cathedral and lived happily together in Gotham. However, when Jim investigated the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, he came back to the penthouse depressed until Barbara told him that they would be having they're first child and the two hugged and kissed, extremely happy. In 1994, Barbara gave birth to their son, James Gordon, Jr. and four years later they were ecstatic to have another child, a daughter they named after Barbara.

#### Meeting the Ogre

   The two lived happily in Gotham until Jim failed to save one of Carmine Falcone's men and he sent a serial killer, Jason Skolimski, also known as The Ogre after Barbara as revenge. The Ogre kidnapped and mentally tortured Barbara until she was driven insane. She was then taken to her parents mansion where she was told to murder her mother and father which she did, without trouble. Jim then arrived to rescue her but she told him to leave and let her and Jason be, Jim then precedes to shoot The Ogre and didn't expect Barbara to pick up a knife and go for him and he was forced to hit her over the head with his gun, knocking her out.

Barbara was put into Arkham Asylum on the grounds of insanity and Jim tried to get through to her and make her sane again but he was unsuccessful and word got out that she murdered a security guard. Jim then knew that the Barbara he loved was gone and filed for divorced, angering her and she managed to badly injure a guard that was watching their visit. Jim then began dating Detective Sarah Essen and when Barbara heard about this she broke out of Arkham.

Barbara then visited Sarah's apartment and waited in the dark or her to come home and when she did, Barbara came at her with a knife and almost stabbed her but Sarah ducked, hit her into a mirror, grabbed her gun and ran into the bathroom. Barbara got up and used her knife to break down the bathroom door but Sarah shot her in the shoulder and tackled her to the floor. Sarah then preceded to beat Barbara's head on the wooden floor until she was knocked unconscious. She was then sent back to Arkham Asylum and put under the care of Dr. Hugo Strange.

In 2000, Strange used Barbara as an experiment and gave her a serum that he had cooked up, hoping it would make her completely sane again and at first it seemed to be successful, with Barbara showing completely normal behavior. Strange later released her back into Gotham and observed her, hoping that his serum would work.

Barbara tried to become friends with Jim again and slowly get back into his life but he completely rejected her and told her to get out of Gotham and away from him, even explaining that their son started to show signs of sociopathy thanks to Barbara's actions. Barbara was heartbroken and it caused her to have a mental breakdown making her fall deeper in the pit of insanity. She travelled all over Gotham, looking for something to throw herself into and make her forget about Jim, along the way she met Tabitha Galavan and the two became very good friends and eventually teamed up together.

#### Kean Crime Family

In September 2001 Barbara and Tabitha became associates of the Falcone crime family and even began the Kean crime family, opening a club called The Sirens and quickly becoming major players in Gotham's underworld.

Barbara later heard of the criminal known as "The Riddler" and wanted to get him to join her crime family and eventually managed to track his lair down. When given the opportunity, Ed quickly accepted, wanting to make his name known to anyone who had never heard of him. One evening in The Sirens Club, Barbara noticed Ed looking out of the window and approached him to ask him what was wrong. He then explained that he was never interested in running Gotham but wanted everyone to learn his name. Barbara that he was one of the smartest people she had ever met and that they could make the whole town remember his name. The two then watched the sun set from the club.

Barbara and Tabitha wanted to get revenge on Carmine Falcone because he sent The Ogre after Barbara and attempted to make his criminal empire crumble, actually succeeding. Barbara then began calling herself, "The Queen of Gotham" and she took over where Falcone left off, taking control of every district in the city. The night after becoming the queen of the underworld, Barbara found a mysterious letter on the floor The Sirens from the Court of Owls, simply reading their threatening nursery rhyme. This let Barbara know that even though Eventually, loyal followers of Carmine tipped off the GCPD about illegal activities the Kean Crime Family had been committing and an entire half of the force were sent after Barbara and Tabitha.

#### Death

The police chased the two for several blocks and they eventually arrived at one of their safe houses and tried to gather weapons in order to fight off the cops but realized that all of their henchmen were being murdered left right and center. Tabitha realized that they couldn't get away and went to try and shoot most of them but not without giving Barbara a final hug, when she got out in the open she managed to shoot a few cops but was shot with a machine gun several times and then in the head, killing her as Barbara watched on in horror. She went to see if Tabitha was at all still alive but saw her eyes wide open and dead. Crying, Barbara tried to lift up her body but heard Jim calling out her name and ran back up to the safe house, picked up a gun and hid.

