Barbara Wilson

Barbara Wilson


Alias(es)	Batgirl
Appeared in	Batman & Robin
Status	Alive
Actor	Alicia Silverstone

"Using feminine wiles to get what you want? Trading on your looks? Read a book, sister. That passive-aggressive number went out years ago."

―Batgirl ^[src]

Barbara Wilson is the niece of Alfred Pennyworth and the vigilante known as Batgirl.

Biography[]

Batman & Robin[]

Barbara Wilson is the daughter of Margaret Wilson, who is sister the of Alfred Pennyworth. Barbara and Alfred have apparently been close throughout Barbara's entire life, particularly when Babara's mother and father died in a car accident. While Alfred lived in the states working as the Wayne Family butler, Barbara remained in England attending boarding school. However, she felt particularly disgusted at the idea of her uncle working as a servant, and upon discovering that Alfred was ill with a rare disease, flies to the states in order to 'free' him.

Upon arriving in the states, she meets Alfred's "other family", Dick Grayson (who is immediately attracted to her, and vise-versa) and Bruce Wayne. Bruce invites Barbara to stay, during which Alfred's disease grows steadily worse. While Alfred grows closer to death, he shares with Barbara an encrypted disk, which contains all of Batman's secrets. Barbara immediately hacks the discs, and discovers that Bruce and Dick are Batman and Robin, and that Alfred planned for her future involvement.

Donning a suit designed for her by Alfred, Barbara, now under the guise of Batgirl, defeats Poison Ivy and saves Batman and Robin. Together the three of them defeats Mister Freeze, who was attempting to create a new ice-age, and gain the cure for Alfred's disease. Barbara then official joins the family.

Powers and Abilities[]

To be added

Equipment[]

Relationships[]

Margaret Wilson - Mother; deceased.
Wilfred Pennyworth - Uncle.
Alfred Pennyworth - Uncle.
Bruce Wayne/Batman - Friend, partner and ally.
Dick Grayson/Robin - Friend, partner, ally and love interest.
Mr. Freeze - Enemy.
Poison Ivy - Enemy.
Bane - Enemy; deceased.

Appearances/Actresses[]

Burtonverse (1 film)
- Batman & Robin (First appearance) - Alicia Silverstone

Behind the scenes[]

Before Alicia Silverstone was cast, Olivia d'Abo had been offered the role of Barbara Wilson/Batgirl by producer Peter Macgregor-Scott. However, Joel Schumacher rejected her for the role, due to her age at the time (27) and considering that Batgirl had to be younger than Robin. Jennifer Love Hewitt also auditioned for the role, but other production obligations prevented her from taking the role.
Moira Kelly, Mira Kirshner, Brittany Murphy, Christina Ricci, Neve Campbell, Natalie Portman, Eliza Dushku and Sarah Michelle Gellar were all considered for the role.
Though Barbara technically debuted in a comic, she was created by DC editors in collusion with William Dozier with the intention of her appearing in the live-action tv show at the time. Joel Schumacher was a fan of the series, and was criticized for coming dangerously close to the tone of the tv show at times. Schumacher chose Alicia Silverstone for the role after watching Clueless.
Alicia Silverstone was brought on to play Batgirl in hopes that young women would come to see Batman & Robin in theaters. She was a teenager at the time and was the victim of body shaming on the set and in public thanks to the cruel joke of storyboard editor Timothy Burgard. At the time it was rumored that the young actress was having trouble fitting into the tiny Batgirl costume. Burgard says this: "I heard she was in the costume department being cinched into a corset to fit into what they were going to try to do the costume. So I did a cartoon of what I thought she looked like... I did it as a movie poster, Clueless 2: The Casting of Batgirl. It was a private joke, just the guys in the art department." The joke drawing got out, but Burgard got to keep his job because he "luckily" never signed i
Stunt coordinator Alex Field taught Alicia Silverstone to ride a motorcycle so that she could play Batgirl.

Trivia[]

This incarnation of Barbara was Alfred Pennyworth's niece and named Barbara Wilson, rather than being James Gordon's daughter, Barbara Gordon, like in the comics. This is due to alterations in Gordon's character where his relationship with Batman is severely downplayed and purely professional.
Alfred has two nieces who appeared in comics. The first is Valerie in Batman Sunday comics (Feb-March 1945). The second is Daphne Pennyworth, daughter of Alfred's older brother Wilfred, who first appeared in Batman #216 (Nov. 1969). Though Valerie's parents were never revealed.
Rather than be a red-head like in the comics, Barbara is blonde. She is the second blonde-haired Batgirl. The first was Betty Kane, the first Batgirl (though called "Bat-Girl") and eventually became Flamebird.
The Batgirl costume used in this film is later repainted and used by Dina Meyer who plays Barbara Gordon/Batgirl/Oracle for the short-lived Birds of Prey TV show.
Although Batgirl normally wears a cowl like Batman, in this film, she only wears the cowl while riding a motor-cycle. Otherwise, she uses a mask similar to Robin's.
Her Batgirl costume has no gold accents, which were from the comics.
Most of the scenes with Batgirl were cut, because Alicia Silverstone had gained a few pounds during production and the wardrobe team had to refit her costume. When the press discovered the news, they slammed Silverstone's weight gain and mocked the actress for being "too fat" to fit into her costume. Director Joel Shumacher publicly defended Silverstone during interviews and press meetings, joking "What is this girl's big sin - that she ate some pizza?" When the taunting continued, Schumacher lashed out at the reporters that taunted her. He said in a magazine interview, "It was horrible. I thought it was very cruel. She was a teenager who gained a few pounds - like all of us do at certain times. I would confront female journalists and I'd say, 'With so many young people suffering from anorexia and bulimia, why are you crucifying this girl?'".

Barbara Wilson

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