Cassandra Cain
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Batgirl |
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superhero |
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from |
| Encyclopedia of Female Characters |
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| Issues in characterization: Identities, representation, stereotypes |
| Indexes of female characters: notable female characters ... |
| Comprehensive: A-G ...
H-P ...
Q-Z
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Cassandra Cain was Batgirl for several years. She was introduced a mysterious and Asian raised by the assassin David Cain. She a learning disability that made it difficult for her to speak, but enabled her to read people's body language to compensate. It also gave her super martial arts abilities, as she could read what an opponent would do before the opponent realized it.
It was awesome for awhile. Batman was her father. Oracle, the previous Batgirl, was her mentor. The Spoiler was her sidekick-buddy-girlfriend. Lady Shiva and her father her evil nemesis. She lost her powers and gained speech, she gained back her powers and lost speech, she learned to talk the hard way while keeping her powers, she discovered her mysterious origins, she moved out of Batman's territory, and came to terms with her origins. She had character growth! Even her wimpy sidekick Rebecca got character growth! Eventually, though, after years running, her story concluded and she died in the conclusion, being carried into heaven by Stephanie, who was at the time dead. Or maybe an angel that she saw as Steph, I don't know if they bother retconning near death experiences or just call them hallucinations. It would be cool if it was the same spirit that protected Steph when Cass was out of commission and Shiva's assassin jumped her, maybe her aunt's ghost.
She was brought back by the Lazarus pit plot device (in the last issue of Batgirl) and given to another writer. Having been instructed to make her a villain, Cass was given the motivation of jealousy over Cain teaching people other than her. The writer, being unfamiliar with her, neglected her speech disorder. I stopped reading DC comics due to there not being anyone I wanted to read.
I hear she is back to a semblance of her old self, and teaming up with Stephanie again! Because she was never dead! Maybe she is okay again.
So, that is the story of Cassandra Cain, a non-white, non-neurotypical, female: the rare cisgendered 3fer.