Like all of Batman's protégés, Barbara takes her duties very seriously and like Batman, Nightwing and Robin, is a natural at leadership, often taking control when the situation calls for it.[7]
Physical appearance
When Barbara was 13 years old, she had shoulder-length red hair, draped around the back of her head. She has blue eyes.[8]
Five years later, Barbara gained a slender and fairly muscular build.[7] When not in costume, she usually wears her hair in a ponytail.[9] As Batgirl, she wears a dark gray form fitting costume with a black bat symbol, and black padding at the abdomen and lower back. She also has black boots, gloves and a black cape and cowl.[7]
As of 2018, Barbara now wears round glasses and is always in civilian attire. She also uses a wheelchair.
On the first day of the new year at Gotham Academy, she noticed Dick take a picture of a new girl and asked him about it, with a hint of jealousy in her voice.[8]
Barbara attended Dick's 14th birthday party at Wayne Manor. She said hello when he brought Artemis and Bette in. He told her he hadn't noticed her arrival.[11]
Gotham City December 1, 20:00EST
Barbara played a game of foosball with Artemis against Dick and Bette, scoring the winning goal. She gloated that she always beat Dick.[12]
It was Barbara's turn in spin-the-bottle, and when the bottle stopped, it pointed straight at Dick. He helped her up, and they went inside a closet.[13]
Gotham City December 1, 21:16EST
They sat in silence. Dick was okay with just biding his time, but Barbara lunged at him and kissed him.[13]
2011-2015
At some unspecified point of time, Barbara took on the guise of "Batgirl" and joined the Team.
Batgirl waited for the mission briefing when Rocket and Zatanna arrived to wish Nightwing a happy birthday. She smiled when Zatanna kissed him, while everyone else was shocked at the display of affection.[15]
Nightwing ordered Miss Martian and Lagoon Boy to split off from Beta Squad and head to the Moon. Batgirl was given command of Beta.[16]
Metropolis December 1, 10:35EST
Batgirl convened with Bumblebee about their mission. Karen felt that, without their big guns, they were shorthanded, but Barbara disagreed, as with Devastation missing, their biggest threat was gone too. Right at that moment, a large spaceship descended over the city.
The ship created a bubble that trapped part of Metropolis. Karen tried contacting the Cave, but the communication was cut off.[16]
Metropolis December 1, 10:45EST
Batgirl contacted Black Lightning, who was also trapped under the bubble in nearby Suicide Slum. They concluded that all communications and Zeta capabilities were offline. Karen dug in the ground at the edge of the dome, and saw it continued under the ground.
Fearing all this might be a distraction to harm Noor Harjavti, Barbara ordered Karen and Gar to suit up and make contact with her.[16]
Metropolis December 1, 13:45EST
Batgirl and Jim Harper looked on as Black Lightning blasted the force field with electricity from inside, while Zatanna tried to breach it with magic from outside, to no avail.[11]
Metropolis December 1, 14:01EST
Batgirl waited at the edge of the field with Lightning and Jim.[11]
After Nightwing displayed a holo-message telling those inside the force field about the probe that may be generating the field, Batgirl responded with a message saying Black Lightning would investigate. She then displayed an exploding birthday cake.[11]
Batgirl maintained contact with Plastic Man at the field's edge.[12]
Metropolis December 1, 17:30EST
Plastic Man shifted into a message board to ask Batgirl if she was okay; she responded with a holographic smiley face. Both were surprised when Match erupted from the ground near Batgirl.[12]
Batgirl held Match at bay, jumping out of the way of his attacks. Her cape was damaged by his heat vision.[17]
Metropolis December 1, 18:20EST
Having fought him long enough for the park to evacuate, Batgirl decided to end the battle. She threw a foam and smoke pellet at Match; the smoke distracted him, and the foam choked him. Batgirl could not evade his wild flails though, and was thrown against the edge of the force field.[17]
Metropolis December 1, 18:33EST
Black Lightning helped Batgirl back up when Bumblebee contacted her. They had reached the probe and figured out a way to shut it down. Batgirl gave her the go-ahead. She then enquired about Match, and Black Lightning informed her he was long gone.[13]
Metropolis December 1, 19:03EST
They noticed the force field was down, but also that those who were inside were 20 percent smaller. Batgirl was informed by Nightwing they had persuaded the Collector of Worlds to leave, but he would change everyone to their original size first.[13]
Metropolis December 1, 22:03EST
As all heroes met up to discuss the next steps, Plastic Man showed Batgirl how the resizing affected him.[13]
Barbara waited on the steps of Dick's warehouse until he came home. She wanted to wish him a happy birthday, though because Dick was late, it was a little past midnight. They kissed, and Dick asked her why they weren't a couple. She replied it was his reputation with women that made her conclude he wasn't ready for her yet. She didn't mind spending some time with him, though, and they went in together.[13]
Batgirl and Wonder Girl tried to save United Nations Secretary General Tseng from being killed by Lobo. Lobo easily took care of them and revealed that Tseng was actually a mechanical construct being operated by a Krolotean.[7]
Batgirl, Robin and Nightwing joined Batman on Malina Island to investigate and stop the Kroloteans. They were Gamma Squad, primarily concerned with taking down armed guards, while the others moved on gathering intelligence and infiltrating from below.
