What Bat females do you want?

[godisawesome]

Batgirl? Batwoman? Huntress? Black Bat? Spoiler? Katana?

How many, in what form, and of course, who would you like to be the female Bat representative?

These ladies have obviously been even less represented in film than the Robins, and yet they still have sold several successful series on behalf of tall dark and spooky.

Ideally, I'd like to see all represented in a multi character franchise where they'd all get a time to shine.

Since that's unlikely, and since I was born in 1990 and thus have little care for Babs as the classic Batgirl, if we only had one guaranteed Bat-girl, I'd want to see Cassandra Cain, the Black Bat.

She's built to be a visually fascinating character, has a compelling flaw in her lack of communication and social skills, but has the kick butt quality that would sell her existence in Batman's world. Plus she's got enough shady origins to make her own plot interesting. Picture her involved in a duel between Shiva and Batman, or sparring with one of the succeeding Robins, and you can see she has a lot of potential.

Also, her series wasn't axed by any lack of readers, or any company wide reboot; her series was ended because someone had a stupid idea to turn her evil. She has the potential to rock, and in my opinion is more compelling and more promising than Barbara Gordon, either Helena, or Stephanie Brown.

 

[ThePhantasm]

Not a big fan of Batgirl or Batwoman, to be honest. I'd be okay with Huntress, if she's not a permanent member of the Bat family.

As far as Batman's female allies go, Catwoman takes the cake as the best. She's the only must show up in any Bat franchise to me as far as this type of character is concerned.

 

[godisawesome]

Catwoman kind of blurs the lines between antagonist, ally, love interest and supporting character. She's also been around since the first appearance of the Joker. She's definitely mandatory.

 

[Spider-Kurt!]

Catwoman and Oracle

 

[jonathancrane]

Batgirl (Babs)

Batwoman (Kane)

 

[Baramos]

Andrea Beaumont.

 

[Caped Crusader]

Ehh..

 

[cryptic name]

I want Barbara Gordon introduced to set up Batgirl in a later movie. I saw Dark Skies today (not good), and there was a young actress in it that I think would be a perfect Barbara Gordon, Annie Thurman.

 

[Silvermoth]

Let's start off with Batgirl to begin with. And Catwoman of course.

After that (maybe after a few movies), Batwoman and the Birds of Prey!

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Barbara...as Oracle not Batgirl.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Barbara Gordon... no one else. I wouldn't want a Batgirl really either

 

[OutRiddled]

Batwoman because she's a lesbian, and it would be interesting to see a lesbian superheroine movie.

 

[quixote_coyote]

catwoman is mandatory. babs as batgirl would be ok but id rather see her as a junior detective for a couple of movies before she dons the cowl. a book nerd that loves that her dad is a cop and wants to be one too. when batman shows up she gets inspired by him. def. no to cassandra cain. i dont think she would translate to film well at all.

 

[godisawesome]

Just curious. How would Cassandra Cain translate badly to film? One of her main focuses is that she's a kinetic fighter who reads the world through body language. She seems like a visually obsessed director's dream character, all reaction shots and beautiful choreography.

She's basically a walking action sequence drawn as a hot girl in leather. Where's the problem?

And if we get Babs as Batgirl, she better have Oracle's skill level. Of all the main bat-characters, not-tech-crazy Babs seems the least threatening to me.

 

[quixote_coyote]

im afraid the ga would percieve her as an antisocial/unlikeable/unrelatable character. not that id mind her, but i just think there are more characters deserving of screen time and to have their story told than cassy cain. i think u could take the cooler attributes from every batgirl and give them to barbara

 

[Mysteryman]

I dont care who they are just write the characters as smart and all wrapped up in a good story And I am there .

 

[godisawesome]

im afraid the ga would percieve her as an antisocial/unlikeable/unrelatable character. not that id mind her, but i just think there are more characters deserving of screen time and to have their story told than cassy cain. i think u could take the cooler attributes from every batgirl and give them to barbara

I can see what you mean, but I don't think blending Cassandra Cain with any of the other Batgirls is a good idea. She was built from the ground up as a radically different character; Joe Kelly specifically wanted to create a female crime fighter whose defining characteristic was her ability to more than hold her own with her opponents. Babs is more of a "girl power" distaff counterpart to Robin; largely the same applies to Stephanie Brown, and to a much lesser extent Batwoman (in her original incarnation). Cassandra is someone who has worse social skills than Batman, but arguably a bigger heart (at least in any of her stories written by a competent writer), an even stricter no killing policy (she literally gave herself a birthday present by stopping an execution and is downright suicidal against some opponents) and a blatantly greater skill at Kung fu.

Barbara Gordon and Cassandra Cain are polar opposite characters. And combining characters is always kind of a tricky road. I personally believe there's enough innovation in the entire Batfamily you should be able to portray just about everyone in a lim at some point or another.

And I can see why you'd think Babs should have a start in the spotlight; she is the first big hit and the longest lasting (not counting Catwoman, who really shouldn't count as a choice on this thread). In terms of precedence, she shares the same position Dick Grayson does compared to the other sidekicks. But I honestly think Cassandra Cain is far more interesting and has more potential, at least if they write Barabar with the same skill set she currently has in the new 52.

I'd be satisfied with Babs as long as they gave her her Oracle skills and a practical approach to crime fighting. That's how she reaches a potential I'd watch in a movie; being scary and dangerous in at least one area even more than Batman. But if she's stuck in the Silver Age as only the spunky Dominoed Daredoll, I'll be deeply disappointed.

P.S. why do you think Cass would be seen as anti-social? Most of the time she's written as a very open and friendly character who just has some trouble communicating. I can understand how she'd be unrelatable-most of us can't read violence-but I'd think her having struggles with talking and expressing herself would overcome that.

 

[metaphysician]

The bigger problem is that, I cannot see WB ever greenlighting a movie in which Batman is out-kung fu-ed by a woman. And more pragmatically, the kind of directing that would be needed for a Cass Cain movie, would be too distinct from that needed for a good Batman movie.

 

[InstaKill]

Top choice: Cassandra Cain. But the creators would really have to make love to the character development and story line. Because they likely won't follow through, it'd be best to have either no Batgirl or Babs as a detective.

 

[Brain Damage]

Oracle, dammit!

 

[The Joker]

Oracle, dammit!

So you want Babs shot through the spine by Joker first?

 

[Brain Damage]

So you want Babs shot through the spine by Joker first?

Maybe not that way specifically, just so long as she's in a wheelchair and doing Oracle's job, I don't much care how she gets there.

It'd be pretty cool if they lead the audience to believe she'll become Batgirl and then have her get crippled before it actually happens. Batman can blame himself for it (obviously ) and she can be devastated that she can't fight crime with him until she nuts up and becomes Oracle.

Basically, I don't need her to become Batgirl first.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

Mmm hmm. It's about using the character to further Batman's character development. That should be the goal in wheeling in any of these side characters.

 

[Gee]

Batgirl or Huntress.

 

[The Guard]

Barbara. She could be Oracle even prior to becoming Batgirl.

And Leslie Thompkins.

And for once, I'd like to see Martha Wayne have a role beyond "Happens to be Bruce's mother.