Bat-Girl

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Context

This is Betty Kane, the Bat-Girl. Note the hyphen.

She was introduced in 1961, during one of the campier eras of Batman, as her aunt Batwoman (Kathy Kane)’s sidekick.

Bat-Girl endured in some minor appearances, though their position in DC’s chaotic continuity is often odd. This is explained in a separate section, so it can be skipped if you don’t care. ’Cuz if you don’t care, then we don’t care, and we keep rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ uh.

For other versions of Batgirl, you can check our guide to Batgirls.

Background

Powers and Abilities

Albeit still a teenager, Bat-Girl is a natural acrobat with a sharp mind.

She received training in combat and detective work from her aunt Batwoman. But even before that she was amazingly agile and deductive.

Like Robin (Dick Grayson), her physical prowess is impossibly out of proportion with her age. And like most comic book acrobats, she can routinely make leaps that would be impossible in the real world.

Bat-Girl could pilot whirly-bats. And drive her bat-scooter – or a truck.

Crime compact

Beyond her grapple and bat-line, Bat-Girl’s carries a “crime compact” that includes :

History

Betty Kane is the teenaged niece of Batwoman (Kathy Kane).

She was unaware of her aunt’s dual identity, until she popped up in Gotham City for an extended visit.

Betty stumbled across clues that led her to deduce Batwoman’s identity. As a result, she became determined to join her in crime fighting.

Dawn of a dynamic duo of dames

Betty created an appropriate costume and weapons. She then secretly followed Batwoman on one of her nightly patrols.

When Batwoman, Batman, and Robin were captured by the Cobra Gang, Bat-Girl rescued them. When Batwoman returned to her Bat-Cave, Betty revealed her identity and demanded to become Batwoman’s partner.

Batwoman tried to discourage and stall Betty by having her undergo lengthy training. But Betty grew impatient and decided to “prove herself” by capturing the Cobra Gang on her own.

It had to be snakes

Bat-Girl did manage to track the crooks down, but they quickly captured her.

Though trapped, Bat-Girl found a way to signal Batman, Robin, and Batwoman for help. She considerably helped in the subsequent battle with the Cobra Gang.

Batwoman therefore agreed to have her as a partner. From then on, whenever Betty visited Gotham City, she would also fight crime as Bat-Girl.

Rockin’ Robin

Bat-Girl had a big crush on Robin from the moment they met.

She was much more forward in her romantic pursuit than her aunt was towards Batman. Sometimes she would literally throw herself into Robin’s arms.

Robin found her attentions embarrassing at first. But he slowly started returning her affection. This became more marked after Batman gave tacit approval to their relationship.

The earliest attempts Bat-Girl made to impress Robin were secretly assisted by Bat-Mite, but we don’t talk about Bat-Mite.

Moth eatin’

Bat-Girl also helped Batwoman and the Dynamic Duo defeat the Moth.

Batwoman and Batman feared that the Moth would seek revenge. Thus, they had Robin try to talk her into abandoning her costumed identity.

That did not work. She insisted on confronting the Moth, and saved Batwoman and Batman.

Bat-Girl immediately reconciled with Robin after the adults told her it was their idea.

Strange adventures

Batman, Batwoman, Robin and Bat-Girl then attempted to stop the alien thief Karn.

However, Karn sent Bat-Girl, Robin and half of Batwoman and Batman’s life force to his world. Yet Bat-Girl and Robin survived, and foiled the plot of Karn’s allies there. During this strange adventure, they kissed.

Betty would return to Gotham and her aunt Kathy during holidays. She was eager to adventure as Bat-Girl in Robin’s company.

She and her aunt once helped Batman and Robin capture the Joker, using Batman’s “whirly-bat” flying vehicles. Clayface (Matt Hagen) threw Bat-Girl off a train, but to her delight Robin caught her.

Bat-Girl later played a minor role helping Robin restore Batman. He had been turned into a bat-genie by a magic lamp.

