The Cape and Cowl Girls

THE CAPE AND COWL GIRLS

What's the Deal with Batgirl? Can I submit any Batgirl?

The answer is... yes! We support all Batgirls that have been created.

The Cape and Cowl Girls:

Betty Kane
Barbara Gordon
Helena Bertinelli
:bullerted:Cassandra Cain

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Info on the Cape and Cowl Girls

Betty Kane

Bat-Girl was Betty Kane (first appearance: Batman #139, 1961), the niece of Batwoman, Kathy Kane. Batwoman and Bat-Girl were created to be romantic interests for Batman and Robin as much as crime-fighting associates (possibly in response to Fredric Wertham's allegations about the true nature of the Dynamic Duo's relationship), but the characters never gained a following. Bat-Girl, like Batwoman, was retconned out of existence following the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

In Post-Crisis continuity Betty Kane has been revived as Bette Kane. She however is not Bat-Girl but a professional tennis player not related to Batman who is also the superhero Flamebird. She was a sometime member of the Teen Titans and like the old Bat-Girl she has a crush on Robin

Barbara Gordon

The Silver Age Batgirl was librarian-by-day Barbara Gordon (first appearance: Detective Comics #359, 1967), daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon. On her way to a masquerade ball dressed as a female version of Batman, Barbara intervened in a kidnapping attempt on Bruce Wayne, attracting the attention of Batman and leading to a crime-fighting career.

Batgirl's original adventures depicted her as a spirited, if inexperienced, female copy of Batman. After a handful of guest appearances in Batman stories, she was gifted her own back-up strip in Detective Comics. This allowed the character to be fleshed out considerably, with the shy, mousey, bookworm version of Barbara Gordon quickly giving way to a more modern, confident, Barbara. Devoid of her plain-Jane glasses and hair bun, Barbara started to date what would be a succession of boyfriends.

Her adventures ran sporadically in Detective Comics until 1975, when she became a regular feature in the short-lived Batman Family comic book, before returning to Detective Comics for a fairly solid run from issues 481 (December 1979) to 519 (October 1982). During this time she left her life at the library behind to become a Congresswoman, and revealed her dual identity to her father.

Barbara continued to be Batgirl before she semi-retired in the 1980s. Barbara Gordon was, and still is, a love interest for Dick Grayson, the original Robin, currently known as Nightwing.

In The Killing Joke, a graphic novel by Alan Moore, The Joker shot Barbara through the spine, paralyzing her. Now wheelchair-bound, Barbara adopted the code-name Oracle, and she is an computer expert, providing informational, tactical, and security assistance to many superheroes, including Batman and the JLA. Barbara is the leader of the all-female superhero team Birds of Prey.

(Unlike Bat-Girl Betty Kane, Barbara Gordon made it through Crisis on Infinite Earths mostly intact, although her relationship with James Gordon was retconned to niece-and-adopted-daughter after Frank Miller depicted him as having only fathered a son in Batman: Year One.)

Helena Bertinelli

During the late 1990s No Man's Land story arc, a new Batgirl emerged. She was revealed to be the Huntress, Helena Bertinelli. She resumed being the Huntress, soon after, as both Batman and Barbara Gordon were displeased with her methods.

Cassandra Cain

Cassandra Cain is the current Batgirl, having taken on the role with the approval of both Batman and Barbara Gordon. Trained by her father, assassin David Cain, to be the ultimate martial artist and assassin, Cassandra was not taught to speak. Instead, the parts of her brain normally used for speech were trained so she could read other people's movements and body language and predict, with uncanny accuracy, their next move. Although she has since learned to speak, Cassandra is still a gifted martial artist who managed to defeat Lady Shiva, the deadliest fighter of DC Universe. In 2000, Cassandra became the first Batgirl to get her own ongoing self-titled comic book series (the Gordon Batgirl having been featured in a couple of one-shot releases).

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Info on Batwoman (since she'll pop up around here)

Kathy Kane

Batwoman is the name of a fictional character, the female counterpart to DC Comics' popular superhero Batman. She first appeared in Detective Comics #233 (1956). Batwoman's real name was Kathy Kane, in reference to Batman co-creator Bob Kane.

Batwoman and her niece Bat-Girl (Betty Kane) were intended as romantic interests of Batman and Robin, respectively. Batman wished for Kathy and Betty to retire from crimefighting due to the danger that they were placed in - hypocritically so, given that he expressed no such qualms over Robin's presence by his side. Nevertheless, she remained his ally, and although her presence never equalled that of Robin, the ongoing Super-Sons stories in Brave and the Bold revealed that she might have married Batman in the future and been mother to "Batman Jr." When Kathy eventually did retire from crimefighting, she become the owner of a circus. She was killed by the League of Assassins and the brainwashed Bronze Tiger in Detective Comics #479 (1979). There was a Batwoman on Earth-II, who was very much like her deceased Earth-1 counterpart. This Kathy Kane retired when The Batman of that world married The Catwoman.

Bat-Girl's career was heavily retconned after the Crisis on Infinite Earths to remove any reference to her working alongside Batman, Robin or Batwoman from her history; Batwoman has yet to be referenced in any post-Crisis comics, although the late Kathy Kane has been mentioned on occasion. It may be that Kathy Kane existed but was never Batwoman in the post-Crisis DC Universe.

Another Batwoman appeared in the direct to video animated film Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman.