Barbara Gordon:Oracle or Batgirl

[AmiMizuno]

With how long she been both. What do you guys think?

[MajorHoy]

I grew up with her as Batgirl; I hated what they did to her in The Killing Joke; I'm happy with her back as Batgirl.

Her period as Oracle was also good, but to me that was essentially making the best of a bad situation. Someone else can have the Oracle mantle now.

[Jackalope89]

Start off as Batgirl, move onto Oracle, NO Killing Joke though. Rather, she decides to pull out of running around on rooftops and instead helps coordinate various hero teams.

[scary harpy]

I grew up with her as Batgirl; I hated what they did to her in The Killing Joke; I'm happy with her back as Batgirl.

Her period as Oracle was also good, but to me that was essentially making the best of a bad situation. Someone else can have the Oracle mantle now.

I agree completely with you, MajorHoy.

She is my Batgirl too...and DC brutally pushed her aside for too long.

Start off as Batgirl, move onto Oracle, NO Killing Joke though. Rather, she decides to pull out of running around on rooftops and instead helps coordinate various hero teams.

I might be able to accept this.

Barbara transitions from Batgirl to Oracle the way Richard transitioned from Robin to Nightwing; maturation not mutilation.

Thanks to DC, many people had a different Batgirl...and they want her back. I understand how they feel.

[MajorHoy]

. . . Thanks to DC, many people had a different Batgirl...and they want her back. I understand how they feel.

But those other characters can still be great characters without being called "Batgirl".

Somehow, many people seem to want their favorite to still be "Batgirl".
(As for Barbara, if she were to "outgrow" the Batgirl name, she's sort of stuck because there's already a Batwoman.)

[Restingvoice]

15-19 Batgirl
20 and up Oracle
Depend on my timeline though since I haven't checked the other's ages yet

[Fergus]

Batgirl obviously.

Can we stop with the Batgirl or Oracle debates and threads?

Can't understand why some fans won't just let Barbara be Batgirl in peace? This quick turning into the Robin debacle.

Let the current official holder just be.

I blame Tynion for this debate ramping up once more. He poked the beast. Dangling the vague possibility of Batgirl mantle changing hands and we ended up with Babs now holding down 2 mantles [which is dumb].

Oracle isn't a great mantle/role. It was only worth something when it was Babs taking control. Turning tragedy into success. Taking back power by showing that just because Joker robbed her of her mobility, he didn't rob her of her drive and desire to fight.

If she must.

If Batman/DCU really needs tech support then I suppose they might get her one of those wrist thingys that Tim Drake uses to hack and do everything in Tec.

She can Oracle while she Batgirls. If she must. I don't want her sat at a desk looking at screens. Not just because Oracle isn't essential, esp with her past being stuck in the chair due to assault by a villain.

[Powerboy]

I agree completely with you, MajorHoy.

She is my Batgirl too...and DC brutally pushed her aside for too long.



I might be able to accept this.

Barbara transitions from Batgirl to Oracle the way Richard transitioned from Robin to Nightwing; maturation not mutilation.

Thanks to DC, many people had a different Batgirl...and they want her back. I understand how they feel.

I also loved Cassandra Cain but, as has been said, she and others would still have worked without being Batgirl.

[John Venus]

Cassandra Cain is the first Batgirl to hold her own ongoing and if I've learned anything from trying to come up with an alternate code name for her in her own thread, it's that the only that fits her is Batgirl.

Steph as Batgirl was the Pepsi to Barbara Coca Cola. It's the truth. Turning Steph into Batgirl was DC going 'oh well, we couldn't do Babs as Batgirl again so we will just have someone who mirrors her the closest fill in the role'. It's not really fair to either to Steph who has her own unique identity or Cass who was the Batgirl cast aside by DC.

[Powerboy]

With how long she been both. What do you guys think?

At the time, it was a good story though also for the shock value. I don't know if Moore knew they would do some good stuff with her or if she was just cannon fodder for that story. It really boosted her as a character, even made her a character of her own rather than derivative. If character after character can come back from the dead and more than once, she can walk again.

But I would prefer she be a team leader and more than she was before, sometimes leading the team and sometimes calling the plays remotely. I'd like this experience to make her Batman's equal in her own way.