10 Biggest Comic Book Twists You Never Saw Coming
8. Barbara Gordon Shot!
It was a quiet night at the home of father and daughter James and Barbara Gordon until a knock on the door changed everything. The Joker shot Barbara through the spine and shattered her career as Batgirl, and the twist is that the Clown Prince of Crime wasn’t even there for her. She was just a means to an end.
When the Joker arrived at the Gordon house that evening, his intention was to kidnap Commissioner Gordon and attempt to drive him insane. Shooting Barbara, stripping her naked, and taking pictures of her was simply one piece of the plan to push Jim Gordon over the edge. Barbara was merely a convenient cog in the Clown’s plan. He had no clue that he had robbed the Bat Family of a key member.
Thankfully, Barbara’s indomitable will and intelligence allowed her to rise above her hardship and become an even stronger force for justice as the Oracle. As the information broker to the superhero and intelligence community, like Amanda Waller’s early Suicide Squad, and as the woman in the chair for the Birds of Prey, Barbara became much feared by the criminal community because her digital presence was everywhere and there was little she couldn’t find out with just a few keystrokes.