Silver unto bronze

Eventually, Kathy and Betty Kane both retired from crime-fighting.

Betty grew up to become a top-rated professional tennis player.

Meanwhile, back in Gotham, Barbara Gordon developed the Batgirl identity.

They want you as a new recruit

In 1977, Ms. Kane was giving an exhibition match aboard an U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.

The ship was lifted out of the water with all hands aboard. This was the result of a plot by Mr. Esper hijacking the psionicPsionics are sci-fi style psychic powers. powers of Lilith Clay, a former Teen Titan.

Bat-Girl had been considering becoming active again since Batwoman had briefly come out of retirement. As a result, she was carrying her equipment.

Along with Hawk (Hank Hall, a sailor aboard the carrier) she helped the crew. Changeling (Gar Logan) and Golden Eagle (Charley Parker) helped get the ship back in the water.

Bat-Girl’s 1970s appearance.

Go west, young woman

This incident resulted in the creation of Titans West. The other three members were Lilith, her lover Gnarrk, and Dove (Don Hall).

The two Titan teams soon worked together to stop Mr. Esper, and Bat-Girl leapt at the opportunity to work with Robin again.

Bat-Girl was briefly glimpsed in action in 1978 in Hawaii, when a beauty pageant was attacked by the Five-in-one Foe in his Laser-Razer identity. Laser-Razer defeated her.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

In 1985, during the marriage of Terry Long and Donna Troy, Golden Eagle and Bat-Girl probed for interest in recreating Titans West.

The results were inconclusive. And the Crisis on Infinite Earth soon erased Bat-Girl from the universe.

Or did it ?

Continuity notes

When Bat-Girl appeared, the bat-books were ailing and slowly approaching cancellation.

The stories started aping the much more successful Superman books. At this point editor Mort Weisinger  was deploying a whirlwind of gimmicky, almost surreal stories to save the book.

This sort of stories seemed even more absurd when starring Batman. The book was only saved by a sharp turn toward grittier, less camp stories in 1964 at Julie Schwarz’s  initiative.

Some of the more outlandish, sci-fi Batman villains were later referenced by Strike Force Kobra.

As to Batwoman and Bat-Girl, they famously were introduced to deflect charges of Batman and Robin not being heterosexual. And yet these stories kept presenting a romantic relationship with a woman as something intimidating, confining and to be avoided – as per common views of those days. Holy societal aporiaAn insoluble internal logical contradiction., Batman !

Echoes

In a 1964 “imaginary story” (aren’t they all ?), Betty leaves to accompany her father on business in Europe for years. She comes back to Gotham in her 20s.

Batman marries Batwoman and retires to let Dick Grayson become Batman II. Bruce Jr. becomes Robin II.

In this “future” (actually in-universe fan fiction written by Alfred Pennyworth), Betty becomes Batwoman II, discovers Robin’s identity, and becomes his lover.

Flamebird

The 1977 attempt to revive the Teen Titans quickly fizzled.

However, Post-Crisis Betty Kane was reinvented as Flamebird. This was a Silver AgeSuper-hero comics from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. joke/reference about the Nightwing and Flamebird identities once used by Superman and Jimmy Olsen.

Still, Flamebird (Mary Elizabeth Kane) is a different character. She never was Bat-Girl – and she didn’t have an aunt Kathy, since Batwoman (Kathy Kane) was assumed not to have existed post-Crisis.

Flamebird can’t thus really be called the post-Crisis Bat-Girl. But decades later Greg Rucka sort-of reintroduces Bat-Girl, as Flamebird starts working as Batwoman (Katherine Rebecca Kane)’s sidekick.

Howbeit, that was swiftly undone by editorial vagaries and the New 52 reboot.

Grant us strength

Things get more complicated with Grant Morrison’s huge Leviathan story arc. He reintroduced much of the absurd early 1960s/Weisinger continuity, including Batwoman (Kathy Kane), into continuity.

