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As Fear State sweeps across Gotham City, one recently retired superhero decides to suit up once again to take back the city from Scarecrow’s forces.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Nightwing #84, on sale now from DC Comics.
The crossover event “Joker War” had left much of the Bat-Family and Gotham City shaken to their core, with the Clown Prince of Crime’s latest rampage causing the city to descend into chaos and leaving much of Batman’s private arsenal of weaponry and vehicles seized. And as the Bat-Family attempted to regroup from the Joker’s harrowing rampage, a familiar foe in the Scarecrow has since risen to take advantage of the recovering city and launch his own master plan in the crossover event “Fear State.” While the Bat Family has been placed on the defensive — with Scarecrow managing to stay one step ahead by anticipating their every move — a fan-favorite superhero has suited up again to take back her city. After a temporary retirement, Barbara Gordon returns as the Caped Crusader Batgirl.
Barbara Gordon walked away from the mantle of Batgirl after her family endured a tragic loss in the fires of “Joker War.” Barbara’s psychotic younger brother James Gordon, Jr. rescued his sister when the Joker attempted to take control of the spinal implant in Barbara’s spine. This ultimately would come at the expense of his life, with Barbara and James’s father, the retired police commissioner Jim Gordon, arriving on the scene just in time to see his son die. Unaware of the full extent of the incident, Jim blamed Batgirl for his son’s death and Barbara decided to willingly leave the Batgirl mantle behind once again. However, in Nightwing #84 by Tom Taylor, Robbi Rodriguez, Adriano Lucas and Wes Abbott, Barbara decides to don the cowl once again and become an active combatant against Scarecrow’s forces.
Since “Joker War,” Barbara reclaimed her former superhero mantle as Oracle, the Bat Family’s resident tech expert that lent vital support from her own headquarters in Gotham City’s Clocktower, including overseeing a vast communications and surveillance network. Using his own multimillion-dollar assets after teaming up with entrepreneur Simon Saint, Scarecrow created the Magistrate system, a police state with its own private army and surveillance system that would take control of the city, as previously hinted during Future State. As Scarecrow kicked his grand plan into motion, he drugged Batman while compromising Oracle’s network for his own devious purpose.
Using Oracle’s comms network to issue a warning to instill panic across Gotham City, Scarecrow has since used Oracle’s private comms channel to the rest of the Bat Family to rally them in Crime Alley. Answering the call, Nightwing found himself ambushed by the Magistrate’s heavily armed troops, barely escaping with his life. After learning about this particular incident, Barbara found it to be the last straw, with all of her greatest assets as Oracle now firmly in the Scarecrow’s hands. Intent on not seeing her network used to harm others and further the Scarecrow’s agenda any longer, Barbara suits up in a new Batgirl costume while vowing to no longer sit on the sidelines and watch her city burn.
Oracle may have been manipulated by Scarecrow to kick off his bid to take over Gotham City and destroy the Bat Family, but Barbara Gordon has always been more than just glorified tech support for the Dark Knight and his allies. Barbara putting aside her self-imposed retirement underscores just how grave the stakes are but, of course, she wasn’t going to stand by and watch as her greatest tools became compromised. And with Batgirl now on the offensive, it’s high time for a little payback against the DC Universe’s self-proclaimed master of fear as she and Nightwing team up once again.
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