Post by Jilak on Sept 30, 2011 2:15:05 GMT -5
Full Name: Stephanie Brown
Alias: Formerly Spoiler, Formerly Robin IV, Currently Batgirl III, “Fay Wray”
Nickname(s): Steph, Stephie, Girl Wonder
Age: 19
Height: 5'5”
Weight: 110 lbs
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Alliance: Chaotic Good
Home: Gotham City
Franchise: Detective Comics
Physical Description
Stephanie is of a relatively average height for her age, and of a rather athletic build. Her long blond hair reaches her lower back, and often lies loosely over her shoulders. Her Batgirl costume is armoured, rendered in shades of violet and black. The insignia upon her chest, along with her utility belt and thigh strap, are gold. Her cowl covers the entire upper portion of her head, yet allows enough room for her hair to flow out. Her eyes are also clearly visible.
Outside of her costume, Stephanie dresses rather casually. While her clothing choices are never, in any sense of the term, 'unfashionable', they're always comfortable. She often ties her hair back, seemingly preferring to wear it in something of a messy bun but opting for a simple pony tail from time to time.
Weapons
Originally, Stephanie had no weapons. She couldn't afford any. She did appear to be in possession of some sort of grapple line for transportation, but often simply used objects around her as weapons.
Once she became acquainted with Robin, she got smoke bombs, flash bang grenades, a grappling hook, and spiked jacks she once used to take out some tires on a truck. She also apparently acquired a wakizashi, which she used to cut some power lines once.
After she got acquainted with Batman (Robin # 87), he gave her the entire Bat-arsenal, a kevlar costume, night vision lenses, del-cel jumplines, a grapple gun, smoke bombs, as well as a shurikin and bolo knives. She used a batarang once as Robin.
Upon her return, she has these weapons, but has also been seen using a bo staff and silver weapon, possibly a shuriken, which she once deflected a knife with.
As Batgirl, so far she is not only in possession of a brand new extendible bo staff, but also has a full arsenal of batarangs, including an electrified one she used to shock a drug crazed cop into unconsciousness. These were recently upgraded by Proxy, allowing her to combine batarang elements.
Abilities/Powers
As per norm with most of the Bat Family, Stephanie has no paranormal abilities.
Skills
Stephanie is armed only with her martial arts and gymnastic skills. Robin gave her weapons such as smoke bombs to use when he could, and later when she got friendlier with Batman (Starting issue 84) she was able to secure the whole Bat-arsenal, including a Kevlar costume. She received erratic training under Robin III, Batgirl II, Oracle, Black Canary and Batman. She possessed technology that lets her turn invisible, but she abandoned or lost it when she took up the Batgirl identity. Through her training, she is capable of the following:
-Computer Hacking
-Escapology
-Gymnastics, which she admittedly took up on her own
-Investigation
-Martial Arts
-Stealth
-Tactical Analysis
-Throwing
Personality
Stephanie is one of the more happy-go-lucky members of the Bat Family. She entered her profession out of spite, but turned it into a beacon of hope. Much unlike Batman or even Nightwing, she banters during confrontation with even the most mighty of foes. She describes herself, quite accurately, as the Pollyanna. True to this description, she remains optimistic under most occasions.
She seems to truly care about the people around her, as evidenced when a mistake she makes gets a man killed. While she is eventually able to bounce back from it, she focuses more on her mission, going silent for a bit. She, much like Oracle, has what the two describe as 'inner monologue troubles'. She'll often say aloud things she meant to say in her inner monologue voice, or 'inside voice'.
History
Stephanie Brown was an athletic blonde teenage girl who took gymnastics and excelled. Her father was in and out of jail and her mother was overworked and addicted to pharmaceuticals. Due to her father's villainous exploits and her mother's low paying job as a nurse, the family was constantly strapped for cash.
Stephanie Brown first came on the scene as a vigilante to "spoil" the crimes of her villainous father, the Cluemaster. Though Arthur Brown had been cured of his clue dropping psychosis, Stephanie decided to leave clues for him so the authorities could foil his plans.
Tim Drake, Robin III, saw Spoiler in the act and believed her to be working with Brown. He chased her down and unmasked her, only to receive a brick to the face. He figured out Stephanie's identity and recruited her to help his and Batman's own vendetta against Arthur Brown. Stephanie jumped in to save Batman from her father and the Cluemaster threatened her with sulfuric acid. In order to save Stephanie, Batman revealed Steph's secret identity as daughter to Brown, who was shocked to unmask her and confirm she was his daughter. Stephanie then quickly took her father down and was on the verge of choking him to death when Batman talked her out of it.
When her father escaped from jail again, Stephanie returned as the Spoiler and teamed up with Tim Drake to stop him. She succeeded and saved Tim's life and he was so grateful he kissed her. This got Stephanie interested in a romantic relationship with the Boy Wonder, much to Tim's chagrin, and she decided to continue being a vigilante.
After many encounters, Tim was finally forced to admit he was attracted to Stephanie. He asked her to be his girlfriend, but warned her because of his promise to Batman he couldn't tell her his real name. Stephanie agreed.
Soon after, Stephanie discovered she was pregnant, a product of a fling she'd had with a boy named Dean. Tim took her to Lamaze classes in his fake "Alvin Draper" identity and despite having been relocated to Keystone, made it to the hospital in Gotham to help her have it. Though initially hesitant, Stephanie agreed to give up her baby for adoption after having a dream where her father took her baby from her.
Tim moved back closer to Gotham and lived at Brentwood Academy, an all boys boarding school. His and Stephanie's relationship grew strained as she grew more upset she didn't know his secret identity. She began following him around in an attempt to find out where he lived, one of these attempts ending disastorously when she was confronted by Secret, a teammate of Tim's from Young Justice who nursed a crush on the Boy Wonder and was insanely jealous. Spoiler mostly acted in self defense, and though she got some shots in, the powerful Secret gained the upper hand, and Tim and YJ Mentor Red Tornado intervened before things got ugly. The girls were made to apologize to each other. (Spoiler later helped Young Justice out along with other teen heroes, and was abducted once by a crazed Secret much later on. She was released with no memory of what happened along with Greta's other abductees when Tim talked sense into Greta.)
The tension between Tim and Steph did not stop, though. After they saved a girl Tim admitted to knowing, Stephanie suspected Tim of cheating on her and refused to speak to him. But, while Tim was away on a mission with Lagoon Boy and forgot to check in with Batman, the Dark Knight approached Stephanie, told her Tim's real name and asked her to go check on him.
Tim was infuriated with Batman for giving away his secret when Tim had worked so hard to protect it for Bruce's own sake, and had never revealed Batman's secret identity. He went away to clear his head and Batman decided to train Stephanie.
Stephanie also gained a mentor in Dinah Lance, the Black Canary, and worked with the Birds of Prey for a while.
During this time, Stephanie developed a close friendship with the second Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. Cassandra trained Stephanie and enjoyed her company and the two bonded over father issues.
Tim came back, and not blaming Stephanie for what had happened, resumed his relationship with her. Meanwhile, Stephanie found herself shut out of the cave while Bruce Wayne was on the run from the cops for a murder he had been framed for.
Stephanie went to talk to Batman about being shut out and Batman abruptly told her she didn't have the skills or the talent. When Steph protested, Batman sent her on a mission to capture a Kobra Cult leader to test her to see if she could figure out he had already taken care of the mission. She didn't, and he fired her.
Stephanie's world was rocked once more when she learned that her father had not only died, but done so while doing a mission saving people for the Suicide Squad for no reward whatsoever. Stephanie took a short break from crime fighting after this and she was let go from the Birds of Prey, but soon resumed her Spoiler identity.
When Tim's father found out about his dual life, Tim was forced to quit being Robin. Stephanie, angered with Tim when she thought she saw him kissing another girl and determined to prove herself to Batman, made her own Robin costume, broke into the Batcave and declared to Batman she was the new Robin. Batman accepted, though Alfred suspected this might be a ruse to get Tim back on the job.
Stephanie served briefly as Robin, teaming up with her best friend Batgirl and even defeating Zsasz, but after she disobeyed orders from Batman and tried to save him from the assassin Scarab and got captured while doing so, he fired her and forbade her from even being Spoiler.
