Batgirl

*You picked us Batman,because you knew we were strong.*
―Batgirl giving Batman faith in his teammates.[src]
**Barbara Gordon** a.k.a. **Batgirl** is one of the deuteragonists of *The Batman.* Years later, Barbara became an information broker known as Oracle. She is also the new female protagonist of *The Batman*, replacing Ellen Yin for the remainder of the series.

## Batgirl

* Batgirl
* Barbara Gordon

### Aliases

Red (by Poison Ivy)Sunshine (by Vulture)
Commish's Kid

### Relatives

James Gordon (father)Unnamed mother (deceased)

### Powers

GymnasticsAthletics
Hand-to-hand combat
Martial Arts
Arsenal of various gadgets
Intelligence
Investigation

## Physical description

### Age

16 (Season three-four)17 (season five)
36 (*Artifacts*)

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Danielle Judovits (English)
Kellie Martin (as Oracle)
Kotomi Yamakawa (Japanese)
Yaraivi Alcedo (Spanish)
Chantal Barion (French)
Debora Magnaghi (Italian)
Julia Kolakowska (Polish)
Maria Rydberg (Swedish)
Raleen Dagher (Arabic)

## Physical Appearance

Barbara has shoulder-length red hair and brown eyes. Her Batgirl costume is a purple bodysuit with a black cape, cowl, gloves, and boots with purple highlights and she also sports a gold bat-symbol and a gold utility belt. Her costume is modified from a gymnast dress she had. Her civilian attire consists of a blue T-shirt that exposes part of her midriff with a white undershirt and a yellow circle and blue jeans. She also wears a yellow wrist band.

In a possible future, she has gotten taller, and so did her hair, she wears glasses a yellow bat-shaped necklace, and is now bounded to a wheelchair. She also changed her codename to Oracle.

Oracle.
## Personality

Barbara is a strong-willed, stubborn teen with an ironic wit. She is rather hot-headed as she sometimes jump to danger without planning. She also tends to lighten the mood in comparison to the Batman's brooding demeanor.

## History

She was first mentioned in the episode *Night and the City* and made her first appearance on the episode *Batgirl Begins, Part One*. On the show, Barbara Gordon was the 16-year-old teenage daughter of Gotham Police Commissioner James Gordon and a student of Gotham High. Though an excellent gymnast, she has lost interest in gymnastics; however, her father wanted her to continue in the hope she might attend an Olympic Games. Although not as interested in gymnastics, she found police detective work fascinating - which worried her father. In addition to that, Barbara associated with her close friend Pamela Isley, a fellow student with a juvenile-detention record - something James did not like. During a battle with Temblor in the Chlorogenic lab, Barbara saw Batman in action; after this, the seed to become Batgirl (or “Batwoman” as she demands to be called until Commissioner Gordon calls her by the Batgirl name) was planted. The battle also caused Pamela to become the villainess Poison Ivy after an experimental plant mutagen fell upon her. Batgirl arrived at Poison Ivy's lair to help Batman save Gordon (though she originally wanted to save her friend from getting into more trouble) only to find Batman under Poison Ivy's mind control. Batgirl was then forced to fight Batman. During the battle, she beat Batman in hand-to-hand combat by kicking him into a pond which freed him of Poison Ivy's control. After she defeated Poison Ivy and saved her father, Batman decided not to tell Gordon that his daughter is Batgirl. That first adventure, Batgirl said was "only the beginning".

She aided the Dark Knight with numerous cases, proving herself as a trusted ally. Batman himself, despite never asking to have a partner, becomes fond of her working with him - though he would not admit it. At one point, in the episode *A Dark Knight to Remember*, she had figured out that Batman is secretly Bruce Wayne as the billionaire is physically fit and can afford to purchase equipment that Batman would require. However, Wayne suffered partial amnesia during that time which made him lose the memory of his existence as the Dark Knight Detective which threw Barbara off. They then stopped many other cases such as when Joker stole Bane's Venom, when Catwoman smuggled rare tigers, and when Ivy replaced Gotham with plants. For all of his efforts however, Bruce could not convince Barbara to give up this risky lifestyle, and she constantly complained that Batman was keeping her "out of the loop". She even felt jealous when Prank, Joker's sidekick, saw his hideout while she had not seen Batman's hideout. After she saved Gotham from Maxie Zeus' siege in the episode *Thunder*, the Dark Knight gave her his spare gadgets and accepted her as his partner.

Batman finally let Barbara in on his secret in the episode *Team Penguin* after getting second partner Robin (Dick Grayson). Deciding they needed teamwork training and to learn to trust one another more, the trio shares their secret identities (but Batgirl is reluctant to give up hers so Batman does it for her) and begins training. She and Robin develop a sibling-like relationship throughout the show and gets annoyed when Robin calls her "Babs".

