'WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman '89 #1, on sale now from DC.

While the enormously successful 1989 Batman film helmed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton received a whole line of cinematic sequels that moved past those principal players, the continuation comic book series Batman '89 is very much picking up the plot threads and character depictions from that original movie. With the movie's screenwriter Sam Hamm returning to the cinematic world he helped create, the new series eschews developments from the latter two films in the series directed by Joel Schumacher.

In particular, Batman '89 provides its own take on Robin and an iconic Bat-Family member who is famously Batgirl in the main DC Universe continuity, Barbara Gordon.

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Batman 89 Barbara Gordon

The four-film Batman series that began in 1989 largely kept Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon's personal life on the sidelines, with little known about this particular iteration of the commissioner's home life. This is quietly expanded upon in the opening issue of Batman '89, with readers introduced to his daughter Barbara Gordon, who makes her debut in the Batman '89 Universe. This incarnation of Barbara is a working professional who is in the middle of a serious relationship with Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent, even though Dent's working relationship with Commissioner Gordon is strained by Dent's obsessive crusade to bring down the Batman. Despite this estrangement, Barbara accepts Harvey's marriage proposal, with the creative team of Hamm, Joe Quinones, Leonardo Ito and Clayton Cowles kicking off this Barbara's introduction on an auspicious note.

And while the original film series lacked a Barbara Gordon on-screen, it did have its own twist on Batgirl, albeit through an entirely new character altogether. In 1997,  Batman & Robin created the character of Barbara Wilson -- the niece of Bruce Wayne's longtime family butler Alfred Pennyworth -- who came to Gotham to visit her beloved uncle. Having trained in martial arts and secretly participating in underground street motorcycle races, Barbara quickly proves herself a natural fit to balance out Batman and Robin's crimefighting relationship. Anticipating this, Alfred quietly prepared Barbara to have her own superhero costume as Batgirl, with Barbara suiting up just in time to help the Dynamic Duo apprehend Poison Ivy and Mister Freeze.

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Batgirl Alicia Silverstone Batman & Robin

In response to questions if the events of the Schumacher Batman films are canon to the world of Batman '89, Hamm observed they take place on the alternate universe of Earth-97 as opposed to Batman '89's apt location on Earth-89. This means Alfred may not have a niece at all, let alone one that is destined to take up the mantle of Batgirl. Instead, a very different Robin from Chris O'Donnell's portrayal is set to make their debut in the comic book series, one more closely mirroring original cinematic plans for the character before both Burton and Keaton eventually left the franchise.

Unlike the main DCU's Barbara Gordon, this particular iteration has no clearly expressed ambitions to become a superhero herself though she has followed in her father's footsteps to work for the Gotham City Police Department. And as Commissioner Gordon faces suspicions that he quietly endorses increased vigilante activity throughout the city, Barbara appears to be working against her father and with her new fiancé.  As she personally helps research the technology Batman has been seen using during his war on crime, this proximity potentially setting the stage for her to create her own superhero persona when Harvey inevitably breaks bad.

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