The Batman Family: Cassandra Cain, The Black Bat

The Batman Family:
Cassandra Cain, The Black Bat

Origins:
Just as there are many Robins in the Batman family, there are multiple Batgirls to keep note of. This post is dedicated to Cassandra Cain who is the second incarnation of the Batgirl. Cassandra Cain was raised in the League of Assassins. Her sole purpose from when she was born was to be the perfect body guard for Ra's Al Ghul. Her father, David Cain looked for the perfect mother in order to have the perfect ninja baby. He found this in Lady Shiva. From birth Cassandra was trained to be the ultimate martial artists. She wasn't even taught how to speak, but the areas in her brain responsible for speaking were trained instead to map out other opponents movements and anticipate their actions, an extra sense in place of speaking.

Oracle's Ward:
When she was 7 years old her father took her to murder a businessman in order to complete her training, though he disguised it as a game. When she killed the man she was scarred emotionally and abandoned her father realizing that it was wrong to kill after "reading" the businessman's final moments in life. She went to Gotham where she became an agent of Oracle, (the original Batgirl). When Cassandra saved Commissioner Gordon's life, Oracle and Batman contemplated letting the young girl in on their secrets. However, Batman feared she would meet the same fate as Jason Todd. He would not let her become the Batgirl until she could adequately defend herself. During this time a telepath helped her rewire her brain to understand English easier and begin to speak. She was soon ready to become Batgirl.

Batgirl:
She became Batgirl but wished that she could relearn how to read people's movements, like she had before the telepath "fixed" her. She met up with Lady Shiva in order to relearn her old talents. Lady Shiva agreed to help, only if they could duel to the death in a year. Cassandra willingly went along with it, knowing full well that she could not kill and would rather be "Perfect for a year" rather than "mediocre for a lifetime". When the fight came Cassandra was killed in minutes, Lady Shiva realized she wanted to die rather than actually fight. So Lady Shiva revived her and Cassandra found out that she was indeed her mother. She continued to be Batgirl.

Batman R.I.P:
Batman had become a father figure in Cassandra's life. When he was found out to be dead, (seemingly), she became disillusioned with her alter ego as the Batgirl and left the Wayne Manor leaving Tim Drake and Dick Grayson to run the operations in Gotham.

The Black Bat:
However, Tim Drake stayed in contact with Cassandra even after Bruce returned to create Batman Incorporated. The mantle of Batgirl had been passed on. Tim tries to persuade Cassandra to return to Gotham who had become an anonymous vigilante in Hong Kong. She refuses saying that Batgirl has moved on from her. So Tim gives Cassandra a copy of her old suit and tells her to keep the logo and join the corps of Batmen across the globe. So with that, Cassandra altered her costume and now fights crime in Hong Kong.