Despite their initial dislike, the Barbara and Dick managed to (somewhat) get along. The two once managed to capture and stop Black Mask all by themselves while Batman was disarming his bomb. The event gave both a better understanding of the other. Later in *Strange New World*,she managed to stop both Robin and Batman from detonating bombs containing hallucination gas concucted by Hugo Strange. She first cured Robin from its effects then tried doing the same for Batman. After long thought, Batman decided to ignore everything Strange said and place trust in her. He gave up his resistance and Batgirl successfully cured him.

In *Seconds*, Batgirl went up against Francis Gray, a foe who can reverse time. Batman eventually realised he was building a bomb filled with deadly poison gas to exact his revenge on Gotham. Batman sent Batgirl on a mission to find his son Matthew Gray in hopes to convince Gray to stop. Despite Batman adapting to his antics, Francis still managed to won. Batgirl arrived with Matt a little too late, just as the bomb went off. Along with hundreds, Batgirl succumbed to the gas. After Francis watched his son die in his arms, he managed to reverse time back to before he stole the watch. He decided to do the right choice and opened a business with his son years later.

In *Two of a Kind*, Barbara helped the Dynamic Duo defeat Joker and Harley Quinn, although, the former managed to escape yet again.

In the two-parter episode *The Joining*, she participated in the battle to save Earth with Robin from the alien technological entity known as The Joining. Batman initially felt skeptical involving them in this mission, as he felt he has been relying too much on them, and they would "get in the way". After the Joining took over Earth, Batman made a final stand and went to disable their forces on his own, and he told the two teens to stay behind. Alfred encouraged them to disobey him, and disobey they did. The two then saved Batman from a few Joining robots and told Batman that he chose them for a reason. Batman revealed he wanted them to stay not because they would be an obstacle, but because he feared losing them. As the two teenagers plus Martian Manhunter defended Batman from the Joining, Batman uploaded a signal that crippled the Joining's forces.

In season five, Barbara graduates from Gotham High and enrolls at Gotham University. Due to this, she did not appear often this season, though, she helped the duo when she could.

In *White Heat*, she escorted Blaise to safety while the Batman dealt with the new Firefly, now going by Phosphorous.

Then in *Joker Express*, while the Batman was conversing with Commissioner Gordon, Robin found Batgirl suddenly bursting in fits of laughter. He realised Joker somehow got to her. She then stole a few jewelery and almost dropped Robin off a bridge, until Batman swopped in and snapped her out of it. The Dynamic Duo decided to find how Joker got to her by following her daily routine. As she was taking the train to college, the lights started flickering. The trio were seen later robbing a museum. They then followed Joker to the train and broke the lights. Joker escaped and left Punch and Judy to deal with them. The trio defeated them then followed Joker to abandoned mines. Joker captured them and revealed his plan to bomb the mines so that Gotham would literally fall apart. They escaped, and Batman made a new hole in the Batcave to get the Batmobile. The trio pursued Joker in the Batmobile. Batman jumped on Joker's getaway train and stopped him. Afterwards,Barbara thought of using the hole Batman made in the Batcave to make her own "Batgirlcave". Batman, though, wanted to block it.

She made a cameo in *What Goes Up...*.

She lastly appeared in *Lost Heroes, Part Two*, where she helped the Justice League fight the androids who stole their powers. Batgirl and Robin distracted the Superman android, giving the real Superman the opportunity to take it down and restore his powers. After the androids were destroyed, the Joining gave Strange all the knowledge in the universe as he requested, and it then unleashed an a second invasion on Earth. Superman and Green Lantern fought the fleets in space, Hawkman fought against the ships in the sky, and Flash and Green Arrow fended off the ground. Martian Manhunter then read Hugo Strange's mind to find the code to stop the Joining. However, a gigantic Joining robot appeared,so the Dynamic Duo fought it until Batgirl finishes installing the code. Martian Manhunter sent the code telepathically to Batgirl, but as he sent the final piece, the robot attacked him. Before it could reach Batgirl, she finished the code and sent a virus to the Joining, destroying it once and for all. The League and the two teenagers then happily enjoyed their victory in the Watchtower.

### Possible Future

In *Artifacts*,Barbara is now confined to a wheelchair (possibly due to Joker) and now goes by "Oracle". She helps Batman from the Batcave as an information broker. After Batman does awakwardly in a fight against Mr. Freeze 2.0, she sends Nightwing via the Batwing. Despite him quitting the Robin identity years ago, the two jokingly kept calling him as such.

