Batgirls #6 shows that fighting a villain while tied to a chair means so much more when done by Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl than by Black Widow.
Warning! Spoilers for Batgirls #6 ahead!
There’s little doubt that Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl, is one of the most hardcore members of the Bat-Family. Whether one looks at her early tenure atop Gotham’s rooftops, her work as the ever-present information guru Oracle, or her role as mentor to other Batgirls Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain, it’s safe to say that Barbara has proved her qualities in just about every role. Now she’s taking her skills across dimensions, in a scene reminiscent of a defining moment in the MCU and showing the Marvel heroes how it’s done.
In Batgirls #6 by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Jorge Corona, and Sarah Stern, the newly reinvented villain Spellbinder has Barbara tied up to a chair. While the evil artist monologues, Barbara frees her arms with a Batarang; although surprised, Spellbinder believes the effort to be useless, with Barbara’s legs still bound. Barbara proceeds to show him just how badly he’s underestimated her by delivering a thorough thrashing to him, using the very chair she’s tied to.
A nearly identical scene plays out in Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) as the introduction for Russian super-spy, Black Widow. Tied up in an abandoned warehouse, Black Widow Natasha Romanoff appears to be at the mercy of the smugglers interrogating her. When a call for a new mission comes in, however, Natasha reveals it have all been a trick to gather information and proceeds to dispatch each of her captors with brutal efficiency while still bound.
On its own, Barbara’s way of freeing herself would be a fun callback to this sweet comic-book-world moment. But unlike with Natasha, this isn’t just a flashy way of fighting; Barbara is well-accustomed to fighting while seated, as she began to use a wheelchair after being shot through the spine by the Joker. Although her position as Oracle gave her plenty of ways to fight crime from behind a computer, it’s telling that she did not stop there; while no longer running across the rooftops regularly, Barbara trained to be a skilled combatant even in her wheelchair, often brandishing a set of escrima sticks to complement her techniques.
Barbara Gordon is much like Nightwing: they both embody the strength and soul of the DC Universe. Natasha’s chair escape is certainly a cool moment that highlights her considerable skill, but when performed by Barbara the act becomes transformative, a fierce declaration of her triumph. It recognizes and pays homage to a significant portion of Barbara’s past that, far from debilitating her, has only made her stronger. Batgirl elevates this iconic MCU moment, turning Natasha’s badass intro into something even more hardcore: the drive to thrive despite adversity.
Batgirls #6 is now available from DC Comics.
