Do you think Barbara could be as much of a psychopath as her brother?

[Castiel]

Do you think Barbara could be as much of a psychopath as her brother and not even realize it? I mean she's a vigilante and a hacker yes she's a superhero but you could make the same arguments about Batman that he's insane what with dressing up as a bat and apply them to her. I mean she breaks the law and justifies it and at the same time she lies to her father and keeps her extremely dangerous secret from him. I'm not saying she's exactly like her brother but maybe they both have degrees of psychopathy and her's is less severe than his. I feel like a good twist on Barbara and her brother would be for it to be implied her memories of him growing up aren't entirely accurate and for it to be implied that had things happened differently they could easily have traded places in life I'd especially would like a scene where it's implied that because they were kids what happened isn't exactly one hundred percent clear and for them to have a confrontation like this.

[Caivu]

To quote this paper:

The essence of the triarchic model is that psychopathy encompasses three distinct phenotypic constructs: disinhibition, which reflects a general propensity toward problems of impulse control; boldness, which is defined as the nexus of social dominance, emotional resiliency, and venturesomeness; and meanness, which is defined as aggressive resource seeking without regard for others (“dysaffliated agency”).

Or to quote the Wikipedia article on psychopathy to put that in everyday English:

Psychopathy is traditionally a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits.

So, uh... no. I don't think she's even remotely psychopathic.

[Jackalope89]

Babs is bold, but that's about the only thing from either of those that fits her.

Psychopath, she is not.

[millernumber1]

I think what we saw in Future's End is the closest I could see her going "dark" - and even that was still very much "fighting evil."

[TheJudge95]

In the annual Mairghread Scott teased something like this, with James Gordon Jr. saying he believed Barbara was like him because she enjoyed/didn't flinch at the gory scenes of slasher/horror movies. I definitely want to see more Batgirl-James Gordon Jr. interactions.

[Zaresh]

She seems like a very empathic person to me, and she cares for others in a non egotistical way. So no, I don't think she could be a psychopath. Not without going through a ton of stuff that could change her core personality.

[Vakanai]

Yes, of course she could be an evil psychopath, all it would take is a terrible writer who doesn't get her character and a bad vision for an edgy story and for DC editorial to be in one of it's moods where they don't give a buck what happens to Barbara. And none of that is exactly unheard of.

[oasis1313]

Yes, of course she could be an evil psychopath, all it would take is a terrible writer who doesn't get her character and a bad vision for an edgy story and for DC editorial to be in one of it's moods where they don't give a buck what happens to Barbara. And none of that is exactly unheard of.

You've written the perfect post on the subject. I like Good Babs, not Bad Babs.

[Timber Wolf-By-Night]

Oh look, Castiel comes up with yet another "idea" for changing the fundamental nature of an established character or concept that rips off/was inspired by some movie/anime/TV show, purely for shock value, and this time demonstrates that he doesn't even understand what he's talking about (like what exactly a psychopath actually *is*).

[Castiel]

Oh look, Castiel comes up with yet another "idea" for changing the fundamental nature of an established character or concept that rips off/was inspired by some movie/anime/TV show, purely for shock value, and this time demonstrates that he doesn't even understand what he's talking about (like what exactly a psychopath actually *is*).

[Caivu]

In the annual Mairghread Scott teased something like this, with James Gordon Jr. saying he believed Barbara was like him because she enjoyed/didn't flinch at the gory scenes of slasher/horror movies. I definitely want to see more Batgirl-James Gordon Jr. interactions.

That's horrible reasoning. Lots of people don't flinch at gore and don't have any kind of mental illness. I have to wonder if that's just the character talking or if Scott herself believes that; I sure hope not.

[OpaqueGiraffe17]

Between Gotham by Gaslight’s version of Jim Sr, the Gotham tv show’s version of Barbara Sr and the comics’s version of James Jr.......there’s definitely something screwy about that family, lol.

[theoneandonly]

this made me imagine a killing joke where Jr. kidnaps Barbara after shooting Gordon and tortures her to bring out her inner psychopath like joker tried in Batman beyond.