A thousand years later, a party of GCPD cops found the Batcave. Upon seeing the wheelchair, they thought it belonged to Alfred.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Acrobatics**
* **Athletics**
* **Gymnastics:** Barbara is a skilled gymnast and has won many prizes. Even before becoming Batgirl, she managed to dodge all of Temblor's attacks. She also managed to kick Bud and Lou mid-air.
* **Driving:** She gained a driver's license sometime after *RPM*.
* **Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)**
	+ **Martial Arts**
* **Computer Operation:** In the future, Barbara became an information broker that constantly helped the Batman via the Batcomputer.
	+ **Computer Hacking**
* **Gadgetry**
* **Stealth**

## Weaknesses

* Barbara is still a teenager and is prone to act irrationally.
* She sometimes gets distracted by bickering with Robin.
* She struggles with foes much bigger than her such as venom-powered Joker or Gorilla.

## Relationships

### Allies

#### The Batman

Barbara first saw Batman when he was fighting Temblor. After Poison Ivy kidnapped the commissioner,Barbara was inspired by the Batman and created her own Batsuit. As Batman was fighting Ivy, Batgirl saved him from a small plant that was about to leap on him. After he had to save her from falling, he told her to quit or he would have to tell the commissioner. After another enounter with Ivy, Batman ended under her control. Batgirl swooped in and kicked him to a pond, which made the effects of the pheromones wear off. Together, the two managed to stop Ivy, and Batman decided not to tell the commissioner about Batgirl's secret. Throughout the season, Batgirl tried proving herself and would help him occasionally, but Batman believed he would better on his own. After seeing her take down Maxie Zeus's operation all by herself, Batman decided to taker her in and give her gadgets. After Dick Grayson became Robin, he decided to take her to the Batcave and reveal his identity. Batman would then trust her for important missions, such as curing him from Hugo Strange's gas, finding Matthew Gray, and stopping the Joining.

#### James Gordon

Barbara has a good relation with her father. She often looks out for him and gets worried about him sometimes, and vice versa. He also believes her to be independent enough, as he trusts her to go home on her own whenever a villain appears. Despite their trust, James does not know Barbara is Batgirl. In the future, James would still look out for his daughter and often call her to see how she is doing.

#### Robin

When they first met, Barbara was jealous from him because she thought Batman favored him, as he took him in, showed him the Batcave, and revealed his identity to him much faster than for her. The two did not stand the other and kept bragging on who has better accomplishments. After they took down Team Penguin,the two started to (somewhat get along). The two would develop a sibling-like relationship and often bicker and make fun of each other. When they do not bicker however, Barbara acts to him as an older sister, as she once comforted him when he was scared. Despite their bickering, they developed good team synergy. They both once tried to kick Alfred's head off to see whether or not he was a robot, until he threatened them to not give them cookies for a year.

#### Alfred Pennyworth

As with Robin, Alfred serves as a mentor of sorts to Batgirl. He once encouraged her to disobey Batman's orders to save Earth.

### Enemies

#### Poison Ivy

Barbara and Pamela started as good friends. The duo would often prank corporations for harming plants and polluting the globe. After Barbara figured out Temblor was hired by Ivy, she was mad and disappointed at her. Still, after she got hospitalised, Barbara felt sorry for her friend. After Pamela turned into Poison Ivy, she paid Barbara a visit and told her she would avenge the plants by destroying all of those who destroyed them. Barbara then donned the Batgirl costume to stop her. After she and Batman froze her using ice pellets, she looked regretfully over her old friend. In a later episode, after she and Batman tackled another one of her schemes, Ivy was crying under the rain over her dead plants. Batgirl felt remorse for her.

#### Catwoman

Batgirl had a rivalry with Catwoman and did not trust the moment she met her. As opposed to Batman, she believed Catwoman did not have any good in her. She felt reluctant teaming up with her to stop Joker, as she felt it was like "calling Penguin for help". Ultimately, Catwoman betrayed them,and Batgirl felt stupid for thinking she might change her ways. Batman comforted her by telling her she was the one who suspected her to begin with.

#### Prank

Donnie used to be the class clown in Barbara's class, however, nobody found him funny. He once shot a paper ball at Barbara, and put a whoopee cushion on her chair. Barbara made fun of him in front of class, which made everyone laugh at him. He decided to prove he is funny by going to a comedy club. Nobody there found him funny either, except Joker. Joker took him under his wing as a sidekick with the name Prank. When Batgirl met Prank, she instantly recognized his laugh as Donnie's. When Joker ordered Prank to kill her, he refused, so Joker took him to Ace Chemicals to turn him into a mini-Joker. Batman and Batgirl stopped him, but he then got up and pointed a gun at them. Donnie decided to betray Joker and knock him out with a boxing glove.

