Gotham City has seen many heroes take to the rooftops to find crime and stop it in its tracks. From Batman and Robin to Nightwing, Batwoman, and Spoiler. Yet the most popular ally and hero of Batman’s Bat-Family has to be Batgirl, aka Barbara Gordon. Once also known as Oracle, the hero has taken the fight to the streets and beyond for decades.
With that level of success comes an entire multiverse of different versions of Barbara. From vampires and magicians to Green Lanterns and more, here are the ten most powerful alternative versions of Batgirl in the DC Multiverse.
10 Thrillkiller
One of the first iterations of Batgirl that is so unique is that of the Elseworld known as Thrillkiller. In this universe, Barbara is a thrill-seeking vigilante who has teamed up with Dick Grayson to fight crime in the early 1960s. In this universe, she lost her mother and since her mother’s crime remains unsolved, she and her father have grown apart.
A wealthy heiress, she has bought Wayne Manor after the Waynes lost their fortune in the Great Depression. Bruce Wayne is a full-time detective, and Barbara is a full-time vigilante until she gives up the mantle to honor Robin’s passing.
9 The Doom That Came To Gotham
One of the things that makes Elseworlds and alternate realities so unique for many heroes in the DC Universe is that it can completely change the heroes fans know and love by giving them new personalities and/or power sets. This includes Barbara, as on the alternate reality known as Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham, Barbara is a new version of Oracle.
In this Lovecraftian tale, the world featured a version of Barbara that had managed to become paralyzed much like in the main universe, but this version of Oracle had an artificial voice box as well, which allowed her to communicate with the dead.
8 Black Bat
One unique alternate version of Barbara Gordon came when the worlds of Marvel and DC Comics collided in the Amalgam Universe. This was when the heroes of DC and Marvel were merged into a single universe by the Spectre and The Living Tribunal, including Batgirl and Marvel Comics' very own Black Cat, aka Felicia Hardy.
The two merged into Black Bat, aka Barbara Gordon Hardy, an ex-thief who aspired to become a SHIELD agent. Creating the Black Bat persona, she fought to impress SHIELD agent Bruce Wayne. She joined him and SHIELD, with the two falling in love before their fates were left unknown after sacrificing their lives to stop a doomsday weapon.
7 Earth-33
There was once a Pre-Flashpoint world in which Barbara Gordon was not merely a hero, but the ruler of an entire planet. This was a world filled with magic, where Barbara had taken on the role of the planet’s ruler, Oracle. Along with heroes like Batmage, master of the dark arts, Kal-El and Lady Flash, Oracle had magical abilities that allowed her to see the future and events across the multiverse.
This is a major power enhancement for Barbara, who went from the vigilante hero Batgirl in the main DC Universe to an all-seeing being of true power.
6 Smallville
Despite the fact that the hit WB show Smallville ended with season 10, the prequel Superman series gained new life years later in comic book form, continuing with a season 11 and beyond. These stories saw Clark Kent in his new role as Superman and introduced other heroes into the world of Smallville.
One such hero was Barbara Gordon, who at first took on the mantle of Nightwing serving under Batman’s tutelage. However as the story progressed, she took on the role of the new Blue Lantern and introduced her boyfriend Richard Grayson to Batman to become the new Nightwing in her place.
5 Green Lantern Batgirl
One interesting story saw an alternate world in which all males other than Superman and Lex Luthor pass on, leaving behind a mostly women-led world. This led to a comedian with no morals using the ring of Kyle Rayner to commit crimes, but she was stopped by the remaining heroes of Earth.
Barbara Gordon was selected by Kyle’s ring to become the new Green Lantern. This allowed the paralyzed Barbara to use the ring to allow her to walk again and become Green Lantern, joining the rest of the female heroes in the fight against the remaining forces of evil.
4 Earth-43
Some versions of Barbara Gordon, while powerful, are far darker and scarier than her true heroic persona. One such world saw a dark reality in which Batman became a vampire while battling Dracula, eventually succumbing to the bloodlust and becoming more of a monster than Dracula ever was. In this reality, Barbara was one of the heroes turned by Batman into a bloodthirsty vampire herself.
This version of Barbara becomes one of the forces that the remaining heroes fight and try to stop as Batman’s reign grows, leading to Dick Grayson being forced to stake Barbara himself in the end.
3 Stephanie Brown
Some alternate versions of Batgirl come from the mainstream DC Universe themselves, as Barbara passed on her mantle of Batgirl a few times in her years as a hero. One person that took the Batgirl mantle on for themselves was Stephanie Brown, the hero mostly known as Spoiler.
The Spoiler was the daughter of the third-rate Gotham City villain Cluemaster. She had believed he had been rehabilitated after years during her childhood spent in prison, but after discovering he’d returned to his old ways, she took on the mantle of Spoiler to foil her father’s plans, ultimately becoming her own hero and later becoming Batgirl.
2 DC Bombshells
One unique version of the hero came during the alternate reality setting of DC Bombshells, a world set in the midst of WWII where the female heroes of the DC Universe became the major heroes of the world, battling to end the conflict of WWII once and for all.
Barbara was a vampire in this world. Once a fighter pilot during WWI, she lost her love and went to Louisiana, where she became a vampire known as the Belle of the Bog. She later discovered her love was alive, having joined Enchantress and Ravager. She later joined forces with the Suicide Squad.
1 Cassandra Cain
Ironically, the most powerful alternate version of Batgirl is from the mainstream DC Universe, as the only hero more powerful than Barbara to take on the mantle was the popular hero Cassandra Cain, aka Orphan. While known for her Orphan persona in the comics, there was a time Cassandra took on the mantle of Batgirl.
The daughter of League of Assassins member David Cain and Lady Shiva, Cassandra spent her childhood learning only body language and the art of battle. However seeing a different way of doing things through Batman, she fled her father and fought to become a better person than the one she was taught to be.