    Jim arrived and Barbara attempted to get the upper hand by holding her gun to his head but he spun around and put her against a wall, the two struggled but Barbara headbutted him and tackled him to the floor holding him in a choke hold. Jim kneed her in the stomach and knocked her through an unstable, wooden wall. Barbara held her head in pain but saw her gun lying in a puddle of water and raced to pick it up, Jim attempted to pick his up too but she was too fast and shot him with three bullets, flooring him. She thought she finally had him until he saw an electrical light and managed to knock it over by pulling the wire, landing in the puddle of water Barbara was in, electrocuting and killing her.

### Working For Ra's al Ghul

#### Resurrection

In 2012, Barbara's decayed corpse was recovered by the ancient villain, Ra's al Ghul and he used the Lazarus Pit to resurrect her. Firstly, she had to be dunked completely into the ancient water twice, due to being dead for so long. After, Ra's took a small portion of the water and poured it into her mouth, finally waking her up. She was so confused and had no idea what was going on but Ra's explained to her that she had died and been killed by someone she once loved. Memories began to flood back into Barbara's mind and she began to cry because the woman she though of as her best friend and partner is dead. Ra's tells her that she is long dead and she looked completely shocked. Ra's also explained that she'll one day lead his army of assassins and will make this city suffer for the cruel acts that it had done to her. Barbara then trains for a full year with Ra's and the league and recovers from being dead for so long.

#### Creating Meta-Humans

In 2013, Ra's set up a lair for her to reside in and be her eyes and ears in Gotham City. When Ra's located Basil Karlo in The Stacked Deck he sent Barbara there to retrieve him. When she got there, she saw Karlo talking to a bartender and approached him to give him a serum. She then told the bartender to leave them alone and after exchanging a few dirty looks, she did so. Barbara gave Karlo which she explained would turn him into something stronger. With a happy look on his face, Karlo quickly accepted and downed the serum instantly. He then transformed into a mutated clay-like creature and was told to reek havoc. After Clayface had been defeated by the bat vigilante, Barbara was looking over the fight in her lair when Ra's appeared from the shadows behind her. He asked how the fight between Karlo and the vigilante went when Barbara responded by pointing at a security feed, disappointed, Ra's questioned how he could've been defeated so easily with that amount of weaponry. Barbara agreed and asked who the next criminal they were after was.

Barbara met up with her old ally Edward Nygma and handed him a weapon she received from Ra's, a mind-controlling cane. They shake hands and split up but not before Barbara's face is captured on camera by a reporter. When Jim heard that there were sightings of the supposedly deceased crime lord Barbara Kean in the theatre district of Gotham he went to investigate and noticed an unusual building beside the Arkham Bridge and entered it. Once inside, Barbara flipped the light switch, showing herself and leaving Jim in shock, she walked over to her desk and began to flip a deck of playing cards. Jim walked over to her and, still with a look shock on his face, asked her how she was alive. Barbara taunted him, referring to him electrocuting and killing her. Jim began to look guilty and was about to arrest her until she pointed to a small group of assassins in the corner of the room and he lowered his hand cuffs. She then put her mouth to his ear and whispered that she was going to kill Sarah in front of him, Jim then leaves hastily with a worried look on his face.

Barbara later visits her daughter, Barbara Gordon, Barbara II looked shocked and afraid to see her supposedly dead and psychopathic mother in front of her. Barbara I caressed her cheek and told her she had grown into a beautiful woman before Barbara II attempts to fly kick her but with no success. Gordon falls to the floor and begins to look distressed, Kean only laughed and told her that she will end up exactly like her one day and left with a smile on her face, leaving Gordon on the floor, in a clear state of shock. Sarah Essen-Gordon, now married to Jim, later discovered that Barbara had returned and sought to kill her once again. However, when she found Barbara's hideout, she was greeted by Ra's who was acting as Barbara's lawyer, explaining that all charges against her were dropped. As Sarah was being distracted, Barbara dropped off a present with a note, reading, "*Got you a little something, for old times sake. Kisses - B*". When Sarah opened her gift, she discovered it was a bomb and quickly dove out of her office, it being decimated and her barely surviving.

Ra's later sent Barbara to transform their next victim, botanist Dr. Pamela Isley who was working an internship at a Wayne Enterprises building. However, when Barbara reached the location, Isley's mentor, Dr. Jason Woodrue already had her tied to a gurney. He exclaimed about his new serum and how he needed a test subject and Barbara watched on in horror as Woodrue injected the botanist with said serum, causing her to seize so much that the gurney fell over. Not wanting a horrible man to do this, Barbara appeared from her hiding spot, causing Woodrue to become startled and afraid, falling back into a huge table of poisonous chemicals. As the chemicals began to burn his skin, Barbara eventually put him out of his misery by swiftly decapitating him with her sword. The spilt chemicals managed to catch a loose wire and a fire began. Seeing this a failed mission, Barbara left the building, annoyed.