Hurt and determined to prove herself, Stephanie used files from the Batcave's computer and decided to use one of his plans to wipe out Gotham's gangs. She was not aware that the "Matches Malone" required to be present was one of Batman's alternate identities, as he did not tell her. She accidentally started a gang war, and was captured by Black Mask, who tortured her for information. She eventually escaped, and beat Black Mask down. He grabbed a gun, which she yanked out of his hand. She decided not to use it so as not to betray Batman, and Black Mask shot her.
She managed to get out and up to the rooftops despite her injuries. Batman found her and took her to the hospital. She apparently died there, first asking "Was I really Robin?" to which Batman replied "Of course you were."
Batman discovered in the "War Crimes" series that the Cluemaster was still alive and repentant for his crimes upon learning of his daughter's death. He was also angry at Batman and released information on Stephanie to the public, but pointed Batman towards Dr. Leslie Thompkins as Stephanie's killer.
It was seemingly revealed that the long time good-Samaritan and pacifist Dr. Leslie Thompkins let Stephanie die from lack of medical treatment in an attempt to dissuade Batman from taking on sidekicks. Stephanie appeared twice to Cassandra Cain in near death experiences, once Stephanie urged her friend to fight for her life and the second time told her of how Bludhaven would be bombed.
Much later, a mysterious figure in a Spoiler costume worked for the the Penguin in order to betray him in his attempts to control the Gotham Underground. She beat up Tim and bombed Barbara's computers while doing this undercover work, but the heroes never discovered her true identity. Meanwhile, Tim thought he saw Stephanie in the halls of his school, recognizing the way she walked. Before he could catch up to her, however, she disappeared. Then he thought he saw her scaling the rooftops in her Spoiler costume. Once again, he caught up to her, only to find nothing once more. At last Spoiler was seen watching Robin. Though he did not see her, she said "Good night, Tim," wistfully in his direction and unmasked, revealing herself to be Stephanie.
Later, Spoiler actually confronted Tim, trying to warn him that he and the criminal Violet have been led into a trap.Tim believed this to be someone impersonating Stephanie and was enraged. As he screamed at her about desecrating the memory of someone he loved, Spoiler, not fighting back, ducked a kick and then was pinned to the wall by the throat. Tim grabbed at her mask and she finally said "Please, don't do this...Tim..." and as Tim reacted in surprise, they were interrupted by Sin Fang blowing a hole in the wall and announcing it would be his privilege to kill them both.
Spoiler and Tim escaped Sin Fang, but Tim left a tracer on her. He and Batman tracked her down to an apartment. Angrily, Spoiler took off her mask, revealing herself to be Stephanie Brown, indeed. Tim rushed her and kissed her, lifting her into the air. Stephanie told him to slow down, and Batman explained that he always suspected she was alive, and that's why she didn't have a memorial. Batman welcomed Stephanie back into the "Bat family" and they took her to the cave, where after greeting a shocked Alfred, she explained that Leslie Thompkins faked her death, and that the body buried was someone else's, but she felt like she was running away and had to go back to Gotham. In addition, Batman at long last has seemed to reveal his identity as Bruce Wayne to her. Tim took her to see her Mom at the hospital, and understandably seemed a little put out by both Bruce and Steph's deception of him.
The Robin/Spoiler Special had Tim and Steph heal a few wounds by busting open a kidnapping ring together (though the status of their relationship remained uncertain) and introduced the friends Steph has been hanging around with, a rather punk, but nice, crowd that liked to party in abandoned subway stations. It also revealed that Stephanie decided to go back to Gotham and be Spoiler after saving a small African village from the gun wielding fanatic Katavi, and rushing Leslie to the hospital for a gunshot wound.
The strain between Tim and Stephanie got worse when Batman disappeared, apparently insane. Earlier, Batman had asked Stephanie to keep Tim away from the situation, which caused Stephanie to delete a picture of Batman going crazy Tim was looking for from a thug's cell phone. When Tim found out, the dynamic between the two became even more tense.
However, Tim begged Stephanie to come with him to Titans Tower to give him moral support when he quit the Teen Titans due to his responsibilities in Gotham. Stephanie complied, and got to interact with a few team members, including Tim's ex Cassandra Sandsmark, Traci Thirteen, and the explosive Amy Allen, before she left in the Bat-Plane with Tim.
After this, Stephanie came up with a plan to protect Tim and rebuild Gotham. It involved hiring Scarab with money Tim had given The Penguin earlier in exchange for information on Batman. Scarab used non-lethal weapons to break up rioting cops, causing trouble under Steph's orders. Steph tried to enlist The General to help her as well, but the villain shot at her instead. Stephanie skillfully dodged the kill shot, but caught the bullet in the shoulder. However, she punched the General and escaped. She found Scarab had been paid more money by the mysterious Red Robin and was now on a contract to kill Tim, but she tackled Scarab and saved Tim's life. Eventually Tim grabbed the injured Stephanie and used a low grade version of the Scarab's fear gas to disperse the crowd. Stephanie was not sure what to think of these extreme methods, and revealed to the readers her plan to "make Robin better" by hiring villains was under Batman's orders. But she wondered if making Tim a better Robin would make him a worse person.
Red Robin was revealed to be The General and he let Tim know Stephanie had been to see him. Tim then realized the General had to be the one who shot Steph and began to get suspicious about her secrecy. Going back to The General's warehouse to investigate, Tim was seriously injured in an explosion from a bomb the General, now posing as Anarky, left. Stephanie vowed to make things right right. Stephanie stumbled upon the Gotham Gangs trying to make a truce. However, Lynx II was having none of it. Stephanie came in and handily defeated Lynx with some pizza pallets. The meeting erupted into fighting, and Stephanie wondered if it was partly her fault.
The fight was interrupted by Anarky outside. Everyone ran out, and Anarky, who had planted a bomb three hours ago, detonated it. Spoiler and several others were thrown by the blast. Tim arrived to fight Anarky. While the two boys fought,it was up to Stephanie to calm down the gangs and get them to help with the chaos. With the help of the Gotham cops, she succeeded.
After it all went down, Steph and Tim met. Stephanie tearfully realized Tim knew about her deception, and Tim angrily confirmed he found security tapes of her hiring the Scarab. Steph explained that Batman had ordered her to make him sweat, in order to make him a better Robin. Tim yelled at her, telling her he knows she's been under a lot of pressure, and that he loves her, and that's why he can't have "Spoiler" screwing up any more. He then said "Don't ever let me catch you in that costume again" and jumped off the roof.
Stephanie tried not being Spoiler, but couldn't help herself when she saw Nocturna committing a burglary, and she surreptitiously stopped her. This made her realize she couldn't stop being Spoiler no matter what Tim said.
Later, as Spoiler, she was watching Tim, Babs, Dick and Leslie attend a high society ball, when she saw Nocturna attempting to rob it. She handily stopped the crook, demonstrating her new ability to turn invisible. Afterwards, she met up with Tim and he asked if she stole the tech to make herself invisible to get around his ultimatum. (The writer of the new Batgirl has confirmed she won't be using this invisibility tech again, leaving it with her Spoiler identity.) She responded that he had too much ego and he didn't own her.
He agreed, and apologized for being too harsh earlier, but told her he still didn't think crime fighting was her path. He also told her he was leaving, and for her not to get hurt while he was gone. She grappled away, telling him she didn't want to get hurt either, but she might, as that was part of the life they chosen to lead.
In the wake of Tim's absence and Batman's death, Stephanie decided to give herself a fresh start and apply for college. However, she has a hard time resisting being Spoiler. She teamed up to fight again with her best friend Cassandra, but is thrown a curveball when Cass, clearly lost after the death of Bruce Wayne, takes off her Batgirl costume and says she doesn't want to fight anymore. She told Stephanie the fight was hers now and vanished, leaving the Batgirl costume and identity in the care of her best friend.
Stephanie still had doubts about her status as a crimefighter, but couldn't resist the Batgirl costume. Dick Grayson and Damien Wayne, the new Batman and Robin, saw Steph out fighting and recognized she was not Cassandra. Dick informed Barbara Gordon, the first Batgirl and current cyberhero Oracle, of this development.
With her mother under the impression she has stopped being a vigilante and her first day of college over with, Stephanie continued as Batgirl and went to stop a riot. There she met Gotham's newest cop, Nick Gage, and saved him from the men holding him hostage. However, since there was a bad explosion under her watch that could have had serious consequences, Steph considered the night to be a disaster, and once again declared this was her last night crime fighting. But seconds later, she contradicted this by glancing at her damaged Batgirl costume and wondering about a sewing class.
