However, the character Stephanie Brown, originally known as Spoiler and later Robin, succeeds her as Batgirl after Cassandra Cain abandons the role. After receiving harsh feedback from readership, she is later restored to her original conception. The series was canceled in 2006, at which point during the company-wide storyline ' One Year Later', she is established as a villain and head of the League of Assassins. In 2000, she became the first Batgirl to star in an eponymous monthly comic book series, in addition to becoming one of the most prominent characters of Asian descent to appear in American comics. Cain is written as the daughter of assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva and takes the mantle of Batgirl under the guidance of Batman and Oracle. Within the same storyline, the character Cassandra Cain is introduced. In the 1999 storyline ' No Man's Land', the character Helena Bertinelli, known as Huntress, briefly assumes the role of Batgirl until she is stripped of the identity by Batman for violating his stringent codes. Although she is reimagined as the computer expert and information broker Oracle by editor Kim Yale and writer John Ostrander the following year, her paralysis sparked debate about the portrayal of women in comics, particularly violence depicted toward female characters. She subsequently appeared in Alan Moore's graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke where, in her civilian identity, she is shot by the Joker and left paraplegic.

That year, Barbara Gordon appeared in Barbara Kesel's Batgirl Special #1, in which she retires from crime-fighting. The character appeared regularly in Detective Comics, Batman Family, and several other books produced by DC until 1988. The character debuted in Detective Comics #359 (January 1967) by writer Gardner Fox and artist Carmine Infantino, introduced as the niece/adoptive daughter of police commissioner James Gordon.īatgirl operates in Gotham City, allying herself with Batman and the original Robin, Dick Grayson, along with other masked vigilantes.

Although the character Betty Kane was introduced into publication in 1961 by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff as Bat-Girl, she was replaced by Barbara Gordon in 1967, who later came to be identified as the iconic Batgirl. Batgirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman.

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