Batgirl and Nightwing worked together to knock out Manta Troopers, and when Batman called it, they all retreated back to the Bio-Ship because the island was about to explode.[18]
Batgirl bade a farewell to Batman, who joined the other Leaguers on a mission to Rimbor to stand trial for the crimes they committed when they were under the Light's mind control.[18]
Batgirl, Bumblebee, Miss Martian and Wonder Girl were tasked with investigating boom tube activity in Bialya. On their way there, Nightwing gave them a final briefing, and explained he chose an all-female Alpha Squad to counteract Queen Bee's ability to control men. Batgirl did not like that, and asked him if an all-male squad would also require a rationalization. This left Nightwing speechless, and the girls rejoiced that Queen Bee wasn't the only one able to mess with a man's mind.[19]
After finding many empty sites Alpha Squad found a heavily guarded area. Miss Martian tells Bumblebee and Batgirl to disperse and investigate a hangar. Wonder Girl reluctantly stayed behind as lookout.
Batgirl used her batrope to get to the roof, and infiltrated via the air vents. She analyzed the facility, and found a secret temple twenty meters beneath the ground. She was still there when a lockdown was issued, and met up with Bumblebee, who was looking for a way out. Together, they investigated the lower room. They found a room teeming with soldiers, and when Batgirl investigated further, she found sedated children, stored in canisters. Before she could do anything, she was knocked unconscious by a mind blast from Psimon. She was placed in a canister, and Psimon and his allies stored her in a cargo plane, ready for take-off.
Bumblebee had alerted the others of Batgirl's capture, and while Miss Martian held Psimon busy, Bumblebee freed and woke Batgirl. Still a bit hurt from Bumblebee's close range blast, she made her way to the cockpit and fired up the engines.
Devastation tried to stop her by ripping open the cockpit roof, but Wonder Girl got her away from the plane. Mammoth threw a forklift at the plane, causing one of its wings to break off. With its telemetry off, the other wing gave way too, and Batgirl was helpless as the plane rolled over the end of the runway. The Bio-Ship was able to catch it before it hit the bottom of the ravine.[19]
Nightwing debriefed Alpha Squad. Batgirl explained that they interviewed the abductees; most were runaways and all were kidnapped after the destruction of Malina Island and the Kroloteans. Despite Wonder Girl's reservations, Nightwing declared the mission a success. Batgirl celebrated by pulling Wonder Girl into a group hug.[19]
Having noted the scarab imagery in the temple, Batgirl presented her recordings of the walls to Doctor Fate. He translated the hieroglyphics, revealing an ancient ritual to cleanse a scarab. While Fate and Zatanna began the months long preparations to perform the ritual, Batgirl and Robin began to look into the history of the Scarab and Blue Beetle, starting with hacking into the computer files of the late Ted Kord.[20]
Barbara attended Raquel Ervin's bridal shower with all the other female members of the Justice League and the Team. After the party was interrupted by an armored car robbery by Captain Cold, Batgirl assisted in his defeat.[22]
Alpha Squad, consisting of Barbara, Tim and Bumblebee, observed Tigress and a squad of Manta Troopers as they prepared to put some teenagers, held in a pen, into containment pods. Barbara and Tim quietly jumped into the pen, assuring the captives they were there to help. One girl was uncertain they could be trusted, until she saw Bumblebee fly into Tim's jacket. The captives were placed into pods and Tigress ordered the Manta Troopers to load them aboard the Manta-Flyer.
