Batgirl

Barbara was first entangled with Batman's affairs when a renegade artificial intelligence machine, H.A.R.D.A.C., tried to replace the most influential citizens of Gotham City, such as James Gordon, Mayor Hamilton Hill, and Detective Harvey Bullock. Barbara was one of the few people who initially felt something had happened. Using a few skills she picked up from her father and her experience a a gymnast while at Gotham University, Barbara managed to help Batman save the city from H.A.R.D.A.C.

Barbara was then seen when her father was shot by Jazzman on the anniversary of the deaths of Bruce Wayne's parents. A sorrowful Batman visits Gordon in Gotham City Hospital, where Barbara tells him not to blame himself. Batman takes heart and captures Jazzman, while Gordon recovers.

When Commissioner Gordon was framed by Two-Face, Barbara donned a bat costume to help investigate. She did, however, find that the costume fit her better than she had anticipated, as she proved vital in clearing Gordon's name and capturing Two-Face along with his associates. Regardless of whether they agreed or not, Batman and Robin soon realized that they had a new ally in the form of Batgirl.

However, Barbara's studies at the Gotham University prevented her from going out more often as Batgirl until she learned that the Jade Cat Statue was stolen from the University's museum and went to investigate as Batgirl.

During the investigation, Batgirl came across Catwoman, who was also looking for the criminal to clear her name and the two of them formed a temporary alliance to find the criminal. The two of them eventually crossed paths with Roland Daggett, who was behind the theft, but the heroines would have perished against Daggett's men if Robin had not arrived in time to assist them. After capturing Daggett, Catwoman revealed her true intentions of stealing the Cat Statue, but Batgirl stopped her and forced her to surrender to the law. However, Catwoman escaped and Batgirl allowed to go free, knowing that there would be more opportunities to capture her.

A short time later, Barbara started a relationship with Dick Grayson, but before they could get serious, Barbara was picked as an organ donor to Nora Fries by Mr. Freeze, who kidnapped Barbara to sacrifice her in order to save his wife. Barbara endured as Freeze's prisoner long enough for Batman and Robin to come rescue her. The fight that followed caused Freeze's lair to explode. Batman, Robin, and Barbara were able to evacuate Nora and Freeze's Inuit ward Koonak in time, but Freeze had fallen into the fiery blast and was assumed dead. In actuality, he and his pet polar bears had survived. Back in Gotham, Nora was cured, much to Freeze's delight.

When Dick Grayson left Gotham, Batman found himself calling on Batgirl to work with him on special cases. Eventually, Batman told Batgirl the secret of his dual identity and granted her free access to the Batcave and all its technology. The Batcomputer quickly became her domain and now she even surpasses Batman, Robin and Nightwing in cyber-expertise.

Barbara lived in a private townhouse near Gotham's trendy Park Ridge. A service lift in Barbara's bedroom closet ran down to the secret basement where Barbara stores her Batgirl crimefighting gear. In addition to costumes and weapons, the basement also serves as garage for Batgirl's highly-advanced Batcycle, a gift from Batman.

Her double life as Batgirl sometimes puts Barbara at an emotional crossroads. As the daughter of the Police Commissioner, Barbara was raised with respect for law and order, but her actions as Batgirl technically label her a vigilante. If Batgirl were ever caught and unmasked, the scandal would certainly destroy Commissioner Gordon's career. Still, Gotham is a city that breeds an extreme kind of criminal and extreme crimefighters are needed to handle situations regular cops can't. Barbara believes the good she does as Batgirl is worth the potential risk to herself and her father. She often takes on some of Batman's dangerous villains including Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy. She is great friends with Kara In-Ze, also known as Supergirl, and has teamed up with her in the past, most notably when Livewire escaped and joined forces with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Yet, later on, when her then-boyfriend, Dick Grayson, learned of her identity as Batgirl and got into an argument with Batman that he left Gotham and became Nightwing.

As her career in Gotham went on, Batgirl had an ongoing rivalry with the villainesses Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy. She went on to play a central role in the mystery surrounding the disappearance of all of the men in Gotham City, an event that briefly brought her into conflict with the Gotham City police force, who had been taken over by a robotic duplicate of her father, and forced her to ally with her enemies. Eventually, she tracked down the true culprit, Dora Smithy, and defeated her in a final struggle at an abandoned ice cream factory, rescuing her father and ending the mayhem.

Batgirl was also with Batman when Tim Drake was kidnapped by the Joker and tortured into becoming a "son" of the Clown Prince. While Batman took on the madman, Barbara confronted Harley Quinn. In the fight, they fell off a cliff, and though Batgirl tried to get Harley back to safety, she fell into Arkham Canyon.

Barbara was the last of Batman's partners to relinquish their roles. She was also the girlfriend of Bruce Wayne for an undetermined period. She would eventually become police commissioner as her father had been. Over the years, she lost touch with Bruce Wayne. According to Barbara herself, the fact that Bruce Wayne's drive wouldn't allow him to "settle down" from his life of crimefighting eventually drove a wedge between them; the intimate relationship was terminated after a time. She eventually went on to marry District Attorney Sam Young. Whether or not she told her husband about her time as Batgirl is unknown.

Initially, Barbara was distrustful of the second Batman, Terry McGinnis; this distrust was stressed when Spellbinder used his technology to make her believe that Terry had killed Mad Stan. She also expressed a measure of resentment towards Bruce for not talking Terry out of becoming the latest Batman. At first, she strictly refused Batman's help and warned him to stay out of police matters. But she eventually formed a mentoring relationship with Terry, even helping him on occasion, especially when the Joker returned and had attacked Bruce in the cave. As she was one of the few people who knew Bruce's secret and who could be trusted, she was presumably, the person Terry contacted after Bruce was hurt and she may have helped him treat Bruce. As Bruce recovered, she briefly took over Bruce's role, sitting behind the mainframe in the Batcave providing guidance to him in the field. Barbara has since welcomed Batman back to fighting crime. When Barbara's husband District Attorney Sam Young was targeted by the assassin Curaré, both she and Terry stopped her. She saved Terry's life by throwing a discarded batarang at the killer, amazed she still "had it".

Barbara came into the line of fire again when Dr. Cuvier attempted to have her husband killed, leading to a melee in her home with Cuvier's minions and a mutated, out-of-control Batman. After Terry was returned to normal and Cuvier was defeated, Barbara personally encouraged Terry (who had recently avenged his father's death) to give up his life as Batman. However, Terry was undeterred, and answered that the small rewards were sometimes the best.