Later, after Isley had returned with powers and a new name, "Poison Ivy", Barbara observed her via cameras in her lair and was then visited by Ra's. He complimented Dr. Woodrue on his work and firmly told Barbara that she needed to step up her game. She explained that he had begun his experiment before she had even arrived, giving her no chance to subdue Isley. He said nothing and simply left. Eventually, Ivy was defeated by the vigilante, with the media now referring to him as "Batman" and Barbara seemed annoyed that he was interfering in their plans. However, Ra's simply smiled and told Barbara not to worry as everything was going according to plan.

## Legacy

### Jim and Sarah's Marriage

After Barbara's death, Jim realised that he really could have died in that moment and could've lost everything including Sarah. After he safely got home to her, he proposed. Barbara's death also made him realise that with her out of they way, he could finally get back to living his life with Sarah and his daughter.

## Personality

Initially, Barbara was a sweet and kind individual. She loved her family more than anything and always supported her then-husband as much as she could. However, after being kidnapped and driven mad by The Ogre, she became a twisted and almost demented woman. She had no issue with taking the lives of many others regardless of age or gender. After her resurrection, Barbara seemed much more calm than her prior personality but still retained her cold and murderous nature.

## Powers and Abilities

### Former Powers

* **Lazarus-Altered Physiology:** When she became the leader of the League, Ra's altered Barbara's physiology and injected lazarus-altered energy into her, granting her access to her newfound powers that are linked to the League of Assassins.
	+ **Beacon/Signal:** As the leader of the League, Barbara was able to emit a bright, white light from her hand to bring the members to her location.
	+ **Premonition:** Thanks to the mystical energy flowing through her veins, Barbara is able to be able to see events that were about to happen to her, allowing her to quickly save herself.

### Abilities

* **Genius-Level Intellect/Expert Tactician/Leader/Physician:** Barbara is known for her extreme intelligence, a tool that she uses daily to stay ahead of everyone else. Thanks to her genius intellect, she able to graduate medical school and receive a PhD by the time she was 26, allowing her to become a renowned and promising surgeon at Gotham General Hospital. Her intelligence has been a crucial part of her survival within Gotham for so many years, allowing her to plan her moves in the criminal underworld and helping her rise the ranks so quickly. She is also an extremely adept leader, being able to lead her own crime family at the top of Gotham's criminal underworld for many years until her death at the hands of her ex-husband, Jim Gordon.
	+ **Medical Knowledge:** Barbara is extremely well-versed in multiple fields of medicine. Having gone through medical school, she was trained in several areas and it has become one of her main areas of expertise. While working at Gotham General Hospital, Barbara was renowned as one of the hospital's top surgeons, having a reputation of being able to save someone who was even considered too far gone. Whilst she worked with Tabitha Galavan, Barbara would always help stitch her back up after she was injured during one of their missions. After becoming involved with the Bat Family, she has also served as the team's medic alongside Alfred Pennyworth.

* **Peak of Human Physical Condition:** After her resurrection, Barbara became a full time member of the League of Assassins, a position that requires a person's body to be in top physical strength.
	+ **Honed Senses:** Barbara is able to quickly sense in coming attacks and swiftly counter them before any damage can be done to her.
	+ **Acrobatics/Free-Running:** Barbara is able to jump off a high enough ledge and land perfectly on her feet without injuring herself. She is also an expert gymnast, being able to do several back flips onto a high ledge and also several cartwheels to dodge incoming attacks.
* **Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant/Martial Artist:** After being resurrected, Barbara was heavily and brutally trained by Ra's in the League of Assassins, eventually becoming extremely skilled in combat. She has displayed a fighting style compromised of Kali, Krav Maga, Taekwondo, Karate, Kung Fu, Jeet Kun Do, Judo, Jujitsu, Muay Thai, Aikido, and Silat. She became so skilled that she almost managed to overtake Ra's al Ghul himself in skill. She was also able to go toe-to-toe with fellow League trainee, Batman, and managed to hold her own against him. Her skill seemed equal to Talia al Ghul and Vesper Fairchild, the latter of whom had been training for centuries. Even without a weapon, Barbara is extremely capable of taking on a large group of assailants by herself and coming out on top.
	+ **Expert Sword-fighter:** Barbara was also trained by the League of Assassins in sword fighting and was able to fight even Batman very well with a sword.
	+ **Expert Marksmanship:** Barbara has become very skilled in shooting people in exact areas from very far distances as she was able to shoot someone on a stage directly in the head from the very back of them room.