But when she walked into the kitchen that morning, she found the unwelcome sight of a sinister looking Barbara Gordon, saying that the two of them needed to talk. Barbara let Stephanie know she disapproved of her being Batgirl and didn't think she was up to the task. Stephanie didn't take well to it and continued her crusade in the damaged costume.
She made a few enemies and friends at Gotham University, attracting the spite of a girl named Jordanna, when she argued with her in philosophy class, and the interest of Jordanna's guy-friend Francisco. Stephanie also found out a gang was spiking the punch with dangerous aggression-fuelling drugs at the Gotham Harvest festival, but Oracle contacted Stephanie through Cassandra's mask and told her not to pursue the gang.
Back at the Batcave, Oracle told Stephanie she was to stay out of pursuing the dealers and threatened to call her mother if she continued being Batgirl. Stephanie was not deterred, and continued pursuing the lead. She found out the Scarecrow was behind the distribution and went to stop him. Because her inoculation was out of date, she succumbed to his fear gas and hallucinated both Tim and herself as Spoiler telling her that she was worthless and that she already failed the save the city once, so she should just lay down and die. About to succumb, Stephanie remembered that she had a choice about who she wanted to be and was especially heartened when Barbara motivated her by finally calling her Batgirl in her worried shouts. She snapped back to life, twisting the Scarecrow's ankle before he could kill her and told the villain that she came back for a second chance and that she wasn't afraid to face herself. She knocked him out and proclaimed herself Batgirl. Finally, Babs agreed she was worthy of the title.
Babs held an oath in the Batcave, swearing to Steph to guide and support her. Steph responded that she also had Barbara's back. Barbara took a position as an assistant in computer science at Steph's university and also supplied her with a new costume. Stephanie now stalked the streets of Gotham as the official Batgirl with the aid and guidance of Oracle!
On her first "official" night out, Stephanie did a field test in her brand new suit and stopped some robbers, getting the praise and admiration of a young girl as a result. She was bemused at actually getting "positive reinforcement for the hero gig" for once. She also faced Superman baddie Livewire. She dampened Livewire's electrical powers by kicking a fire hydrant jetstream onto her. Livewire tried to shock her, and they both found out that Babs had insulated Stephanie's suit. Unharmed, Steph knocked the villain out and enjoyed a moment of quiet with Babs after the night's work was done. Steph's first night as Batgirl was an overall sucess.
Stephanie even made the superhero The Web take responsibility for his actions and work with the Justice League, with Oracle's help. She helped him install software that helped him track down a murderer...and allowed Barbara to keep a cybernetic eye on the reckless new hero.
Her first team up with the new Batman and Robin was less successful. She managed to put out a fire and save Robin from catching fire himself, but in the process she also froze Damien with her ice batarang. After Dick expressed a hearty disapproval, Stephanie decided to take the night off. She went back to the job she had taken sorting books in the library to pay for her college, and overheard that Francisco was in some trouble thanks to his dad's shady activities. She went up to Francisco to try to get information out of him, and ended up realizing her attraction to him. She was thrilled when he asked her out on a date, and less thrilled when she found Damien had taken to following her around in order to figure out "what use" she was to anyone.
Stephanie was patrolling the skies when she spotted Francisco in distress. She changed into what clothes were available to talk to him, only they were promptly attacked by a truck full of masked men. Stephanie set about to beating up the thugs, but she was grazed on the head by a bullet and the men made away with Francisco.
Stephanie gave a false name to the ambulance drivers, and Oracle crashed the ambulance so that she (Steph) could make her escape. Steph went to eavesdrop on Batman and the Commissioner, but was pounced upon by Damien. The two got into a spat that Batman broke up, and he sent them both into "time out". Stephanie finally let loose at Damien, telling him that Bruce trusted her to work alone, which is more than he ever did for his son. She then declared that they couldn't wait around to screw up, and they went to play "bad cop, worse cop" and interrogate Jordanna about Francisco's whereabouts. It turned out Francisco was bait that Roulette was using to lure Batman to his doom where he would face three villians- and now Steph and Damien had to rescue the caped Crusader!
Damien tried to ditch Stephanie, but she followed in her brand new Bat-pod designed by Oracle. She and the runt agreed to rescue Batman together, and Stephanie did her part by taking out Roxy Rocket and crashing her into Doctor Phosphorus. Batman told her she had done good work before she rushed off to help Damien take down Riot. The three heroes also shut down Roulette. Dick told Barbara that Stephanie reminded him of her before she was shot, and Oracle told Dick that Stephanie needed this and so did she. Dick and Damian finally accepted Stephanie.
Stephanie soon had her first team up with Supergirl. The two struck up an easy friendship, bonding over quips and the fact they had both been trained by Batman and both missed him a lot. They went up against the Toyman and Mr. Freeze to rescue the captive Kryptonite Man. They did a good job dispatching Toyman's robots, and Stephanie dispatched Mr. Freeze herself. However, Toyman overwhelmed them when he unleashed a gigantic composite Superman/Batman robot. Stephanie managed to call in a code black (which meant threat of the highest caliber) to Oracle, and Babs called in Superman and Batman.
The two heroes soon came to the rescue. Dick made the robot drop Stephanie and Damien rescued her before she could splatter all over the ground, but while doing so he made a snide remark about her weight and called her "Fatgirl". She and Damien took out Toyman, destroying his remote control. But it turned out Toyman was only a robot. However, Supergirl was rescued and the day was saved. Supergirl even chastised Damien for insulting her new friend, picking him off the ground by his cape and telling him he "shouldn't call girls fat! You shouldn't call anyone fat!" while Stephanie looked on with her arms crossed.
After this, Tim returned to Gotham, having finally dug himself out of his depression because he'd discovered Bruce Wayne was not dead, but lost in time. However, he got a nasty call from Ra's Al Ghul, who decided to take his revenge on Tim for the Boy Wonder's actions against the League of Assassins. Ra's told Tim that he was going to have everything Bruce ever loved or built destroyed.
Tim sped off to the Batcave, thinking that there's no one's help he wouldn't take. But he ran into someone he didn't take into account in the cave. Stephanie was practicing with her combat droids when she was surprised by Tim. Tim was initially as dismissive and angry with her as ever, and Stephanie snapped at him not to take such a tone with her. But they were interrupted by a signal that Leslie Thompkins was being targeted by Ra's. Stephanie rushed after Tim, and when he saw just how many assassins Ra's sent to get Leslie, he had to admit reluctantly that he needed Stephanie's help.
Steph hid Leslie and then the two heroes teamed up "just like old times" to take down the assassins. Stephanie got so caught up by Tim's presence that she accidentally punched him in the face at the end of the fight. Tim was impressed by her hook and reminded of their first meeting when Stephanie hit him in the face with a brick. Steph was flattered that he remembered. Up on the roof, Tim told Stephanie he was proud of her. They almost kissed, but Steph cut it off, saying it wasn't good for her now.
They are interrupted by Tim's assassin friend, Prudence, who claims Ra's Al Ghul sent her to kill Stephanie. She pointed a gun at Stephanie and Tim panicked, knowing he couldn't save her in time. Any saving was rendered unnecessary though, as Stephanie kicked the gun out of Prudence's hand and beat her to a pulp. Tim is stunned to see her take down a League of Assassins member like that. However, Prudence didn't load her gun, and was merely trying to scare Stephanie. When Steph found out Tim has led the League, she ripped into him, demanding an explanation for his aggressive actions toward her, his lack of trust toward his family, and his hypocrisy in not trusting her when he was the one working with criminals. Tim said she was right, and they had both made mistakes, and offered his hand, asking her to help save the people they love. Steph accepted.
At Tim's base, a bomb went off. Stephanie, Tim and Prudence were saved thanks to Tim's booby trap, but soon they were confronted with a whole range of assassins! Fortunately, Stephanie had a plan. She handily fought the assassins alongside Tim for seven minutes. Just as everything fell apart, her Richocet arrived and provided escape while knocking thugs out of the way. Steph went to make sure Barbara wasn't being attacked while Tim attended to interrogation of Ra's thugs. When she arrived at Wayne Manor, she found both Tam Fox and Vicki Vale being attacked by ninjas. She saved Vicki from being killed and reported this to Tim. Tim beat Ra's bt was injured in the process and Steph was there to greet him when he got back to the Batcave.
