Related
The Bat - Family is one of the most recognizable mathematical group in theDC Universe , andCassandra Cain’sBatgirlis no unknown to it . Composed of members such asRobin(Tim Drake),Red Hood(Jason Todd),Nightwing(Dick Grayson ) , Batgirl / Oracle ( Barbara Gordon),Batwoman(Kate Kane ) , Batwing ( Luke Fox ) , and many more , the Bat - Family are certainly a force to be reckoned with in Gotham and beyond . The Bat - Family is a singular squad within superhero comic because , as the name suggest , it is a family just as much as it is a offence - agitate chemical group .
Like many other members of the Bat - Family , Cain has a tragical past . The girl of assassin David Cain and martial artist Lady Shiva , Cassandra was civilise by her father from parentage to be the ultimate bravo . As such , David Cain divest her of speech and human contact , and instead shaped her whole life around killing others . After being taken in by Bruce Wayne , Cassandra undergoes manner of speaking therapy and effectively join the Bat - Family as the newfangled Batgirl .
relate : Batman Fans Deserve A New , good Bat - Family Series
But , as Adam Beecher and J. Calafiore’sBatgirl#1 - 6 details , life with her newfound crime syndicate was seldom ever easy for Cassandra , mainly due to the fact that Nightwing was massively leery of where her loyalties really resided . before , the villainDeathstrokehad drug Cassandra with a flit that allow him verify over her mind , squeeze her to kill on behalf of the League of Assassins and her begetter . Cassandra was only freed from the effects of the drug once Robin gave her a counter blood serum that allowed her to see the full extent of her actions . disillusion with who she had become , Cassandra came back to the Bat - Family . There , she restfully swore to take revenge on David Cain by doing the one matter that the Bat - Family refuses to ever do : pour down . While Nightwing ’s suspicion of Cassandra is not completely idle , he makes numerous cause across the serial publication that reinforce a hostility towards Cassandra that cause her to interview her place in the only category she has ever known .
Dick Grayson ’s discourse of Cassandra demonstrates how her violent yesteryear poses an experiential crisis to the Bat - Family . While other appendage like Robin and Oracle are more soft and discernment of Cassandra ’s action , realize that her past is so traumatizing , Nightwing ’s distrust of Cassandra exacerbate her exist self - doubt . Ultimately , because Nightwing reinforce uncomfortable truth about her past , Cassandra goes on a journey that explores the limits of the Bat - Family ’s underlying culture of vengeance . It is precisely because of her violent past that Cassandra emerge as an intact member of the Bat - Family , suggesting that while some cycles of violence can not be full broken , their disturbance can bring home the bacon necessary catharsis .
Related : Nightwing Was speculate to Be A Member of the Court of Owls
Cassandra’s Conflict With Nightwing Reveals Tensions Within the Bat-Family
Cassandra has her first tally - in with Dick Grayson after formally dream up her plan to happen and stamp out her beginner . After go into the Batcave to use the Batcomputer , she reveals her guilt from using Batman ’s resources for her own ends . Once she assures herself that , " if it stay a secret , [ she has ] no reason to occupy , " Nightwing storms in and demands that Cassandra excuse her reason for being in the Batcave alone . The two scrap while Dick admit that he does not believe that Cassandra is truly back with the Bat - Family before Batman arrives with Robin , telling them , " We ’re family . No fight among ourselves . " As Nightwing argues with Batman , he is shocked at how Bruce could be take her side " after everything she ’s done . " It is clean from Dick ’s actions that Cassandra was still seen by him as a scoundrel , instead of a victim .
Nightwing ’s failure to see Cassandra ’s perspective let out his own limited apprehension of human morality , especially as it applies to the children of baddie like David Cain . Considering that Dick Grayson himself is a ware ofhis own tragic past , his antagonism towards Cassandra demonstrates his inability to understand victimhood in a more complicated , nuanced way beyond his own experience . While it should be obvious that children do not get to choose the parents they are accept to , Cassandra ’s engrossment with suffer payback on her father bear witness how unmanageable it is for one to move on from the abusive trauma when it come at the hand of one ’s own parent . Their conflict throughout the series thus provides a much - needed lesson for Nightwing on the upheaval that victims - turned - Heron like Cassandra must handle with .
Related : Batgirl ’s Place in DC History Was write By The Suicide Squad
Cassandra Is Her Own Hero Within the Bat-Family
The series ends with Cassandra facing off against David Cain , take her to negociate between the values she has learned from the Bat - Family and the single she learned from her father . The battle she experiences from need to achieve payback by killing her father mirror that of Bruce Wayne , whose rule to never kill is put into place to prevent him from give in to his rage . Bearing the brunt of her father ’s taunts and mind games , Cassandra comes close to killing him before he fall off the sharpness of a edifice out of her grip . When Batman and Robin catch David Cain ’s fall , Cassandra break away down , sob from the conflict of her emotions . Batman assure her by saying , " You did n’t kill him and you could have , after everything , you tried to aid . You ’re free of the bad things he taught you . But I know what you ’re feeling . Like your mission is n’t over . "
The end to the serial publication cements Cassandra ’s rank in the Bat - Family because she is free from the regretful clutch of her past . She discovers that her impulse to kill her father to receive closure was nothing more than a symptom of the dehumanizing way of life he kick upstairs her . Batman and Robin ’s acknowledgement of both her complex emotion as well as the difficulty of her actions also speculate a newfound mother wit of acceptance from her chosen kinfolk , one that she would never have had if she had killed David Cain . In this moment , Cassandra is neither the pernicious assassin that her father had created her to be nor the untrustworthy figure that Nightwing immobilise her to be . Instead , Cassandra is her own Hero of Alexandria , in all of her own contradiction in terms .
As Cassandra quiet slips into the Batcave in the series ’s first issue , she narrates , " I am not a detective . Not like the man whose symbolic representation I am privileged to wear . But I have learn a little from him . " Perhaps this best illustrates the ethos of the Bat - Family . outsider like Cassandra who come from such drastically different circumstances than Bruce Wayne rework the Bat symbol to further wrestle with the questions of how to be a submarine after experience major hurt . Cassandra Cain ’s storyline asBatgirldemonstrates that the Bat - Family is a harbour for those who require to do good in the cosmos in the wake of inconceivable pain .
Next : Batgirl Is formally The Bat - Family ’s Toughest Member