Miss Martian, who was with other Team members pursuing in the Bio-Ship, contacted Barbara telepathically, who reported they were in the docking bay and sighted the aliens and Aqualad. They were transported to another bay, where she and the others had been left unattended. Nightwing ordered Alpha and M'gann to move now.
Alpha lead the captives to the docking bay, and helped them aboard the Bio-Ship. A strong Reach enforcer, dubbed "Black Beetle" by Wonder Girl, arrived and locked the bay, leaving him with Barbara, Tim, Superboy, Wonder Girl, Bumblebee, Shimmer and one of the abducted teens. The Team members were unsuccessful in fighting Black Beetle, with Barbara and Tim unable to subdue the Reach agent when they tried to taser him.
Barbara ended up fighting Shimmer and beat her, but Black Beetle was able to take down the other team members. As Black Beetle confronted Barbara, Blue Beetle arrived and opened the bay doors, then took on Black Beetle, as Barbara met Nightwing at the Bio-Ship entry port. She handed Bumblebee to Nightwing and told him to be ready to depart once she, Beast Boy and Impulse got everyone else aboard.
The Team made a clean getaway after Lagoon Boy picked up Blue Beetle, and returned to the coast.[9]
Batgirl and Robin formed Delta Squad, who used the Bio-Ship to lay down cover fire for Justice League members who were dealing with attacks by the Warworld, a giant satellite controlled by Mongul, while the rest of the Team boarded the satellite to find a way to shut it down.
After Mongul launched a vast swarm of missiles, Batgirl informed the others that the League's efforts could take out 64 percent of the missiles. Efforts by Earth's military forces dealt with another 13 percent, with the Reach suddenly revealing its fleet of ships that had been hidden in the ocean to deal with the rest of the missiles.[23]
The Warworld May 26, post-12:40UTC
After the rest of the Team had successfully taken down Mongul and shut down the Warworld, Batgirl and Robin regrouped with the others in the docking bay. Blue Beetle suddenly attacked them, causing Arsenal to open the airlock in panic. Beetle closed the airlock and was able to take down the Team, although Arsenal escaped.[23] Batgirl was stored in a stasis cell aboard the vessel.[24]
Batgirl and Impulse traveled to Jaime's hometown to set a trap for them. Batgirl used a line to snag him by the ankle, allowing Impulse to mount the flying hero. The action grounded him. Batgirl used her gas pellets to knock him out, but it was ineffective, because moments later Blue Beetle used his staple gun to pin Batgirl to a tree and Impulse to a wall. With Blue Beetle (or rather, his puppeteer the Ambassador) thinking he had won, Rocket and Zatanna moved in and contained him. Zatanna freed Impulse and Batgirl.[20]
The Team took Blue Beetle to a Bialyan temple Batgirl had discovered months earlier, while on a mission there. After making an entrance and taking out the guards, they ran into Shimmer, Mammoth, and Devastation. Batgirl took on Shimmer, who melted a hole into the ground. Zatanna used a spell to send all three of them into the hole created by Shimmer, and Batgirl sealed it up with some foam pellets. When they reached the underground temple, Rocket placed Blue Beetle on a dais in front of Zatanna. Zatanna went into a mystic trance to summon the power of Isis.
Green Beetle arrived, trying to free Blue Beetle. Impulse was worried, because Batgirl and him already got beaten by Blue Beetle, but Batgirl reminded him that Martians have their own weakness: fire. She threw an explosive at Green Beetle, and Impulse ran around him to make the fire rise. Batgirl warned Impulse to be ready, but Green Beetle phased through the floor and knocked them out.
