Barbara Gordon
Batgirl appeared in Detective Comics #359, January 1967 and created by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino. Batgirl’s alter-ego was Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Police Commissioner James Gordon of Gotham City. She admired superheroes since she was a kid and decided how to become one. Since she was about thirteen years old, she has been skilled in espionage and has always had a photographic memory, which she got by studying maps and statistics. She spent high school and college doing gymnastics, judo and keeping fit. She has a master's degree in Library and Information Systems which makes her extra good at finding information. Her abilities and skills helped her keep on top of things like computers, technology and lead to her concluding day job as a research librarian.
Her first experience as a superhero started as an accident. She had decided to go to the masquerade ball dressed as a female version of Batman, as her idol. The villain, Killer Moth, interrupted the party as Barbara intervened in a kidnapping attempt on Bruce Wayne, attracting the attention of Batman and leading to a crime-fighting career. She tried fighting the evil and Batman was not pleased with her donning the cape and cowl and tried to convince her to stop, but she was too headstrong. Batman decided that it was better to train her than watch her inexperience and get killed.
As she had her crimefighting career, she still works in the morning and fights at night. She also had her personal life dating with men and the most popular partner was Jason Bard, a Vietnam veteran and turned private investigator. Her responsibility as Batgirl sometimes puts Barbara at an emotional crossroads. She was raised with respect for law and order as the daughter of the Police Commissioner, but her actions as Batgirl technically label her a vigilante. If Batgirl was ever caught and unmasked, the scandal would certainly destroy Commissioner Gordon's career. Still, Gotham is a city that breeds an extreme kind of criminal and crimefighters are needed to handle situations regular cops can not. Barbara believes the good she does, as Batgirl is worth the potential risk to herself and her father.
Cassandra Cain
Batgirl's absence from the present-day action of Gotham City has only increased demand for a new Batgirl. The most recent Batgirl, a deadly yet troubled Asian teen, is as different from Barbara Gordon as Barbara was from the 1950's Batgirl. Despite these differences, Barbara Gordon had taken her heroic namesake under her wing, helping her to adjust to a life of crimefighting.
This Batgirl is Cassandra Cain, also called “Cassie†for short. She was the last incarnation of Batgirl having taken on the role with the approval of both Batman and Barbara Gordon. She is the daughter of assassin David Cane and Lady Shiva. She first appeared in Batman #567 (1999), and was created by Kelley Puckett and Damion Scott. Cassandra was trained by her assassin father to be the ultimate martial artist and assassin. He raised her without words but rather fists. Initially, her training was so devout that she was denied the privilege of speaking and she could not talk; instead she learned to read and understand the opponent’s movements and body language and predict, with uncanny accuracy, their next move.
When Cassie was eight, she helped her father take out a gangster boss by ripping out his throat with only two fingers. Looking at the dead man and seeing the blood on her fingers made her realize that killing was bad. And so she ran away from her father and eventually ended up in America and decided to live in Gotham City, where she met Barbara Gordon alias Oracle, just before Gotham had its famous Earthquake. When Gotham was declared as a No Man's Land, Cassie along with others, acted as Oracle's agents scouting Gotham to provide Oracle with information. In return, Barbara tried to help Cassandra learn how to speak.
She became Batgirl, when Batman knew how good she was at fighting and saving Commissioner Gordon’s life. He gave her the mantle after the reign of Huntress as she failed Batman’s expectations over her powers. Cassandra had earned the right to wear the costume. And so she continued her quest of fighting crime in the new, rebuilt Gotham City. At first, she started to work with Batman on all of her cases, but slowly she started to work less with him, proving that she could do it by herself.
In 2000, Cassandra became the first Batgirl to get her own ongoing self-titled comic book series. A telepath rewired her brain to think with words, but at the cost of her ability to predict and read people. Unable to defend herself although she could still perform the moves, she was now being caught permanently off-guard in combat due to her reliance on her ability to read moves, she stopped using the costume. Lady Shiva later taught her how to read people’s moves again in the consequence that, one year later, the two would fight to death. Cassandra accepted and Shiva taught her again. After a year, they both kept the appointment, but Batgirl died. Then Shiva restarted her heart, having realized that Cassandra wanted to die, and wishing a fight Cassandra would try to win. In the ensuing battle, Cassandra realized that Shiva had her own death wish, and defeated her, although she spared Shiva's life.
Cassandra took on the role of a villain by becoming the head of the League of Assassins following the DC’s “One Year Later†continuity jump. She has used her position as head of the League to draw in Tim Drake, the third Robin, as an ally. She began killing former-students of her father, David Cain whom she deemed unworthy and used Robin to free David and reunite with him. She then urged Robin to kill David, and join her in leading the assassins, but when Robin refused, she shot her father herself. She and Tim then eventually engaged in a final battle where she maintained the upperhand. The fight came to an abrupt end, however, when an explosive device detonated, leading Cassandra and Robin to flee in different directions. Cassandra has not been seen since.In the mid 1970s, Barbara revealed her secret identity to her father, who already had discovered it on his own. They both ran and won an election to the U.S. House of Representatives. She moved to Washington, D.C., and intended to give up her career as a superhero. However, due to the demands and the popularity of Batgirl, she and Superman teamed up, and also with Supergirl and became good friends. Batgirl became one of the main features in the “Batman Family†comic book where she and Dick Grayson as Robin, teamed as the Dynamite Duo. Soon they discovered each other's alternate identities as well. Batwoman also became her partner.
When she lost on her re-election bid, she then returned to Gotham City and took a social worker job, fighting villains including Lady Snake and the Velvet Tiger. Supergirl also visited Gotham and shared an adventure with her. Batgirl was shot and nearly killed by the Commorant; this caused her to have a serious crisis of faith and she briefly retired her Batgirl career. But after a talk with Batman, she returned to face down and capture the villain, and Batgirl continued to thrive. The Crisis on Infinite Earths changed DC Universe continuity in a lot of ways. Barbara Gordon was now the daughter of Roger and Thelma and lived in Chicago. Her parents died when she was young, so she moved with the family of her Uncle Jim at Gotham City until the time she doubted that Jim Gordon dated her mother Thelma before she married Roger, and there is a strong chance that Jim Gordon is indeed her biological father, although he is not aware of that. When she became Batgirl, Batman and Robin had much more active role in her trainings.