How did Barbara Gordon learn Batman's identity?

[Kid Kyoto]

Did he tell her? Did she figure it out herself?

I thought there was a time when she knew Batman's identity but he didn't know hers, or did I imagine it?

[dreyga2000]

Did he tell her? Did she figure it out herself?

I thought there was a time when she knew Batman's identity but he didn't know hers, or did I imagine it?

After she proved herself to him, Bats decided to bring her into the fold... She brought her to the cave made her run an obstacle course then revealed his secret to her and made her make the vow.

This was at the climax of Batgirl: Year One....

[Kid Kyoto]

Was there a silver age story as well or did she not know pre-Crisis?

[Project 22]

Although I've probably missed some, the above mentioned origin is pretty accurate.

[zomg]

The only thing in Pre-Crisis I know of is that Robin and Batgirl revealed each others identity in a Batman Family issue. Not sure if Barbara knew Batman = Bruce before that.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Was there a silver age story as well or did she not know pre-Crisis?

Who knows Batman's ID was always fluid before Infinite Crisis. In Suicide Squad, Babs clearly didn't know Batman's ID, though that likely changed when she joined the Bat-cast.

[Chad]

Who knows Batman's ID was always fluid before Infinite Crisis. In Suicide Squad, Babs clearly didn't know Batman's ID, though that likely changed when she joined the Bat-cast.

Yet she knew it in Killing Joke.

I think she discovered it pre-Crisis in the early 80's, had the info removed by Robin in Tec, and in Tec 526 confirmed that the memory-wiping never took when she showed up at Wayne Manor looking for Batman.

[joe27]

Barbara cornered Ra's Al Ghul at a party and started telling really tiresome stories, most of which were thinly veiled boasts about her SAT scores or how she was "cheated" out of first place in various gymnastics tournaments as a child.

Dying of boredom, Ra's blurted out that Bruce Wayne is really Batman and used Barbara's taken abackness to make his escape to a more stimulating conversation with that mute hunchback.

[Lester C.]

Batgirl's introduction in precrisis continuity was a mess. They invented the character for the tv show show so DC just pretended that she always was in the comics and she always knew what Batman was. Think One More Day decades before One More Day.

[Spiffy]

Pre-Crisis, it was indeed a bit of a mess. But I DO think it was heavily implied that she figured it out herself, based on you know... having already known who Robin was. So the modern take is actually a bit of a step down for her.

She was indeed co-created in the comic book and the TV show. But in that sea of mediocrity, she actually still managed to be written as pretty on the ball. She had a doctorate, on both TV and in comics, WAY before that was a common notion for a female character.

[Lester C.]

Pre-Crisis, it was indeed a bit of a mess. But I DO think it was heavily implied that she figured it out herself, based on you know... having already known who Robin was. So the modern take is actually a bit of a step down for her.

She was indeed co-created in the comic book and the TV show. But in that sea of mediocrity, she actually still managed to be written as pretty on the ball. She had a doctorate, on both TV and in comics, WAY before that was a common notion for a female character.

She was written on the ball but also all over the place. You forgot to add that she was a member of congress, Librarian, fiancée, a genius with a photographic memory etc. It wasn’t until John Ostrander legendary revision of the character that gave her the stability to become the person we all know and love today.

[Kid Kyoto]

The Showcase Batgirl is really a pretty good read. Yeah there's silver age madness in there, and yeah there's silver age sexism but on balance Batgirl comes across as competant and skilled. Her into is pretty good as well.

I could have sworn there was a story where she figured out who Batman is and then worked with Alfred to protect him, maybe it's from the TV show?

[Lester C.]

The Showcase Batgirl is really a pretty good read. Yeah there's silver age madness in there, and yeah there's silver age sexism but on balance Batgirl comes across as competant and skilled. Her into is pretty good as well.

I could have sworn there was a story where she figured out who Batman is and then worked with Alfred to protect him, maybe it's from the TV show?

The real problem we have with Batgirl is that we don't know what's canon with her and what isn't. For instance she had many adventures and was best friends with Supergirl. Since precrisis Supergirl no longer exists that was retconed to Power Girl which was later retconed out as they don't like each other in current continuity.

My solution to this is that the character didn't exist until I began reading in the mid to late 90s as there are no contradictions that way but that view would rightfully so drive older reader nuts.

[IvCNuB4]

Batgirl's introduction in precrisis continuity was a mess. They invented the character for the tv show show so DC just pretended that she always was in the comics and she always knew what Batman was. Think One More Day decades before One More Day.

How was it a mess ? Read Detective Comics #359. She was a new character who debuted as Batgirl in that issue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Gordon). She didn't know Bruce was Batman when she rescued him from Killer Moth. In fact, she wasn't even really a crime-fighter. She was on her way to a costume party, dressed as a "Batgirl'' when she just happened upon Bruce being attacked and helped out ...

[theNighteye]

He told her in Batgirl Year One.

http://www.imrambling.com

[nepenthes]

who else thinks Barbara needs a minseries about her later days as Batgirl? when she's actually a veteran operator not just a cheerful rookie as we usually see her. Flashbacks to her beginning could be interesting, as long as they're in a different tone to her Year One. Actually they should combine characters and make the mini about Jason Todd Robin and Barbara together since they both existed in the same era and are severely lacking in cool contemporary depictions


.

[Lorendiac]

The only thing in Pre-Crisis I know of is that Robin and Batgirl revealed each others identity in a Batman Family issue. Not sure if Barbara knew Batman = Bruce before that.

"Batman Family #3" was when Babs and Dick officially learned each other's secrets. I'm fairly sure she didn't know about Bruce before that. But I haven't actually read all her old stories from before then. But let's face it: If you already know Bruce Wayne = Batman, then wouldn't you basically know that Bruce Wayne's Youthful Ward = Robin? In which case there'd be need for Dick to reveal anything to her?

I think she discovered it pre-Crisis in the early 80's, had the info removed by Robin in Tec, and in Tec 526 confirmed that the memory-wiping never took when she showed up at Wayne Manor looking for Batman.

The info wasn't exactly "removed by Robin." It was removed from her head by a typical Mad Scientist, along with every single other memory of her life up until that point. She could regain chunks of memory by playing back audiotapes onto which she had dictated her life story under hypnosis. Then Robin -- for no comprehensible reason, given that a few years earlier he'd freely told her his secret -- basically expressed the hope that she wouldn't voluntarily play back that last audiotape to restore her memories about the Dynamic Duo, and Babs -- also for no comprehensible reason! -- burned the audiotape instead of using it to regain her own rightful property (memories of details about Batman and Robin's personal lives, etc.). The whole thing reeked of an editor saying to a writer, "I hate her knowing their secrets, so find a way to fix this Terrible Problem! I don't care if you mangle the characterization in the process!"

I wrote about those events in greater detail, and posted a copy on this board: Barbara Gordon: A Bad Mindwipe and a Later Retcon (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=101626)

The way I saw it: "'Tec 526" didn't squarely "confirm" that the asinine story in "'Tec 489" never took place -- it was more a case of ambiguously hinting that maybe it hadn't exactly happened that way after all.