After all this, Stephanie went back to work in Gotham. After easily dispatching someone trying to bomb the Gotham bus, she earned some praise from James Gordon himself. Elated, she went over to see Barbara and met Wendy Harris. Babs informed Steph of Wendy's supervillianous parentage and bitterness as they set up a new base under Babs apartment building. Steph went to handle a robbery and found Nick Gage being attacked by a security guard who had been brainwashed by the Calculator. After she dispatched the brainwashed man, he threw himself out the window. Steph risked her life to save him, but he slipped off the rope (after being remotely killed by Calculator, but Steph is unaware of this) leaving Batgirl wracked with anger and guilt. Oracle informed Steph the Calculator was behind this plot, and he was determined to get revenge on Babs for taking Wendy away from him.
Oracle cut Steph off from communication, saying they should maintain radio silence so Calculator wouldn't get to Batgirl trying to get to her. However, when Calculator sent out a signal brainwashing people to attack Barbara Gordon, Steph came to her rescue. But the crowd overwhelmed the two women and the "techno-zombies" captured Barbara and froze her in some sort of silver shell. Steph tried to rescue her, but a brainwashed Huntress, Catwoman, and Man-Bat leaped down from the sky to stop her!
Steph managed to take down Catwoman, but had a little more trouble with Huntress. Mid-fight, she was contacted by Wendy. Steph informed Wendy the Calculator was causing all the problems as she managed to lose Huntress. She then faced Man-Bat, but managed to ride him to the safety of a nearby airport, where Wendy came to aid her. Wendy located where Oracle had been taken and piloted Steph to the location in the T-Jet. Determined to save Babs, Steph sky-dived out the T-Jet to crash into Calculator's base.
Steph managed to infiltrate the base. Steph set off a failsafe though, triggering termination of all the people transformed into drones in Gotham City. With a well timed grappling shot, Steph stopped the termination. Then a giant robot attacked as a second failsafe. Wendy took care of this one by crashing into it with her jet. The two girls freed Oracle, and Wendy shut down Calculator's brain. Steph talked to Wendy later, offering to help her forget her past and have a second chance. So things returned to normal for Gotham, with Steph chasing down goofy villians like the Blimpmaster- only now she had a new computer hacking helper in Wendy, who decided to go by "Proxy".
Steph got to join with the big leagues when a the white house was attacked by Professor Ivo's sinister Cyber-Sirens! Steph and several other heroines were asked by none other than Wonder Woman to save the day. So Steph teamed up with the Amazing Amazon and other heroes and together they successfully rescued a hapless congressman from robots!
In her second semester at Gotham University, Steph was playing ping-pong against another student when she was contacted by Wendy, who alerted Stephanie that a man was being chased downtown- the Financial District- in suspicion of murdering his wife. the man was actually Clayface, who shoved Nick Gage off the side of a building, right as Batgirl swooped in to save him.
Clayface tried to rob the bank, taking on the form of the manager, the woman he murdered. Steph locked down the bank so she could stop him. Clayface morphed into an identical version of Batgirl. Nick Gage showed up and had to decide which to shoot. He chose correctly after the real Batgirl's clever prompt ("Shoot me...I'll bleed."), disarming Clayface. After this, Steph used freezing Batarangs to demobilize the villian him for good.
Later, Gage told Steph what Clayface’s motives were. A man named Basil Karlo, before he was Clayface, had a photograph of his late wife in Mrs. Griswald’s safe deposit box, and he needed her clearance to get in and see his wife again, one last time. Steph commented on the absurdity, obviously wounding Gage (“Romantic, but supremely messed up.” “Not as messed up as you think, Batgirl.”) as he walked off down the street, leaving Steph confused and concerned.
Stephanie had a good time reuniting with her friend Kara. They saw a 3D Dracula movie at Steph's campus. They both sympathized with Dracula's loneliness, and things took a turn for the worse when science student Newton Flitwik's mistake ended up releasing 24 dangerous solid holographic Dracula's from the film. The two of them ended up chasing down and staking all the Draculas, though they felt sorry for the one that cries about it's loneliness. The two friends promised to be there for each other if either of them ever feels alone.
Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham, and went undercover in a supersuit. He "tested" Stephanie, faking a theft and assassination attempt. Steph not only figured out the location of the "assassin" before he could shoot, but figured out that he was up to something by the way he didn't defend himself or his gun and that his assassination attempt was bogus, since someone with superpowers wouldn't even need a special gun, Bruce was highly pleased, and unmasked himself, telling Stephanie she'd done admirably. Absolutely furious to find that Bruce was manipulating her, unnecessarily testing her, and playing with her head once more, just as he had done when she was Robin and Spoiler, Stephanie slapped him across the face. Then she ran away, mortified, yelling back at Bruce that she was glad he was alive.
Later, Steph apologized to Bruce about slapping him but said that she needs to get some things off her chest. She told him that this time around, her new life, that it is the first time she’s ever done anything like this for herself (“Being Batgirl is the first time in my life I’m doing things because I want to. Because I think they’re the right thing to do.”) and she told Bruce that she outright refused to give up being Batgirl, no matter what he says. She defended Oracle and told him not to blame her at all. Bruce got close to Steph and asks her if being Batgirl is what she really, truly wants and Steph does.
Later, Steph apologized to Bruce about slapping him but said that she needs to get some things off her chest. She told him that this time around, her new life, that it is the first time she’s ever done anything like this for herself (“Being Batgirl is the first time in my life I’m doing things because I want to. Because I think they’re the right thing to do.”) and she told Bruce that she outright refused to give up being Batgirl, no matter what he says. She defended Oracle and told him not to blame her at all. Bruce got close to Steph and asks her if being Batgirl is what she really, truly wants and Steph does.
Later that night, Bruce met with Alfred in an alley. Alfred asked Bruce if he will let Steph continue to “do her thing,” to which Bruce said yes but he wanted to keep a watchful eye on both her and Wendy, as they are daughters of criminals. Alfred defended Stephanie and told Bruce blatantly that Steph never really needed to be tested, but Bruce defended his actions, saying that no, he didn’t need to test her, but she needed the test. Alfred also confronted Bruce about Cassandra Cain, the previous Batgirl, and asked him why he hadn't searched for or even asked after her? Bruce stated that he knew exactly where she was, and that Tim Drake has been in contact with her. If anything bad happened to Bruce, Cass knew what to do. Alfred wondered if part of that was giving Steph the cowl and Bruce said, “It’s like I said, Alfred…because Stephanie needed the test….and everyone deserves a second chance.”
Only shortly after, Steph worked as an agent for Oracle, successfully defeating the Seven Men of Death, along with Birds of Prey members Dove and Hawk and keeping Vicki Vale alive.
Stephanie got the blues later on because she couldn't figure out her major. However, she snapped out of it in time to rescue Newton Flitwik from a mysterious robed cabal called the Order of the Scythe. But the untimely arrival of the mentally unstable Johnny C now calling himself the Gray Ghost and detemined to "help" his crush, Batgirl, distracted Steph and allows the Scythe members to get away. The cabal found Newton across campus and murdered him. What's more, they leaft a bloody batarang to frame Steph for the murder.
Steph felt responsible for Newton's death, and after convincing her mother she wants to stay in Gotham (realizing she is happy, confident and productive in her new role as Batgirl) Steph went out to answer the Batsignal. Unfortunately, the police awaited, telling her Batgirl was under arrest for Newton's murder!
She escaped from the police, and encountered Officer Gage, who gave her the Batarang found at the crime scene. Eventually, Oracle and Proxy tracked down Newton's killers to an abandoned warehouse, and sent footage of the Order of the Scythe chasing Newton to the GCPD. Stephanie fought the Order of the Scythe and cleared her name.
A few misadventures later, she descended into a riot in Black Gate, discovering the identity of the leader of the Order of the Scythe: her father, the Cluemaster. He subjected her to an otherworldy hallucinogen, which put her into a brief coma. She awoke in Mercy hospital, cared for by her mother. Based on the conversation the two engaged in, it was obvious that she was now in on the big secret. She new Steph was Batgirl. Shockingly enough, she seemed okay with it.
A brief conversation with Oracle later revealed that she had pulled herself from her coma before an antidote was administered. Meaning she had successfully beaten the drug. She looked off into the night, soaring to her next adventure. Unfortunately, luck wasn't known for shining upon those who dressed in ornate bat costumes. A portal appeared, whisking her away to an unknown world...
