This article contains spoilers for Batgirl #48 by Cecil Castellucci, Robbi Rodriguez, Jordie Bellaire and AndWorld Design.
Batgirl is officially the toughest member of the Bat-Family. Only the brave and the bold can survive long in Gotham City – and they pay a fearful price for their heroism. Every member of the Bat-Family has found themselves in the firing line, dealing with terrifying threats that come close to breaking them physically. To be a vigilante in Gotham demands the strongest will imaginable.
Batman, of course, has that in spades. Over the years, the Dark Knight has suffered terrible personal injuries; he once even had his back broken by Bane. Jason Todd was brutally murdered by the Joker, only to be resurrected as the Red Hood courtesy of a Lazarus Pit. And in “The Killing Joke,” poor Barbara Gordon found herself on the wrong side of the Joker, only to be crippled. She ultimately regained the use of her legs thanks to a bionic implant, but there’s been a bitter vendetta between Batgirl and the Joker ever since. The “Joker War” brought chaos to Barbara Gordon’s life when she discovered the Joker had successfully taken control of Wayne Enterprises – and used his newfound tech resources to hack into her implant.
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But this week’s Batgirl #48 officially proves Batgirl is the toughest, most indomitable of all the Bat-Family. Rather than be controlled, Batgirl literally tore the implant out of her own back. The pain was agonizing, causing her to pass out with the pain, but Barbara preferred being crippled to having her legs under the Joker’s control. She awakens in a hospital bed and learns some kids found her bleeding out and called it in. Never one to slow down, Barbara checks out of the hospital in a wheelchair and gets her brother to check out the site of the Joker attack to see if she can regain the implant. The panels are again seriously disturbing because it’s quite clear Barbara Gordon lost a lot of blood. But she’s in luck; the implant is still there.
Barbara calls on a friend – Luke Fox – to help put the implant back in. It’s a hurried procedure, with Gotham City in chaos thanks to the “Joker War,” and it’s performed entirely without anesthetic. Incredibly, where other people would have taken time to recover or required intensive physical therapy after such a trauma, within minutes Barbara Gordon is suited up as Batgirl once again, and she’s taking to the streets to do hold back the rising tide of madness.
This is an incredible feat by even comic book standards, with Batgirl proving herself more badass than any other member of the Bat-Family – even Batman himself. But here’s the catch; Barbara Gordon may be swinging over the rooftops as Batgirl, but she has still undergone extreme physical trauma, and she isn’t allowing her body time to recover. There’s undoubtedly going to be a heavy price to pay in the end for Batgirl.