Another possible piece of foreshadowing appears in an earlier scene in Barbara and Jim's apartment, which appears to be set in the top of a clock tower overlooking Gotham City. Which isn't necessarily a piece of foreshadowing involving this Barbara Gordon, but rather, her and Jim's daughter; deciding to laugh in the face of Freud, in the comics the couple thought it'd be fine to name their daughter Barbara as well, and it's this lack of respect for her mental state that probably led to her later adopting the mantle of Batgirl. And probably why the Joker thought she was fair game when he put a bullet through her spine and crippled her for life in an attempt to send her dad mad. That story's recounted in the iconic Alan Moore and Brian Bolland comic book The Killing Joke, but it wasn't the end for Barbara. Not by a long shot. Confined to a wheelchair, she was forced to abandon her life as Batgirl but instead took up responsibilities as Oracle, a tech genius who acted as a sort of support staff to the Bat-Family, the Justice League, and really anybody else who asked. She could track down bad guys, do things with computers, and generally do things that couldn't be achieved by the tried-and-tested superhero method of punching things hard. Oh, and she did all this whilst in a secret base in Gotham City that was secreted in...a clock tower. So, the apartment that Barbara and James inhabit on the Gotham pilot? One day, base of operations for their crippled daughter.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
