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Batgirl: Difference between revisions

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Batgirl (view source)

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[[File:batgirl1.jpg|frame]]
2) By 1966 the ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' live action television show was on the air, and the producer asked [[DC Comics]] to create a new female hero character for the comics that would then also appear on the show to boost viewership by women. The new character debuted in ''Detective Comics'' #359 (January, 1967). The new Batgirl was Barbara Gordon, the adult daughter of Batman's ally Commissioner James Gordon. She had a doctorate in library science and was the head librarian of Gotham Library, in addition to being a skilled acrobat with judo training. Barbara was blessed with an eidetic memory and a gift for invention (or adapting available technology) as she designed and built all of her gadgets independently of Batman. Why would a woman with all that going for her name herself "-girl"? It was still [[The Sixties]].
 
In story, Barbara Gordon had created a "Batgirl" costume for herself to go to a masquerade ball, showing her personality by spending the time and effort to make it fully workable as a crimefighting outfit as well as a costume party winner. On the way to the party, Barbara saw a crime in progress by Killer Moth, and wound up helping Batman and Robin solve the case after an initial misunderstanding or two. Thrilled by the adventure, Batgirl opted to take up heroing full time.
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** She has now been retconned to the same age as him thanks to Flashpoint. They were already about the same age in earlier works such as Batman: TAS.
* [[Redheaded Hero]]
* [[Retcon]] / [[Ret Canon]]: Barbara's age. She was originally a college graduate with a Ph.D while Dick Grayson was still in high school (later a Congresswoman while he was in college, meaning she was, at some point, at least 25), but has been gradually de-aged over the years until the post-[[Flashpoint]] reboot has them at the same age, and barely out of college. Rumor has it that one of the reasons for the reboot was that word around the office was that Barbara was probably pushing 30 by this point, and that wasn't workable. This arguably began with ''[[Batman: The Animated Series (Animation)|Batman the Animated Series]]'', which showed her as roughly the same age as Dick and paired them up romantically.
* [[Stuffed Into the Fridge]]: Her injury in ''[[The Killing Joke]]'' is this, no question. It's been noted that she's not so much a ''character'' in that story as she is a plot device to cause Commissioner Gordon and Batman pain. Alan Moore is on the record saying that this was a case where DC probably should have reigned him in.
 
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[[File:huntress_as_batgirl_super2.gif|frame]]
3) Helena Bertinelli, better known as the [[Huntress]], briefly took up the Batgirl mantle during the ''[[Batman: No MansMan's Land]]'' event (1999). She first appeared in this role in ''Shadow of the Bat'' #83 (March, 1999). Batman eventually forced her to stop using the costume as he felt Helena's attitude and behavior were inconsistent with his standards. She went back to being the Huntress, and later joined the [[Birds of Prey]].
 
==== Tropes exhibited by the Helena Bertinelli Batgirl include: ====
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* [[No Social Skills]]: What with her upbringing, it would be odder if she did ''not'' have trouble interacting.
* [[The Quiet One]]: After gaining the ability to speak, but before her [[Face Heel Turn]]. Somewhat restored after her [[Heel Face Turn]].
* [[Put Onon a Bus]]: As of the new Batgirl series, and for a while her last appearance was on one of Oracle's monitors boarding a plane, destination unknown. Ultimated ended up [[Commuting Onon a Bus]] to ''Batman: Incorporated''.
* [[Tap Onon the Head]]: Often applied by Cassandra to Stephanie.
* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: Because of her ability to read body language, when she made her first kill she was able to understand the fear of death on an intimate level, and vowed to never take another life.
* [[Training From Hell]]: First nine or so years of her life were spent doing this.
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* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: You could rename this trope Pulling a Stephanie Brown.
* [[One of Us]]: Within the series, Batgirl likes Supergirl all the more because she is able to follow the [[Techno Babble]] explanation for their current crisis and has a sufficient grasp of grammar to realize that "BFF" is ''already'' plural.
* [[Overshadowed Byby Awesome]]: Stephanie is probably a more skilled martial artist than any person in the entirety of the Real World, but considering she lives in ''Gotham'' she keeps being humbled and humiliated by Batman and people with superpowers.
* [[Plucky Girl]]: One of Stephanie's crowning characteristics is no matter what crap is loaded on top of her, she remains cheerful and pops back up.
* [[Precocious Crush]]: Stephanie has become somewhat infatuated with the detective that is shaping up to be [[The Commissioner Gordon|her contact with the local police]], but the age difference (And the implication that he has some serious relationship baggage) will probably preclude any sort of actual relationship.
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