Titans season 3 is introducing Barbara Gordon into their universe, with their version of the former Batgirl adapting a story from Batman Beyond. The third season of the Teen Titans live-action drama will be relocating from San Francisco to Gotham City. As Dick Grayson has become Nightwing and Jason Todd is about to evolve into Red Hood, Titans are introducing a couple of fresh, but familiar Bat-Family members from the comics. Jay Lycrgo will be the first actor to play Tim Drake, the third Robin, as he will be a recurring guest character. However, the show isn't just adding another Robin, but also a Batgirl as Savannah Welch was cast in January 2021 as Barbara.
However, Titans' Barbara will not be suiting up as Batgirl with The Killing Joke being part of her backstory. At some point, The Joker shot and paralyzed Barbara, bringing her time as Batgirl to an end. While Titans include that side of Barbara's history, they're not leaning into making her Oracle. Instead, Barbara will be the new Police Commissioner for Gotham City Police Department. While it hasn't happened in the comics, the concept of Barbara being the GCPD commissioner isn't entirely new to Batman media.
One of the most beloved DC animated shows and Batman properties overall is the 1999 series Batman Beyond, a semi-sequel to Batman: The Animated Series. The story focuses on Terry McGinnis as the new Batman in a future where Bruce Wayne has gotten too old to be Gotham's crime fighter. As this takes place in 2039, several familiar characters have also aged alongside the original Batman. One of them is Barbara herself, who has taken over for her father as the future police commissioner in this timeline. Even though it can be debated why Titans' Barbara will have this specific role, at least the concept isn't entirely new to Batman's media legacy.
While this will be the first time in live-action, the Batman Beyond concept wasn't the first and last time they depicted Barbara as the GCPD Commissioner. In 2017, The LEGO Batman Movie featured Barbara in this setup as one of the supporting characters. Much like Batman Beyond, this version of Batgirl was also the police commissioner, having taken over from James Gordon. But outside those DC animated properties, no other incarnation of Barbara has ever been in this role, until Titans season 3. Very little is known thus far about Titans' interpretation of Barbara, other than that she and Dick will be romantically involved once more, while also kicking off "a new crime-fighting partnership."
With that said, it will be intriguing to see Titans' Barbara in this role, based on a concept that Batman Beyond began all the way back in 1999. With Barbara joining the show in the upcoming season, it sort of brings Titans full-circle from when TNT was initially developing the show from 2014-2016. That line-up of characters, much like DC Universe and HBO Max's Titans, also had Barbara, Hawk, and Dove join the superhero team, although Barbara would have been Oracle in the TNT iteration. Hopefully, as Titans season 3 is set to come out sometime this year, fans will get a better idea of what is in store for Welch's Barbara Gordon.
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