Green Beetle was defeated by the backup, consisting of Beast Boy, Bumblebee, Wonder Girl, and Robin. Zatanna finished her spell, releasing both Blue and Green Beetle from Reach control. As the Team headed back to base, Batgirl, Zatanna and Robin debriefed Blue Beetle.[20]
Blüdhaven June 14, 00:03EDT
In a video transmission, Batgirl informed Nightwing about the mission proceedings. He acknowledged the report, and congratulated the Team for their success.[20]
Along with Nightwing and Kid Flash, Batgirl shadowed the Light-Reach summit held in an underground cavern. After Aqualad's betrayal was discovered, the Team sprung their trap, and Batgirl's squad blocked off the entrance used by the Light. During the ensuing melee, she took advantage of smoke bombs set off by Kid Flash to take down League of Shadows agents with her martial arts. The battle ended with the heroes victorious, with the capture of the Reach ambassador, Black Manta, the Brain, and Monsieur Mallah.[25]
Along with Robin, Wonder Girl and Bumblebee, Batgirl infested the science lab of the Reach flagship. The squad dispatched the Reach soldiers and scientists present with ease.[26]
When magnetic field disruptors planted by the Reach threatened the Earth, Batgirl joined 39 other heroes of Earth in a briefing in Metropolis City. The heroes would use a computer virus provided by Lex Luthor to safely disable the disruptors. The heroes were paired off with another into twenty squads: one member would run interference against weapons guarding the disruptors, allowing the other to get close enough to plant the virus.[26]Batgirl was assigned to Pi Squad, and worked alongside Zatanna.[27]
Within thirty minutes, all squads had succeeded in their mission.[26]
At the ruins of Mount Justice, Batgirl joined the Team in welcoming the Justice League back to Earth. They told the Justice League that their mission was a success, but at the cost of Kid Flash's life.[26]
Batgirl worked the computer terminals as Aqualad and Nightwing discuss the latter's leave of absence. Aqualad summoned everyone to the mission room, where Batman informed the Team that they would now operate side-by-side with the Justice League from the Watchtower. Not because Mount Justice was destroyed, but because they earned the right to do so. Aqualad assigned Gamma Squad to investigate Batgirl's lead about the whereabouts of Vandal Savage.[26]
After Psimon returned to the United States, Batgirl assigned herself, Superboy, Beast Boy and Miss Martian to Alpha Squad to track him down. She observed with some surprise an apparent spat between Superboy and Miss Martian.[28]
Alpha Squad split up to find Psimon. Barbara scoured the halls with little success until she was confronted by a man who revealed himself to be Psimon. The villain hijacked the Squad's telepathic link through her.[28]
Barbara resisted Psimon, who explained his plan to her and brain blasted her afterwards. When she woke up, Psimon was gone. She dashed to the food mall, where the rest of the Team and Sandra Stanyon were still unconscious.[29]
Powers and abilities
Abilities
Though she has no powers, Batgirl has acquired several skills.
Holographic computer:[12]A standard piece of equipment used by all young heroes under Batman's tutelage,[30] Batgirl uses a version built into a handheld device.[19]
Incendiary grenades: A thrown explosive that creates a lasting, sizable fire.[20]
She has had a long friendship with Dick Grayson, her former classmate.[8] She liked him[13]and may have been interested in being more than friends with him at first.[32] Dick did come to love her, and wanted to get together. But knowing full well about his reputation as, what Wally called, a "dog", Barbara held off that relationship, saying he was not ready for her.[13]
Her behavior towards him was more playful. She was unfazed when Zatanna kissed Nightwing in front of everyone, where everyone else reacted in surprise.[15] She also took great amusement in pushing Nightwing's buttons about his reputation with girls.[19]
In the comics, Barbara was the second character to carry the title of Batgirl, following the Silver Age Bat-Girl Betty Kane. She is the most notable Batgirl. Eventually Barbara became Oracle, a powerful computer hacker and information broker, after the Joker shot her and paralyzed her waist-down in Alan Moore's graphic novel The Killing Joke. As Oracle, Barbara lead the Birds of Prey, and she developed a romantic relationship with Nightwing which led to a short-lived engagement. Following the 2011 reboot of the DCU, the New 52 version of Barbara has regained the use of her legs three years after being crippled by the Joker and has retaken the Batgirl identity.
Young Justice marks Barbara's sixth animated television appearance. She has previously appeared in The Adventures of Batman, The New Adventures of Batman, Batman Beyond, The Batman, and Batman: Brave and the Bold.