Other
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Picture(s)
images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100417004906/batman/images/c/cf/Batgirl_Stephanie_Brown-12.jpg
Alias: Formerly Spoiler, Formerly Robin IV, Currently Batgirl III, “Fay Wray”
Nickname(s): Steph, Stephie, Girl Wonder
Age: 19
Height: 5'5”
Weight: 110 lbs
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Alliance: Chaotic Good
Home: Gotham City
Franchise: Detective Comics
Physical Description
Stephanie is of a relatively average height for her age, and of a rather athletic build. Her long blond hair reaches her lower back, and often lies loosely over her shoulders. Her Batgirl costume is armoured, rendered in shades of violet and black. The insignia upon her chest, along with her utility belt and thigh strap, are gold. Her cowl covers the entire upper portion of her head, yet allows enough room for her hair to flow out. Her eyes are also clearly visible.
Outside of her costume, Stephanie dresses rather casually. While her clothing choices are never, in any sense of the term, 'unfashionable', they're always comfortable. She often ties her hair back, seemingly preferring to wear it in something of a messy bun but opting for a simple pony tail from time to time.
Weapons
Originally, Stephanie had no weapons. She couldn't afford any. She did appear to be in possession of some sort of grapple line for transportation, but often simply used objects around her as weapons.
Once she became acquainted with Robin, she got smoke bombs, flash bang grenades, a grappling hook, and spiked jacks she once used to take out some tires on a truck. She also apparently acquired a wakizashi, which she used to cut some power lines once.
After she got acquainted with Batman (Robin # 87), he gave her the entire Bat-arsenal, a kevlar costume, night vision lenses, del-cel jumplines, a grapple gun, smoke bombs, as well as a shurikin and bolo knives. She used a batarang once as Robin.
Upon her return, she has these weapons, but has also been seen using a bo staff and silver weapon, possibly a shuriken, which she once deflected a knife with.
As Batgirl, so far she is not only in possession of a brand new extendible bo staff, but also has a full arsenal of batarangs, including an electrified one she used to shock a drug crazed cop into unconsciousness. These were recently upgraded by Proxy, allowing her to combine batarang elements.
Abilities/Powers
As per norm with most of the Bat Family, Stephanie has no paranormal abilities.
Skills
Stephanie is armed only with her martial arts and gymnastic skills. Robin gave her weapons such as smoke bombs to use when he could, and later when she got friendlier with Batman (Starting issue 84) she was able to secure the whole Bat-arsenal, including a Kevlar costume. She received erratic training under Robin III, Batgirl II, Oracle, Black Canary and Batman. She possessed technology that lets her turn invisible, but she abandoned or lost it when she took up the Batgirl identity. Through her training, she is capable of the following:
-Computer Hacking
-Escapology
-Gymnastics, which she admittedly took up on her own
-Investigation
-Martial Arts
-Stealth
-Tactical Analysis
-Throwing
Personality
Stephanie is one of the more happy-go-lucky members of the Bat Family. She entered her profession out of spite, but turned it into a beacon of hope. Much unlike Batman or even Nightwing, she banters during confrontation with even the most mighty of foes. She describes herself, quite accurately, as the Pollyanna. True to this description, she remains optimistic under most occasions.
She seems to truly care about the people around her, as evidenced when a mistake she makes gets a man killed. While she is eventually able to bounce back from it, she focuses more on her mission, going silent for a bit. She, much like Oracle, has what the two describe as 'inner monologue troubles'. She'll often say aloud things she meant to say in her inner monologue voice, or 'inside voice'.
History
Stephanie Brown was an athletic blonde teenage girl who took gymnastics and excelled. Her father was in and out of jail and her mother was overworked and addicted to pharmaceuticals. Due to her father's villainous exploits and her mother's low paying job as a nurse, the family was constantly strapped for cash.
Stephanie Brown first came on the scene as a vigilante to "spoil" the crimes of her villainous father, the Cluemaster. Though Arthur Brown had been cured of his clue dropping psychosis, Stephanie decided to leave clues for him so the authorities could foil his plans.
Tim Drake, Robin III, saw Spoiler in the act and believed her to be working with Brown. He chased her down and unmasked her, only to receive a brick to the face. He figured out Stephanie's identity and recruited her to help his and Batman's own vendetta against Arthur Brown. Stephanie jumped in to save Batman from her father and the Cluemaster threatened her with sulfuric acid. In order to save Stephanie, Batman revealed Steph's secret identity as daughter to Brown, who was shocked to unmask her and confirm she was his daughter. Stephanie then quickly took her father down and was on the verge of choking him to death when Batman talked her out of it.
When her father escaped from jail again, Stephanie returned as the Spoiler and teamed up with Tim Drake to stop him. She succeeded and saved Tim's life and he was so grateful he kissed her. This got Stephanie interested in a romantic relationship with the Boy Wonder, much to Tim's chagrin, and she decided to continue being a vigilante.
After many encounters, Tim was finally forced to admit he was attracted to Stephanie. He asked her to be his girlfriend, but warned her because of his promise to Batman he couldn't tell her his real name. Stephanie agreed.
Soon after, Stephanie discovered she was pregnant, a product of a fling she'd had with a boy named Dean. Tim took her to Lamaze classes in his fake "Alvin Draper" identity and despite having been relocated to Keystone, made it to the hospital in Gotham to help her have it. Though initially hesitant, Stephanie agreed to give up her baby for adoption after having a dream where her father took her baby from her.
Tim moved back closer to Gotham and lived at Brentwood Academy, an all boys boarding school. His and Stephanie's relationship grew strained as she grew more upset she didn't know his secret identity. She began following him around in an attempt to find out where he lived, one of these attempts ending disastorously when she was confronted by Secret, a teammate of Tim's from Young Justice who nursed a crush on the Boy Wonder and was insanely jealous. Spoiler mostly acted in self defense, and though she got some shots in, the powerful Secret gained the upper hand, and Tim and YJ Mentor Red Tornado intervened before things got ugly. The girls were made to apologize to each other. (Spoiler later helped Young Justice out along with other teen heroes, and was abducted once by a crazed Secret much later on. She was released with no memory of what happened along with Greta's other abductees when Tim talked sense into Greta.)
The tension between Tim and Steph did not stop, though. After they saved a girl Tim admitted to knowing, Stephanie suspected Tim of cheating on her and refused to speak to him. But, while Tim was away on a mission with Lagoon Boy and forgot to check in with Batman, the Dark Knight approached Stephanie, told her Tim's real name and asked her to go check on him.
Tim was infuriated with Batman for giving away his secret when Tim had worked so hard to protect it for Bruce's own sake, and had never revealed Batman's secret identity. He went away to clear his head and Batman decided to train Stephanie.
Stephanie also gained a mentor in Dinah Lance, the Black Canary, and worked with the Birds of Prey for a while.
During this time, Stephanie developed a close friendship with the second Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. Cassandra trained Stephanie and enjoyed her company and the two bonded over father issues.
Tim came back, and not blaming Stephanie for what had happened, resumed his relationship with her. Meanwhile, Stephanie found herself shut out of the cave while Bruce Wayne was on the run from the cops for a murder he had been framed for.
Stephanie went to talk to Batman about being shut out and Batman abruptly told her she didn't have the skills or the talent. When Steph protested, Batman sent her on a mission to capture a Kobra Cult leader to test her to see if she could figure out he had already taken care of the mission. She didn't, and he fired her.
Stephanie's world was rocked once more when she learned that her father had not only died, but done so while doing a mission saving people for the Suicide Squad for no reward whatsoever. Stephanie took a short break from crime fighting after this and she was let go from the Birds of Prey, but soon resumed her Spoiler identity.
When Tim's father found out about his dual life, Tim was forced to quit being Robin. Stephanie, angered with Tim when she thought she saw him kissing another girl and determined to prove herself to Batman, made her own Robin costume, broke into the Batcave and declared to Batman she was the new Robin. Batman accepted, though Alfred suspected this might be a ruse to get Tim back on the job.
Stephanie served briefly as Robin, teaming up with her best friend Batgirl and even defeating Zsasz, but after she disobeyed orders from Batman and tried to save him from the assassin Scarab and got captured while doing so, he fired her and forbade her from even being Spoiler.
