Barbara Gordon is, technically, the niece of the man she calls "Dad:" Comissioner James Gordon, Batman's pal.
As a young girl, she would sneak out of her room late at night and eavesdrop
on Daddy and the Dark Knight discussing a case. Her hero worship of Bats
led her to take judo lessons -- a difficult discipline for one who would
rather curl up with a good book than leave the house.
The moment of truth came when she created the Batgirl costume for the Policeman's
Masquerade Ball. On the way to the Party, she encountered Killer Moth and
Bruce Wayne having an unpleasant tete-a-tete. She stopped to intervene,
and discovered that her judo skills were good enough to take KM down. Rather than
continue to the party, she decided to go home and not worry Daddy with idea of her becoming Batgirl.
Batgirl reappeared a few more times, teaming up with Bats and Robin on some
more intellectual cases, and also with Robin on a few Teen Titan missions.
Batgirl took a break while Barbara went to Washington to serve as a US Representative.
When her term ended, Batgirl made up for lost time and snagged more than a few baddies on her own.
In her last outing, she was shot for the first time, yet managed to overcome it enough to win again.
Her career ended abruptly when the Joker came to her father's home, shot her and kidnapped Dad.
The whole story can be found in the trade paperback "The Killing Joke." Barbara's
spinal cord was damaged in the attack, leaving her a paraplegic. However, where
Bruce Wayne spent a ton of money getting his back repaired after Bane broke it,
Barbara turned her efforts towards living with her disability and became
Oracle.
As Oracle, Barbara is a Secret Master of Information, and better
connected than the BatComputer when it comes to finding things out. She has
made Black Canary into a better crimefighter, and is still a contributing member
of the BatTeam.
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