10 Superheroes Who Changed Identities For The Better

Batgirl actually started off life as a character introduced to diversify the 60's Batman TV show before making the jump over to comics (a trend shared with a surprising number of Batman characters).

The daughter of James Gordon, Barbara proved to be a popular character and a welcome addition to the Batman family. Unfortunately, she was retired in the eighties, and then things got worse when Alan Moore got his hands on her shortly after.

In The Killing Joke, the Joker shot her through the spine as part of a plan to drive Commissioner Gordon insane. Barbara was paralysed from the waist down. Her crime-fighting days were over - possibly the most high profile victim of comics' 'Women in Refrigerators' trope.

Or so it seemed, until husband and wife team John Ostrander and Kim Yale revealed her to be the identity of the mysterious hacker Oracle in the pages of Suicide Squad.

As Oracle, Barbara became indispensable to the heroes of the DC Universe with her keen intelligence and hacker know-how, eventually forming the all-female team Birds of Prey. More importantly, she was also a disabled superhero - something both Marvel and DC don't have nearly enough of.

Of course that all went out the window with the New 52 and Barbara was back to being Batgirl.

Thanks again DC.