Hurt and determined to prove herself, Stephanie used files from the Batcave's computer and decided to use one of his plans to wipe out Gotham's gangs. She was not aware that the "Matches Malone" required to be present was one of Batman's alternate identities, as he did not tell her. She accidentally started a gang war, and was captured by Black Mask, who tortured her for information. She eventually escaped, and beat Black Mask down. He grabbed a gun, which she yanked out of his hand. She decided not to use it so as not to betray Batman, and Black Mask shot her.
She managed to get out and up to the rooftops despite her injuries. Batman found her and took her to the hospital. She apparently died there, first asking "Was I really Robin?" to which Batman replied "Of course you were."
Batman discovered in the "War Crimes" series that the Cluemaster was still alive and repentant for his crimes upon learning of his daughter's death. He was also angry at Batman and released information on Stephanie to the public, but pointed Batman towards Dr. Leslie Thompkins as Stephanie's killer.
It was seemingly revealed that the long time good-Samaritan and pacifist Dr. Leslie Thompkins let Stephanie die from lack of medical treatment in an attempt to dissuade Batman from taking on sidekicks. Stephanie appeared twice to Cassandra Cain in near death experiences, once Stephanie urged her friend to fight for her life and the second time told her of how Bludhaven would be bombed.
Much later, a mysterious figure in a Spoiler costume worked for the the Penguin in order to betray him in his attempts to control the Gotham Underground. She beat up Tim and bombed Barbara's computers while doing this undercover work, but the heroes never discovered her true identity. Meanwhile, Tim thought he saw Stephanie in the halls of his school, recognizing the way she walked. Before he could catch up to her, however, she disappeared. Then he thought he saw her scaling the rooftops in her Spoiler costume. Once again, he caught up to her, only to find nothing once more. At last Spoiler was seen watching Robin. Though he did not see her, she said "Good night, Tim," wistfully in his direction and unmasked, revealing herself to be Stephanie.
Later, Spoiler actually confronted Tim, trying to warn him that he and the criminal Violet have been led into a trap.Tim believed this to be someone impersonating Stephanie and was enraged. As he screamed at her about desecrating the memory of someone he loved, Spoiler, not fighting back, ducked a kick and then was pinned to the wall by the throat. Tim grabbed at her mask and she finally said "Please, don't do this...Tim..." and as Tim reacted in surprise, they were interrupted by Sin Fang blowing a hole in the wall and announcing it would be his privilege to kill them both.
Spoiler and Tim escaped Sin Fang, but Tim left a tracer on her. He and Batman tracked her down to an apartment. Angrily, Spoiler took off her mask, revealing herself to be Stephanie Brown, indeed. Tim rushed her and kissed her, lifting her into the air. Stephanie told him to slow down, and Batman explained that he always suspected she was alive, and that's why she didn't have a memorial. Batman welcomed Stephanie back into the "Bat family" and they took her to the cave, where after greeting a shocked Alfred, she explained that Leslie Thompkins faked her death, and that the body buried was someone else's, but she felt like she was running away and had to go back to Gotham. In addition, Batman at long last has seemed to reveal his identity as Bruce Wayne to her. Tim took her to see her Mom at the hospital, and understandably seemed a little put out by both Bruce and Steph's deception of him.
The Robin/Spoiler Special had Tim and Steph heal a few wounds by busting open a kidnapping ring together (though the status of their relationship remained uncertain) and introduced the friends Steph has been hanging around with, a rather punk, but nice, crowd that liked to party in abandoned subway stations. It also revealed that Stephanie decided to go back to Gotham and be Spoiler after saving a small African village from the gun wielding fanatic Katavi, and rushing Leslie to the hospital for a gunshot wound.
The strain between Tim and Stephanie got worse when Batman disappeared, apparently insane. Earlier, Batman had asked Stephanie to keep Tim away from the situation, which caused Stephanie to delete a picture of Batman going crazy Tim was looking for from a thug's cell phone. When Tim found out, the dynamic between the two became even more tense.
However, Tim begged Stephanie to come with him to Titans Tower to give him moral support when he quit the Teen Titans due to his responsibilities in Gotham. Stephanie complied, and got to interact with a few team members, including Tim's ex Cassandra Sandsmark, Traci Thirteen, and the explosive Amy Allen, before she left in the Bat-Plane with Tim.
After this, Stephanie came up with a plan to protect Tim and rebuild Gotham. It involved hiring Scarab with money Tim had given The Penguin earlier in exchange for information on Batman. Scarab used non-lethal weapons to break up rioting cops, causing trouble under Steph's orders. Steph tried to enlist The General to help her as well, but the villain shot at her instead. Stephanie skillfully dodged the kill shot, but caught the bullet in the shoulder. However, she punched the General and escaped. She found Scarab had been paid more money by the mysterious Red Robin and was now on a contract to kill Tim, but she tackled Scarab and saved Tim's life. Eventually Tim grabbed the injured Stephanie and used a low grade version of the Scarab's fear gas to disperse the crowd. Stephanie was not sure what to think of these extreme methods, and revealed to the readers her plan to "make Robin better" by hiring villains was under Batman's orders. But she wondered if making Tim a better Robin would make him a worse person.
Red Robin was revealed to be The General and he let Tim know Stephanie had been to see him. Tim then realized the General had to be the one who shot Steph and began to get suspicious about her secrecy. Going back to The General's warehouse to investigate, Tim was seriously injured in an explosion from a bomb the General, now posing as Anarky, left. Stephanie vowed to make things right right. Stephanie stumbled upon the Gotham Gangs trying to make a truce. However, Lynx II was having none of it. Stephanie came in and handily defeated Lynx with some pizza pallets. The meeting erupted into fighting, and Stephanie wondered if it was partly her fault.
The fight was interrupted by Anarky outside. Everyone ran out, and Anarky, who had planted a bomb three hours ago, detonated it. Spoiler and several others were thrown by the blast. Tim arrived to fight Anarky. While the two boys fought,it was up to Stephanie to calm down the gangs and get them to help with the chaos. With the help of the Gotham cops, she succeeded.
After it all went down, Steph and Tim met. Stephanie tearfully realized Tim knew about her deception, and Tim angrily confirmed he found security tapes of her hiring the Scarab. Steph explained that Batman had ordered her to make him sweat, in order to make him a better Robin. Tim yelled at her, telling her he knows she's been under a lot of pressure, and that he loves her, and that's why he can't have "Spoiler" screwing up any more. He then said "Don't ever let me catch you in that costume again" and jumped off the roof.
Stephanie tried not being Spoiler, but couldn't help herself when she saw Nocturna committing a burglary, and she surreptitiously stopped her. This made her realize she couldn't stop being Spoiler no matter what Tim said.
Later, as Spoiler, she was watching Tim, Babs, Dick and Leslie attend a high society ball, when she saw Nocturna attempting to rob it. She handily stopped the crook, demonstrating her new ability to turn invisible. Afterwards, she met up with Tim and he asked if she stole the tech to make herself invisible to get around his ultimatum. (The writer of the new Batgirl has confirmed she won't be using this invisibility tech again, leaving it with her Spoiler identity.) She responded that he had too much ego and he didn't own her.
He agreed, and apologized for being too harsh earlier, but told her he still didn't think crime fighting was her path. He also told her he was leaving, and for her not to get hurt while he was gone. She grappled away, telling him she didn't want to get hurt either, but she might, as that was part of the life they chosen to lead.
In the wake of Tim's absence and Batman's death, Stephanie decided to give herself a fresh start and apply for college. However, she has a hard time resisting being Spoiler. She teamed up to fight again with her best friend Cassandra, but is thrown a curveball when Cass, clearly lost after the death of Bruce Wayne, takes off her Batgirl costume and says she doesn't want to fight anymore. She told Stephanie the fight was hers now and vanished, leaving the Batgirl costume and identity in the care of her best friend.
Stephanie still had doubts about her status as a crimefighter, but couldn't resist the Batgirl costume. Dick Grayson and Damien Wayne, the new Batman and Robin, saw Steph out fighting and recognized she was not Cassandra. Dick informed Barbara Gordon, the first Batgirl and current cyberhero Oracle, of this development.
With her mother under the impression she has stopped being a vigilante and her first day of college over with, Stephanie continued as Batgirl and went to stop a riot. There she met Gotham's newest cop, Nick Gage, and saved him from the men holding him hostage. However, since there was a bad explosion under her watch that could have had serious consequences, Steph considered the night to be a disaster, and once again declared this was her last night crime fighting. But seconds later, she contradicted this by glancing at her damaged Batgirl costume and wondering about a sewing class.
