10 Best Female Characters In The Batman Universe
4. Barbara Gordon
Both as Batgirl and the Oracle, Barbara Gordon has been a crucial part of Batman’s wider team for a long, long time. Often keeping her role by his side a secret from her father, Commissioner Gordon, her stories are layered and down to Earth, as well as being kickass.
Alicia Silverstone kind of played her in Batman & Robin - both ‘kind of’ in that the Gordon family line was nixed to make her Barbara Wilson, and ‘kind of’ in that it would be generous to call whatever Silverstone was doing acting. While she shone in Batman: Arkham Knight, it’s a shame that she’s most known outside of the comics for Silverstone.
That, combined with the slightly cheesy name of Batgirl has seen her lack the respect she deserves from mainstream fans.
Her change from Batgirl to Oracle, caused after Joker shot her in the spine in Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, is one of the more controversial superhero changes in the genre. Slightly softened by the fact her reinvention keeps her ingenuity and agency, having a side female character injured as motivation for the starring males is a fairly tired story device, and not one Gordon deserved.