Batgirl

The Dominoed Daredoll…

Barbara Gordon is the only daughter of Commissioner James Gordon and she wanted one thing more than anything else, to follow in her father’s footsteps and do some good with the Gotham City Police Department.  Her father however was less amused by this and wanted her to be a typical teenage girl.  Barbara realized she would get nowhere with her father, so she started crafting a second persona, one that was daddy’s perfect little girl and one who studied martial arts, gymnastics, criminology, and most of all masked vigilantes.

Being inspired by Batman and Robin, Barbara decided to make a Batgirl outfit for the Annual Policeman’s Ball to be held on Halloween at Wayne Manor.  Barbara put on the outfit and headed to the party, only to interrupt the criminal Killer Moth who was robbing Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.

Barbara instinctively went into action defeating Killer Moth and perplexing the civilian dynamic duo in the process.  From that point on, Batman had another ally in the fight on Gotham’s underworld and Batgirl was an staunch ally for many years.  Growing into her role as college graduate, then librarian, and even Congresswoman, Batgirl is among the most respected female heroines active at the time and is very close friends with Supergirl.

Barbara has been romantically involved with Dick Grayson, Robin and private eye Jason Bard as well, though as of this writing, she remains single and rarely dons her cape and cowl.

First Appearance

Created By:  Gardner Fox & Carmine Infantino

Powers

Total Recall – Barbara has a photographic memory and can recall anything that she has seen or heard before given enough time to concentrate on it.

Vulnerabilities

Barbara is a normal human female and as such shares the same vulnerabilities as you or I.

Skills

Acrobat - Barbara is a trained gymnast able to keep up with both Batman and Robin on the rooftops of Gotham.

Athlete- Barbara is a superb athlete as well and could easily compete in women’s track and field.

Computer Hacker – As computer technology improved Barbara kept up with the times and studied methods, legal and illegal, in order to gain access to files for investigations.

Law & Police Methodology – Being the daughter of the Police Commissioner, Barbara knows her way around the legal books and how things are done so perps cannot take a technicality walk.

Martial Artist – Barbara can take down most any criminal she runs into easily managing groups of henchmen without breaking a sweat.

Vehicles – Barbara rides a mean custom Bat Cycle complete with many of the gadgets that the Batmobile contains.

Equipment

Bat Cycle - Barbara rides a custom Harley motorcycle that easily outpaces any Gotham vehicle, except the Batmobile, where it keeps up.

Utility Belt – Barbara’s utility belt contains duplicates of most of Batman’s equipment, although in the beginning she carried a red purse to put those items in, she quickly shed the inherited pocketbook idea and moved on to a more serious way of carrying her equipment.