A hero’s main drive to wage a never-ending war on crime and injustice is usually derived from a traumatic experience or loss of a loved one. Whether it be an orphan from another planet, blaming yourself for not stopping your uncle’s killer, or even swearing to protect those who fear and hate you to one day seek peace for all mankind, all the great heroes have a compelling drive. But what about the hero that does it out of the goodness of their heart? What about the hero that simply wants justice for no reason but for the sake of justice? This is the true pinnacle of heroism in its purest form. This is the type of hero where not even after a crippling defeat or death would they allow it to stop them from pursuing justice for mankind. There is a hero that fills this role; one who is strong, cunning, and brave. I am talking of Barbara Gordon, the first Batgirl and Oracle.
Barbara Gordon is the eldest child of Commissioner Jim Gordon. Batgirl was originally created as a retcon to the original interpretation of Batwoman and Bat-Girl. At the time, DC Comics recognized how offensive it was to put a character in the Batman universe to simply act as a damsel in distress and be a stereotypical 50’s woman. Consequently, they decided to create Barbara Gordon as a strong female character that could hold her own. Giving Barbara a PhD in library science, computer expertise, exceptional hand to hand combat, and detective skills, Barbara Gordon was a force to be reckoned with. She was first introduced into comics when Bruce Wayne was attacked by the Killer Moth in a press conference and Barbara leaped into action as Batgirl to save him. This rarely ever happens… ever. However, when asked by Batman why Barbara fights crime, she simply stated because it’s the right thing for a person to do in the world we live in today. Her parents were not murdered in front of her and she doesn’t owe the world anything, but she does it anyway because she is a true hero.
From then on, Batgirl became a well-known in Gotham City, protecting her own section of Gotham. She became so well renowned that she teamed up with many famous heroes like Super Girl, Nightwing, and even Superman himself. She became a constant ally of Batman and eventually became his second sidekick in his battle against Gotham’s underworld.
However, things took a turn for the worse for the young hero during the famous Batman story arc The Killing Joke. The Joker decided to prove to Batman that even the greatest of all men can fall, and targeted Jim Gordon. Cornering Barbara in her apartment, the Joker fired a bullet into the center of her spine, paralyzing Barbara from the waist down. In order to drive Gordon insane, the Joker strips him naked and props his eyes open to force him to watch a video of the Joker slowly undressing and defiling his daughter. After Batman rescues them and defeats the Joker, Barbara is rushed to the hospital where she is eventually informed that she will never walk again.
You’d think that a bullet lodged within your spine would be a nice excuse to say “Well, I think I’ve had enough of the hero business”, but you’d be wrong. Barbara Gordon then dreamed of herself as the Oracle of Delphi, and thus became the Oracle. Barbara became a central intelligence operator that would inform heroes of crime in progress, information on current drug operations and illegal dealings, and of any super villain activity occurring. She used her superb computer hacking skills to break into government databases in order to gather current information on essentially anyone. She even became part of the secret black ops team Suicide Squad and created her own team of female heroes called the Birds of Prey. If you didn’t think this was enough, she began to train in martial arts, incorporating her wheelchair as well as firearms, bat-o-rangs, and eskrima sticks. That’s right – she has no use of her legs and could probably kick all of our asses.
During a mission with the Birds of Prey, Barbara became infected with a techno-organic virus from the deadly DC villain Brainiac, one of the most feared villains in all comic book history. The virus began to transform Barbara into a cybernetic organism that could be controlled like a computer to perform Braniac’s every whim. However, out of sheer will power Barbara was able to overcome Braniac’s control and single-handedly save the world.
Let’s do a quick recap on Barbara. We’ve got a super intelligent martial-arts expert and computer hacker with a genius skill set. She has teamed up with the greats and is part of some of the most elite super hero teams in the DC universe. Crippled and violated by the Joker, she still chose to fight crime. Even while in a wheelchair, she trained to become a skilled fighter and expert in an array of weapons. In addition, she put together her own super hero team and defeated one of the fiercest villains of comic book history with sheer will! Barbara Gordon has, in the simplest terms, the essence of a true hero.
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