#### Terrible Trio

When Barbara saw one of the trio's members, David, get bullied, she offered help, but he told her to mind her own business. After Jake was hospitalised she was disgusted that they found it funny. Amber made her leave the room and offered to the trio to turn her into a gorilla, too, until the trio was interrupted by an announcement.

## Paraphernalia

* **Batsuit**
* **Batarang**
* **Grapple Gun**
* **Filter Mask**
* **Ice Pellets**
* **Mini-Laser**
* **Binoculars**
* **Flashlight**
* **Communication Device**
* **Lockpick:** A lockpick which she keeps inside her boots.
* **Handcuffs**
* **Bolas**
* **Radiation Detector**
* **Utility Belt**
* **Anti-Freeze Batsuit**
* **Batwave**
* **Bat-Glider**
* **Batcycle** Batsuit.Batarang (homemade)Batarang.Grapple Gun (homemade)Grapple GunFilter Mask.Laser.Binoculars and Communication Device.Flashlight.Lockpick.Handcuffs.Ice Pellets.Bolas.Radiation Detector.Utility Belt (homemade)Utility Belt.Batwave.Batcycle.Bat-Glider.

## Appearances

### Season 3

* *Batgirl Begins, Part One* (First appearance)
* *Batgirl Begins, Part Two*
* *A Dark Knight to Remember*
* *RPM*
* *Brawn*
* *The Laughing Cats*
* *Fleurs du Mal*
* *The Apprentice*
* *Thunder*

### Season 4

* *Team Penguin*
* *Strange New World*
* *The Breakout*
* *Artifacts* (as Oracle)
* *Two of a Kind*
* *Seconds*
* *The Joining, Part 1*
* *The Joining, Part 2*

### Season 5

* *White Heat*
* *Joker Express*
* *Attack of the Terrible Trio*
* *What Goes Up...* (cameo)
* *Lost Heroes, Part Two*

### *The Batman Strikes!*

* Issue 18
* Issue 21
* Issue 22
* Issue 23
* Issue 24
* Issue 25
* Issue 29
* Issue 33
* Issue 34
* Issue 35: *The Clown Prince Of Late Night*
* Issue 36
* Issue 37
* Issue 40
* Issue 45
* Issue 46
* Issue 47

## Trivia

* This Batgirl serves as Batman's first sidekick instead of Robin, which was different from the comics and other media as the character was in another animated TV series, *Teen Titans* between 2003-2006.
* Her Batgirl costume bears a striking resemblance to the Batgirl costume worn by the late Yvonne Craig in the 1960's Live-Action *Batman* TV series.
* Barbara's mother is deceased in this continuity and it is unknown how she died.
* Barbara has never teamed up with a Justice League member, not even in the tie-in comics. The only exception is *Lost Heroes, Part Two.*
* Despite her gaining a new belt and gadgets in *Thunder*, Barbara wore her old belt for the remainder of the series, and she used a mixture of her own and Batman's gadgets.
* Batgirl is one of the characters with their own leitmotif, alongside Batman, Robin, the GCPD (Yin, Ethan, Gordon), Cash Tankenson, Superman, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Joker, Catwoman, Kabuki Twins, Killer Croc, Spellbinder, Gearhead, Harley Quinn, the Joining, Captain Slash, and Wrath and Scorn.
* Barbara initially wanted to go by Batwoman, before finally settling on Batgirl. Batwoman is the alias of a few heroines in the DC universe.
* Batgirl's Batsuit is modified from her gymnastics outfit.
* She did not interact with either Clayfaces, neither in the show nor in the comics.
* It is unknown how Barbara was crippled in *Artifacts*, however it was most likely Joker,as Joker in this series shares a similar origin with that of *The Killing Joke*, and in said series, Joker crippled Barbara. However, given how *The Batman* changes some of the Batman mythos and seeing how *Young Justice* Barbara was not paralysed by Joker, that is not necessarily the case.
* Batgirl and Robin also share a rivalry in the 2019 *DC Super Hero Girls* series. Although there, it is much less friendly.
* This marks the first animated appearance of Oracle.

## External Links

* Barbara Gordon/ Batgirl on the DC Database wiki site (this version)
* Barbara Gordon/ Batgirl on the Heroes wiki site (this version)

## References

1. ↑ Brawn
2. ↑ The Laughing Cats
3. ↑ Fleurs du Mal
4. ↑ The Apprentice
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Breakout
6. ↑ Joker Express
7. ↑ Attack of the Terrible Trio
8. ↑ Batgirl Begins, Part One
9. ↑ Artifacts
10. ↑ Two of a Kind
11. ↑ Strange New World
12. ↑ Seconds
13. ↑ Lost Heroes, Part Two
14. ↑ Team Penguin