### Weaknesses

* **Electricity:** Even after being resurrected, Barbara is still very sensitive to electricity. Even if only a jolt goes through her, her mind cannot handle it and it completely disorientates her.

## Equipment

### Former Equipment

* **Katana:** After joining the League, Barbara chose a katana as her choice of weapon, always keeping it holstered on her right thigh in case of danger. However, it was later stolen by Talia al Ghul who used it to stab Barbara.

## Appearances

### *Batman: Anarky*

Season 1
* "Pilot"
* "Hey, Diddle Diddle"
* "Die One, Die All" (flashback)
* "Green Fingers"
* "Venom"
* "Night of the Pyg"
* "Shattered Bloodline"
* "Siren's Cry" (mentioned)
* "Cold, Cold Heart"
* "Curiosity" (mentioned)
* "Treat Them Mean, Keep Them Kean"
* "The Demon's Head"
* "Legacies"
* "The Secret Six" (mentioned)
* "Past Sins"
* "Heir"
* "Battle for Gotham"

Season 2
* "Fallout"
* "Loyalty"
* "Lost Love"
* "Abandoned"
* "Fractured Minds"
* "We Are The Freaks"
* "Man of Steel"
* "Frostbite"
* "Hello, Junior"
* "Swimming With The Fishes"
* "Bat Family"
* "Welcome To Earth-2" (mentioned)
* "Escape From Earth-2" (mentioned)
* "Vengeance"
* "Metapocalypse"
* "Arkham Has Fallen"

Season 3
* "New Beginnings"
* "Narrows Rising"
* "A Woman Scorned"
* "Born On a Monday"
* "Family Matters"
* "Pain Is Weakness Leaving the Body" (mentioned)
* "Eye For an Eye"
* "Bloodlines, Part 2"
* "Jokes On You"
* "Nothing To Fear"
* "Fear of Man"
* "A Bird That Can't Fly"
* "Demons"
* "Batgirl Begins, Part 1"
* "Batgirl Begins, Part 2"
* "Wildcard" (mentioned)
* "Joker's Wild"

Season 4
* "Blood Is Thicker Than Water"
* "Family Is Everything"
* "Whom To Trust?" (mentioned)
* "How To Solve a Problem Like a Falcone"
* "The Hangman" (mentioned)
* "Betrayal"
* "Joy of the Holidays"
* "Two-Faced"
* "Agencies"
* "Order & Chaos"
* "Huntress Becomes the Hunted" (mentioned)
* "Friend or Foe"
* "A Tale of Two Sisters"
* "So You Wanna Start a War?"
* "Shadows"

Season 5
* "Crazy Love"
* "The Owls are Watching"
* "Allegiances"
* "Watch Your Back"
* "Girls Night Out"
* "Backstabber"
* "Heritage"
* "Speak Not a Whispered Word"
* "Regrets"
* "Harley & Ivy"
* "Attack on the Nest"
* "The Joke's On You"
* "The Gray Son of Gotham"
* "Judgement Day, Part 1"
* "Judgement Day, Part 2"

Season 6
* "No Man's Land"
* "Fear the Reaper"
* "Fire and Ice"
* "We Are Legion"
* "Chaos Lives"
* "Enter the Sirens"
* "Gotham in Green"
* "Hope"

### *Green Arrow*

#### Season 3

* "Underworld Unleashed, Part 2" (mentioned)

## Trivia

* Barbara's natural hair colour is red.
* Barbara physically appears to be in her mid-30s, however, due to her death and the fact she was born in 1974, she is biologically in her late-40s.

## Behind the Scenes

* In the DC comics, **Barbara Eileen Gordon** is the ex-wife of Jim Gordon and mother of Barbara Gordon and James Gordon, Jr.. She divorced Jim after she discovered he was having an affair with Sarah Essen.

## References

1. ↑ *Batman: Anarky: 1.01: Pilot*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 *Batman: Anarky: 1.11: Treat Them Mean, Keep Them Kean*
3. ↑ Batman: Anarky: 1.03: Die One, Die All
4. ↑ *Batman: Anarky: 1.04: Green Fingers*