In Batman: Caped Crusader Season 1, fans witness a unique re-imagining of The Dark Knight mythos. A lot feels tapered to the noirish realm of the Bruce Timm animated series from the 1990s, but there are vast changes made to add diversify the property.

One of these changes involves having a female Penguin. Another includes a massive tweak to two of Batman’s most important allies: Jim and Barbara Gordon. Though this change seems to align with the Gordons’ more recent portrayals in Matt Reeves’ The Batman and the canceled Batgirl movie, it still elevates the characters and creates strong potential for them down the line. Between the two Gordons, Barbara is the most promising for future storylines.

Who is Batman’s Barbara Gordon?

Character Name
Creators
Debut Issue
Year of Debut

Jim Gordon
Bill Finger, Bob Kane
Detective Comics #27
1939

Barbara Gordon
William Dozier, Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino
Detective Comics #359
1966

To reconcile who Barbara Gordon is can be a bit two-fold. For starters, her father is Commissioner James Gordon, one of Batman’s best allies. Whether it’s cartoons, live-action movies and television shows, or comics, Jim breaks many rules and compromises his code as a law enforcement officer to help Batman. This has especially been seen with Gary Oldman’s version of Gotham’s police commissioner in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy. Gordon knows vigilantes are needed to help the Gotham City Police Department.

Gordon’s daughter Barbara decides an ordinary life isn’t for her, nor is following in her father’s footsteps. Barbara wants to be a vigilante, too. This is why she dons the Batgirl moniker. Unfortunately, she has undergone some retcons over the years, but the overall concept of her character is that Bruce accepts her as a crime-fighting partner. She is eventually paralyzed after being shot by the Joker in Alan Moore’s and Brian Bolland’s Batman: The Killing Joke, paving the way for her to become the hero and information broker known as Oracle. Barbara also struck up a romance with Dick Grayson/Nightwing.

Despite having many great stories over the decades, Barbara has seen her fair share of bad stories as well. The Batman Beyond Universe established she had an affair with Bruce Wayne behind Dick’s back. The Killing Joke movie adaptation similarly depicted a disturbing arc with Batman having sex with a college-aged Barbara, who was young enough to be considered his daughter. Thankfully, most of the comics kept their relationship platonic, leaving Barbara to work on her superhero career, and trying to help Bruce with his other sidekicks, and Batgirl successors like Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown.

Barbara also remained the voice of reason and the glue that holds the Batfamily together. This is what the Arkham Universe also shaped her like when Batman died. In the comics, it’s the same. The Batfamily looks to her when Bruce isn’t around to lead. She has always been caring, compassionate and responsible. To this point, the angsty Jason Todd (even as Red Hood) looks to her as the True North and guiding light of the squad.

Batman: Caped Crusader Makes Barbara Gordon a Lawyer

The Caped Crusader’s Barbara isn’t a doe-eyed teenager looking up to Batman. She is a more seasoned lawyer who wants scum off the street the right way. She doesn’t agree with violence, but can understand when someone like Batman tries to clean up Gotham this way. Still, Barbara operates by the book. She is the rival of the Caped Crusader’s Harvey Dent. Harvey is a district attorney who is more obsessed with his mayoral campaign and getting funding, even if it’s from a shady mob boss like Rupert Thorne.

Throughout the show, they verbally tussle in and out of the courtroom. Barbara sees Harvey as a slap in the face of her field. This directly connects her to Bruce, who is Harvey’s best friend. Of course, Barbara handles cases Batman has an interest in. She can’t stand when Harvey gets the Caped Crusader’s Catwoman off a theft charge. It’s the show’s subtle way of once more showing how the judicial system favors white men over people of color and marginalized communities. The fact Jim and Barbara are Black speaks to representation and visibility even more.

Jim and Barbara want a better city, which subverts the usual DC fare where Batman spends most of the time working with Jim. Rather than just focusing on corrupt cops, Barbara shows corruption at a white collar level within the legal framework. It’s why Bruce respects her to the point he even gives her a direct line to call him and Alfred. It’s the kind of trust Jim also develops. However, Barbara as the focal point is way more refreshing, especially for fans who are upset the Batgirl movie got canceled, or who think the Batgirl from the Harley Quinn TV show is too quirky and lacks depth.

Batman: Caped Crusader Doesn’t Need Barbara Gordon as Batgirl

In the Caped Crusader Season 1 ending, Barbara tries to help Harvey give evidence on Thorne. Sadly, he is shot and killed in his Two-Face form. This sets Barbara up to prosecute the dirty cops: Arnold Flass and Harvey Bullock. She will also have to avoid Thorne and other gangs who would want her to get off the mob’s case. She already had to wield guns and fight off henchmen who tried to collect a bounty on her head after an inmate at Blackgate put a hit out. That fiasco proved she was up to the task, with many fans expecting her to suit up someday as Batgirl.

Batman would definitely see her as a capable ally. But a better direction would be to have Barbara honor Harvey’s legacy. He wanted to redeem himself and bring the mob down. Barbara can take up this white knight mantle by running for mayor. Gotham needs systemic and institutional change. The current mayor is shady, so she would be helping the city in a monumental way. This wouldn’t be the first time Barbara has taken up an authoritative position. Barbara became Commissioner in the Batman #666 Universe, hunting Damian Wayne, while she also took up the job in the Beyond Universe.

Barbara knew she needed to be in a position of power and influence to continue the war on crime. Caped Crusader Season 2 can offer her this softer, less aggressive position where she will be in the line of political duty, facing the media and answering hard questions. Given her success going up against thugs, and the fact that her father’s legacy is highly-regarded, Barbara would have backing behind her. If this happens, she would transcend being a commissioner. Even her father finds his hands tied sometimes. But as mayor, she can offer better resources, help clean the police department up, and shift things so that Batman can operate without having to worry about the police hunting him down.

Such a development would transform Barbara into the ideal partner that Bruce needs in his war on crime. Not to mention, it would free the story up for another Batgirl, maybe even Carrie Kelley. The point is Barbara is a true blue hero who would make a bigger difference in public office. Laws need changing, the elite need curbing, and the justice system needs to strike fear into the hearts of crooks again. Mayor Barbara Gordon has a nice ring to it, which keeps her as a paragon of virtue and beacon of hope to the middle and lower classes. A true, unmasked woman of the people, inspiring and fighting for them in open view.

All 10 episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader Season 1 are streaming on Prime Video.