But when she walked into the kitchen that morning, she found the unwelcome sight of a sinister looking Barbara Gordon, saying that the two of them needed to talk. Barbara let Stephanie know she disapproved of her being Batgirl and didn't think she was up to the task. Stephanie didn't take well to it and continued her crusade in the damaged costume.
She made a few enemies and friends at Gotham University, attracting the spite of a girl named Jordanna, when she argued with her in philosophy class, and the interest of Jordanna's guy-friend Francisco. Stephanie also found out a gang was spiking the punch with dangerous aggression-fuelling drugs at the Gotham Harvest festival, but Oracle contacted Stephanie through Cassandra's mask and told her not to pursue the gang.
Back at the Batcave, Oracle told Stephanie she was to stay out of pursuing the dealers and threatened to call her mother if she continued being Batgirl. Stephanie was not deterred, and continued pursuing the lead. She found out the Scarecrow was behind the distribution and went to stop him. Because her inoculation was out of date, she succumbed to his fear gas and hallucinated both Tim and herself as Spoiler telling her that she was worthless and that she already failed the save the city once, so she should just lay down and die. About to succumb, Stephanie remembered that she had a choice about who she wanted to be and was especially heartened when Barbara motivated her by finally calling her Batgirl in her worried shouts. She snapped back to life, twisting the Scarecrow's ankle before he could kill her and told the villain that she came back for a second chance and that she wasn't afraid to face herself. She knocked him out and proclaimed herself Batgirl. Finally, Babs agreed she was worthy of the title.
Babs held an oath in the Batcave, swearing to Steph to guide and support her. Steph responded that she also had Barbara's back. Barbara took a position as an assistant in computer science at Steph's university and also supplied her with a new costume. Stephanie now stalked the streets of Gotham as the official Batgirl with the aid and guidance of Oracle!
On her first "official" night out, Stephanie did a field test in her brand new suit and stopped some robbers, getting the praise and admiration of a young girl as a result. She was bemused at actually getting "positive reinforcement for the hero gig" for once. She also faced Superman baddie Livewire. She dampened Livewire's electrical powers by kicking a fire hydrant jetstream onto her. Livewire tried to shock her, and they both found out that Babs had insulated Stephanie's suit. Unharmed, Steph knocked the villain out and enjoyed a moment of quiet with Babs after the night's work was done. Steph's first night as Batgirl was an overall sucess.
Stephanie even made the superhero The Web take responsibility for his actions and work with the Justice League, with Oracle's help. She helped him install software that helped him track down a murderer...and allowed Barbara to keep a cybernetic eye on the reckless new hero.
Her first team up with the new Batman and Robin was less successful. She managed to put out a fire and save Robin from catching fire himself, but in the process she also froze Damien with her ice batarang. After Dick expressed a hearty disapproval, Stephanie decided to take the night off. She went back to the job she had taken sorting books in the library to pay for her college, and overheard that Francisco was in some trouble thanks to his dad's shady activities. She went up to Francisco to try to get information out of him, and ended up realizing her attraction to him. She was thrilled when he asked her out on a date, and less thrilled when she found Damien had taken to following her around in order to figure out "what use" she was to anyone.
Stephanie was patrolling the skies when she spotted Francisco in distress. She changed into what clothes were available to talk to him, only they were promptly attacked by a truck full of masked men. Stephanie set about to beating up the thugs, but she was grazed on the head by a bullet and the men made away with Francisco.
Stephanie gave a false name to the ambulance drivers, and Oracle crashed the ambulance so that she (Steph) could make her escape. Steph went to eavesdrop on Batman and the Commissioner, but was pounced upon by Damien. The two got into a spat that Batman broke up, and he sent them both into "time out". Stephanie finally let loose at Damien, telling him that Bruce trusted her to work alone, which is more than he ever did for his son. She then declared that they couldn't wait around to screw up, and they went to play "bad cop, worse cop" and interrogate Jordanna about Francisco's whereabouts. It turned out Francisco was bait that Roulette was using to lure Batman to his doom where he would face three villians- and now Steph and Damien had to rescue the caped Crusader!
Damien tried to ditch Stephanie, but she followed in her brand new Bat-pod designed by Oracle. She and the runt agreed to rescue Batman together, and Stephanie did her part by taking out Roxy Rocket and crashing her into Doctor Phosphorus. Batman told her she had done good work before she rushed off to help Damien take down Riot. The three heroes also shut down Roulette. Dick told Barbara that Stephanie reminded him of her before she was shot, and Oracle told Dick that Stephanie needed this and so did she. Dick and Damian finally accepted Stephanie.
Stephanie soon had her first team up with Supergirl. The two struck up an easy friendship, bonding over quips and the fact they had both been trained by Batman and both missed him a lot. They went up against the Toyman and Mr. Freeze to rescue the captive Kryptonite Man. They did a good job dispatching Toyman's robots, and Stephanie dispatched Mr. Freeze herself. However, Toyman overwhelmed them when he unleashed a gigantic composite Superman/Batman robot. Stephanie managed to call in a code black (which meant threat of the highest caliber) to Oracle, and Babs called in Superman and Batman.
The two heroes soon came to the rescue. Dick made the robot drop Stephanie and Damien rescued her before she could splatter all over the ground, but while doing so he made a snide remark about her weight and called her "Fatgirl". She and Damien took out Toyman, destroying his remote control. But it turned out Toyman was only a robot. However, Supergirl was rescued and the day was saved. Supergirl even chastised Damien for insulting her new friend, picking him off the ground by his cape and telling him he "shouldn't call girls fat! You shouldn't call anyone fat!" while Stephanie looked on with her arms crossed.
After this, Tim returned to Gotham, having finally dug himself out of his depression because he'd discovered Bruce Wayne was not dead, but lost in time. However, he got a nasty call from Ra's Al Ghul, who decided to take his revenge on Tim for the Boy Wonder's actions against the League of Assassins. Ra's told Tim that he was going to have everything Bruce ever loved or built destroyed.
Tim sped off to the Batcave, thinking that there's no one's help he wouldn't take. But he ran into someone he didn't take into account in the cave. Stephanie was practicing with her combat droids when she was surprised by Tim. Tim was initially as dismissive and angry with her as ever, and Stephanie snapped at him not to take such a tone with her. But they were interrupted by a signal that Leslie Thompkins was being targeted by Ra's. Stephanie rushed after Tim, and when he saw just how many assassins Ra's sent to get Leslie, he had to admit reluctantly that he needed Stephanie's help.
Steph hid Leslie and then the two heroes teamed up "just like old times" to take down the assassins. Stephanie got so caught up by Tim's presence that she accidentally punched him in the face at the end of the fight. Tim was impressed by her hook and reminded of their first meeting when Stephanie hit him in the face with a brick. Steph was flattered that he remembered. Up on the roof, Tim told Stephanie he was proud of her. They almost kissed, but Steph cut it off, saying it wasn't good for her now.
They are interrupted by Tim's assassin friend, Prudence, who claims Ra's Al Ghul sent her to kill Stephanie. She pointed a gun at Stephanie and Tim panicked, knowing he couldn't save her in time. Any saving was rendered unnecessary though, as Stephanie kicked the gun out of Prudence's hand and beat her to a pulp. Tim is stunned to see her take down a League of Assassins member like that. However, Prudence didn't load her gun, and was merely trying to scare Stephanie. When Steph found out Tim has led the League, she ripped into him, demanding an explanation for his aggressive actions toward her, his lack of trust toward his family, and his hypocrisy in not trusting her when he was the one working with criminals. Tim said she was right, and they had both made mistakes, and offered his hand, asking her to help save the people they love. Steph accepted.
At Tim's base, a bomb went off. Stephanie, Tim and Prudence were saved thanks to Tim's booby trap, but soon they were confronted with a whole range of assassins! Fortunately, Stephanie had a plan. She handily fought the assassins alongside Tim for seven minutes. Just as everything fell apart, her Richocet arrived and provided escape while knocking thugs out of the way. Steph went to make sure Barbara wasn't being attacked while Tim attended to interrogation of Ra's thugs. When she arrived at Wayne Manor, she found both Tam Fox and Vicki Vale being attacked by ninjas. She saved Vicki from being killed and reported this to Tim. Tim beat Ra's bt was injured in the process and Steph was there to greet him when he got back to the Batcave.