The more surreal adventures were presented as shared visions induced by exposure to experimental drugs. This drug angle built upon a 1963 Batman story.

In this framework many “Weisinger Age” stories implicitly happened. It is stated several times that during an indistinct phase early in Batman and Robin’s career, things were more colourful and light-hearted.

Batwoman defiant

The events surrounding this new version of the Silver Age Batwoman (now called Katherine Webb-Kane) are roughly similar to the Silver Age stories. Her characterisation, however, is markedly different.

But she does show up with a sidekick once – which means that there was a Bat-Girl somewhere in the past career of Batman after all.

Robin mentioned that this Bat-Girl (whose uniform is more closely patterned after his) was trying to woo him – like in the 1960s stories.

Whether there is a link between this Bat-Girl and Flamebird is unknown.

In which continuity did this Bat-Girl appear ? We have no idea. As of this writing Batman Incorporated cannot possibly make sense in DC’s New 52 continuity.

Betty and Charley in 1985, checking for interest in a Titans West revival.

Description

Betty is a pretty teenager with shoulder-length blonde hair.

As Bat-Girl, she wears a short-sleeved red dress trimmed in green, with a green cape, belt, and boots – and a pointed red mask.

She carries a small purse-like “Crime Compact” slung over her shoulder.

Personality

Bat-Girl is bright and enthusiastic, with a good eye for clues.

For the most part she is serious and dedicated to her job. But sometimes she lets her emotions get the better of her. Especially where Robin is concerned.

A favourite trick is to pretend to faint or to act helpless in order to catch the bad guys by surprise.

Bat-Girl is stubborn, wants to prove herself, and is strongly attracted toward Robin. However she is more mature emotionally than he is, as per the gender roles of the day, and he initially reacts to her advances like a scared little boy.

They later start sort-of-dating. But that never got anywhere since Betty did not usually live in Gotham.

Plus, both characters existed in a strange limbo somewhere between age 12 and age 15 while having many of the capabilities of an adult.

Bat-Girl received little character development or backstory during her entire career.

Quotes

“So Aunt Kathy thinks I’m ‘not ready yet’ – huh ? I’ll show her !”

“Don’t worry everybody ! Bat-Girl will take care of him !”

(Examining clues with a microscope) “Cellulose acetate ! I read about it in school ! That’s used in the manufacture of gunpowder, rayon and other products !”

Universe AZ History

(This section is about the version of Bat-Girl that exists in the homemade universe of our contributor Azrael.)

In Universe AZ, on the “Earth 1” of the setting, Betty Kane is known as Flamebird as she is in post-crisis DC comics. However she is significantly more skilled and capable (also she does not carry “girlie” gadgets).

Betty is the grand-niece of Martha Wayne, a member of the prominent Californian Kane family, and an accomplished professional tennis player in her civilian ID.

Born in 1964 (a year after Dick Grayson) her career started in 1979, after her mother had brought her to Gotham to visit Bruce, and she accidentally discovered his identity.

She mostly trained alone, though after Barbara was paralyzed (1986) Batman had Betty assume the Batgirl identity for close to 2 years to prevent any possible correlation between Batgirl and Barbara.

Betty has since become a member of the International Super Teams organization, she is considered an extremely valuable asset by the head of the organization Silver Lightning (Dimitra Poulis), and she has been romantically linked to Red Arrow aka Connor Hawke, one of her “aunt Kathy’s” teammates.

Betty did not originally have an “aunt Kathy”, until after the Crisis in 1985, when the alternate universe daughter of Batman and Catwoman (Helena Wayne) came to Earth 1 following the destruction of Earth 2. Bruce helped Helena set up a new identity for herself as Kathy Kane.

She became Batwoman in the early 90s, and is currently a member of the Justice League branch team on the planet Oa, as well as being the local head of Wayne Enterprises (also on Oa).

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