The De-aging of Barbara Gordon.

[mathew101281]

Batgirl is one character that seems to get younger and younger the more time goes on. When she was created in 1961 she came across as clearly a woman in her mid to late 20's. Older then Robin but not as old as Batman himself. By the 90's it seemed like she was de-aged making her seem more in line with Dick Grayson's age. Now it feels like Dick is older to me. Can anyone tell me why it seems Babs is getting younger and younger?

[oasis1313]

Batgirl is one character that seems to get younger and younger the more time goes on. When she was created in 1961 she came across as clearly a woman in her mid to late 20's. Older then Robin but not as old as Batman himself. By the 90's it seemed like she was de-aged making her seem more in line with Dick Grayson's age. Now it feels like Dick is older to me. Can anyone tell me why it seems Babs is getting younger and younger?

Comic book artists want to draw young chicks.

[WonderNight]

because right now dc want's the batgirl brand to aim for young girls. babs just so happens to be the current batgirl.

[Badou]

Because she is the iconic Batgirl and DC wants to market her as being Batgirl. So they want to keep her in her early 20s so they can keep her college age where the Batgirl title still feels appropriate, and that is how she is being written. She isn't going to be written like she is in her early 30s like she was pre Flashpoint.

Dick is the same age as her, but he also isn't Robin anymore and is Nightwing. So they are sort of forced to write him as acting a little older as he has Jason, Tim, Damian and even Duke now all after him as being Robin or some version of a Robin in the Batman books as being younger than him.

[hotroddii]

And now that we have a red-headed BatWOMAN who is probably about 30 ... it makes sense that BatGIRL would be considerably younger.

[Carabas]

Because she is the iconic Batgirl and DC wants to market her as being Batgirl.

The original Barbara Gordon Batgirl was closer to Bruce Wayne's age than Dick Grayson's. She was a PhD and an elected member of the House of Representatives.

[RedQueen]

Seems like a weird contradiction. They want to keep Killing Joke canon, which has horrific things done to her that is meant for a older audience, but then keep Babs as a dumbed down version of herself to appeal to the more kiddy crowd. idk I just want them to make up their mind. Because with the timeline so far we've been given she was about 16/17 when TKJ happened so that fact coupled with her massive deaging has even more massive creepy implications regarding TKJ.

I've never viewed Batgirl as a more younger kids brand sort of thing, because Barbara herself is was never carried that way. I mean she is family friendly in a lot of ways but it's not like she is in the My Little Pony category.

I wish Barbara was 25 so that way she can keep the history but can still feel more like Babs in writing.

[Badou]

The original Barbara Gordon Batgirl was closer to Bruce Wayne's age than Dick Grayson's. She was a PhD and an elected member of the House of Representatives.

And post Crisis Batgirl has been depicted as either a young woman or a teen whether it is Babs, Cass or Steph. That is what they want Batgirl to be, and since Babs is the iconic one she is being depicted as such.

[Oberon]

That was eventually. My own take was that Barbara was a Librarian (so, Masters of Library Science + Bachelors, about 6 years) who was / seemed new perhaps. So mid twenties.

Eventually she seemed to be older and was elected and all that. At or around this time they started putting Dick/Robin (so pre-NW, '70s) more around / with her, in both age and some stories.

I don't mind her being in her early 20s but I do mind her being younger than Dick. She should be about 1 or 2 years older than him, maybe.?

[oasis1313]

Because she is the iconic Batgirl and DC wants to market her as being Batgirl. So they want to keep her in her early 20s so they can keep her college age where the Batgirl title still feels appropriate, and that is how she is being written. She isn't going to be written like she is in her early 30s like she was pre Flashpoint.

Dick is the same age as her, but he also isn't Robin anymore and is Nightwing. So they are sort of forced to write him as acting a little older as he has Jason, Tim, Damian and even Duke now all after him as being Robin or some version of a Robin in the Batman books as being younger than him.

When she was first introduced, Barbara Gordon had several years on Dick Grayson. I guess going backward in time like Benjamin Button is one way to keep from being called a cougar.

[MajorHoy]

When she was first introduced, Barbara Gordon had several years on Dick Grayson. I guess going backward in time like Benjamin Button is one way to keep from being called a cougar.

When she was first introduced, Barbara was employed by the Gotham City public library and appeared to have a position that normally requires at least a college degree, while Dick hadn't even graduated high school yet. (He didn't begin college until 1969; Barbara was introduced in 1966 in an issue cover-dated "January 1967".)