After all this, Stephanie went back to work in Gotham. After easily dispatching someone trying to bomb the Gotham bus, she earned some praise from James Gordon himself. Elated, she went over to see Barbara and met Wendy Harris. Babs informed Steph of Wendy's supervillianous parentage and bitterness as they set up a new base under Babs apartment building. Steph went to handle a robbery and found Nick Gage being attacked by a security guard who had been brainwashed by the Calculator. After she dispatched the brainwashed man, he threw himself out the window. Steph risked her life to save him, but he slipped off the rope (after being remotely killed by Calculator, but Steph is unaware of this) leaving Batgirl wracked with anger and guilt. Oracle informed Steph the Calculator was behind this plot, and he was determined to get revenge on Babs for taking Wendy away from him.
Oracle cut Steph off from communication, saying they should maintain radio silence so Calculator wouldn't get to Batgirl trying to get to her. However, when Calculator sent out a signal brainwashing people to attack Barbara Gordon, Steph came to her rescue. But the crowd overwhelmed the two women and the "techno-zombies" captured Barbara and froze her in some sort of silver shell. Steph tried to rescue her, but a brainwashed Huntress, Catwoman, and Man-Bat leaped down from the sky to stop her!
Steph managed to take down Catwoman, but had a little more trouble with Huntress. Mid-fight, she was contacted by Wendy. Steph informed Wendy the Calculator was causing all the problems as she managed to lose Huntress. She then faced Man-Bat, but managed to ride him to the safety of a nearby airport, where Wendy came to aid her. Wendy located where Oracle had been taken and piloted Steph to the location in the T-Jet. Determined to save Babs, Steph sky-dived out the T-Jet to crash into Calculator's base.
Steph managed to infiltrate the base. Steph set off a failsafe though, triggering termination of all the people transformed into drones in Gotham City. With a well timed grappling shot, Steph stopped the termination. Then a giant robot attacked as a second failsafe. Wendy took care of this one by crashing into it with her jet. The two girls freed Oracle, and Wendy shut down Calculator's brain. Steph talked to Wendy later, offering to help her forget her past and have a second chance. So things returned to normal for Gotham, with Steph chasing down goofy villians like the Blimpmaster- only now she had a new computer hacking helper in Wendy, who decided to go by "Proxy".
Steph got to join with the big leagues when a the white house was attacked by Professor Ivo's sinister Cyber-Sirens! Steph and several other heroines were asked by none other than Wonder Woman to save the day. So Steph teamed up with the Amazing Amazon and other heroes and together they successfully rescued a hapless congressman from robots!
In her second semester at Gotham University, Steph was playing ping-pong against another student when she was contacted by Wendy, who alerted Stephanie that a man was being chased downtown- the Financial District- in suspicion of murdering his wife. the man was actually Clayface, who shoved Nick Gage off the side of a building, right as Batgirl swooped in to save him.
Clayface tried to rob the bank, taking on the form of the manager, the woman he murdered. Steph locked down the bank so she could stop him. Clayface morphed into an identical version of Batgirl. Nick Gage showed up and had to decide which to shoot. He chose correctly after the real Batgirl's clever prompt ("Shoot me...I'll bleed."), disarming Clayface. After this, Steph used freezing Batarangs to demobilize the villian him for good.
Later, Gage told Steph what Clayface’s motives were. A man named Basil Karlo, before he was Clayface, had a photograph of his late wife in Mrs. Griswald’s safe deposit box, and he needed her clearance to get in and see his wife again, one last time. Steph commented on the absurdity, obviously wounding Gage (“Romantic, but supremely messed up.” “Not as messed up as you think, Batgirl.”) as he walked off down the street, leaving Steph confused and concerned.
Stephanie had a good time reuniting with her friend Kara. They saw a 3D Dracula movie at Steph's campus. They both sympathized with Dracula's loneliness, and things took a turn for the worse when science student Newton Flitwik's mistake ended up releasing 24 dangerous solid holographic Dracula's from the film. The two of them ended up chasing down and staking all the Draculas, though they felt sorry for the one that cries about it's loneliness. The two friends promised to be there for each other if either of them ever feels alone.
Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham, and went undercover in a supersuit. He "tested" Stephanie, faking a theft and assassination attempt. Steph not only figured out the location of the "assassin" before he could shoot, but figured out that he was up to something by the way he didn't defend himself or his gun and that his assassination attempt was bogus, since someone with superpowers wouldn't even need a special gun, Bruce was highly pleased, and unmasked himself, telling Stephanie she'd done admirably. Absolutely furious to find that Bruce was manipulating her, unnecessarily testing her, and playing with her head once more, just as he had done when she was Robin and Spoiler, Stephanie slapped him across the face. Then she ran away, mortified, yelling back at Bruce that she was glad he was alive.
Later, Steph apologized to Bruce about slapping him but said that she needs to get some things off her chest. She told him that this time around, her new life, that it is the first time she’s ever done anything like this for herself (“Being Batgirl is the first time in my life I’m doing things because I want to. Because I think they’re the right thing to do.”) and she told Bruce that she outright refused to give up being Batgirl, no matter what he says. She defended Oracle and told him not to blame her at all. Bruce got close to Steph and asks her if being Batgirl is what she really, truly wants and Steph does.
Later, Steph apologized to Bruce about slapping him but said that she needs to get some things off her chest. She told him that this time around, her new life, that it is the first time she’s ever done anything like this for herself (“Being Batgirl is the first time in my life I’m doing things because I want to. Because I think they’re the right thing to do.”) and she told Bruce that she outright refused to give up being Batgirl, no matter what he says. She defended Oracle and told him not to blame her at all. Bruce got close to Steph and asks her if being Batgirl is what she really, truly wants and Steph does.
Later that night, Bruce met with Alfred in an alley. Alfred asked Bruce if he will let Steph continue to “do her thing,” to which Bruce said yes but he wanted to keep a watchful eye on both her and Wendy, as they are daughters of criminals. Alfred defended Stephanie and told Bruce blatantly that Steph never really needed to be tested, but Bruce defended his actions, saying that no, he didn’t need to test her, but she needed the test. Alfred also confronted Bruce about Cassandra Cain, the previous Batgirl, and asked him why he hadn't searched for or even asked after her? Bruce stated that he knew exactly where she was, and that Tim Drake has been in contact with her. If anything bad happened to Bruce, Cass knew what to do. Alfred wondered if part of that was giving Steph the cowl and Bruce said, “It’s like I said, Alfred…because Stephanie needed the test….and everyone deserves a second chance.”
Only shortly after, Steph worked as an agent for Oracle, successfully defeating the Seven Men of Death, along with Birds of Prey members Dove and Hawk and keeping Vicki Vale alive.
Stephanie got the blues later on because she couldn't figure out her major. However, she snapped out of it in time to rescue Newton Flitwik from a mysterious robed cabal called the Order of the Scythe. But the untimely arrival of the mentally unstable Johnny C now calling himself the Gray Ghost and detemined to "help" his crush, Batgirl, distracted Steph and allows the Scythe members to get away. The cabal found Newton across campus and murdered him. What's more, they leaft a bloody batarang to frame Steph for the murder.
Steph felt responsible for Newton's death, and after convincing her mother she wants to stay in Gotham (realizing she is happy, confident and productive in her new role as Batgirl) Steph went out to answer the Batsignal. Unfortunately, the police awaited, telling her Batgirl was under arrest for Newton's murder!
She escaped from the police, and encountered Officer Gage, who gave her the Batarang found at the crime scene. Eventually, Oracle and Proxy tracked down Newton's killers to an abandoned warehouse, and sent footage of the Order of the Scythe chasing Newton to the GCPD. Stephanie fought the Order of the Scythe and cleared her name.
A few misadventures later, she descended into a riot in Black Gate, discovering the identity of the leader of the Order of the Scythe: her father, the Cluemaster. He subjected her to an otherworldy hallucinogen, which put her into a brief coma. She awoke in Mercy hospital, cared for by her mother. Based on the conversation the two engaged in, it was obvious that she was now in on the big secret. She new Steph was Batgirl. Shockingly enough, she seemed okay with it.
A brief conversation with Oracle later revealed that she had pulled herself from her coma before an antidote was administered. Meaning she had successfully beaten the drug. She looked off into the night, soaring to her next adventure. Unfortunately, luck wasn't known for shining upon those who dressed in ornate bat costumes. A portal appeared, whisking her away to an unknown world...
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