Cassandra Cain (Prime Earth)

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As a result of the 2011 initiative, the New 52, the entire line of DC characters was relaunched, incorporating properties belonging to the company's imprints: Wildstorm, Milestone, and Vertigo. As such, elements of this character's history have been altered in some way from the previous incarnation's. For a complete list of all versions of this character, see our disambig.

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Overview

Cassandra "Cass" Cain is the vigilante Batgirl, forming one half of the Batgirls with Stephanie Brown. Also known as Orphan, she fights crime as a member of the Batman Family. The daughter of assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva, she was raised to be the perfect killer before rebelling and joining Batman's crusade.

History

I'm not...doomed...to be bad...I am...a bat. This... is where I should be.

-- Orphan ^src 

Origin and Early Career

Cassandra was the daughter of David Cain, an operative named "Orphan", who worked as an assassin for Mother. He raised Cassandra alone and forced her not to speak but to "listen" to body movements and react accordingly, with deadly precision. She was intended to be a "gift" to Mother, to show her that child assassins could be manipulated through "the old ways" instead through the use of drugs. Mother rejected her and told Orphan never to do anything behind her back again. Nonetheless, she was used by Mother in the field. She was sent to kill Miranda Row, mother of Batman's ally Harper Row.

Batgirl

In the aftermath of a horrific earthquake that damaged much of Gotham, Cassandra surfaced in the city. After saving the life of James Gordon, Cassandra was taken in by the allies of the Bat, and deemed a worthy successor to the mantle of Batgirl.^[1]

She operated as Batgirl for an indeterminate period of time. During this period, she was killed by her mother, Shiva, though she was evidently revived at a later point.^[2]

She eventually stopped operating as Batgirl for unknown reasons. Her mother, Shiva, vowed to die before letting her don the symbol of the Bat again.^[3]

Much of the following occurred after Flashpoint, during the New 52. Though many of the historical changes brought by Flashpoint have since been undone, Cassandra Cain had a significantly different origin during the New 52, and as a result may not have had access to her full memories in current continuity until Death Metal.

New 52

Batman and Robin Eternal

Before Batman's final confrontation with the Joker, Cassandra received from Bruce himself a datafile she had to give to Dick Grayson if something would happen to him: inside there was all the information gathered by Batman on Mother. Cass will find Dick, giving him the file,^[4] and then began acting as a protector, saving Harper Row from the attack of David Cain, her father and predecessor. Then, she confronts Jason Todd, with the former Robin mistaking her for an enemy due to her inability to express herself.^[5]

Struggling to bond with the Family due to her inability to talk, Cass finds a friend in Harper Row that trusts her: Cassandra brings Harper to one of the hideouts she and her father used in Gotham, but they are attacked again by David Cain. Cassandra succeeds in escaping her father again together with Harper.^[6] Then, Nightwing decides to take Cass and Harper to Prague for a mission, as Dick remembers a mission he took while still Robin which was related to Mother.^[7] The two of them had to protect the first ballerina of Prague, who was one of the objectives of Mother, but soon Cass realized it was all a setup as the first ballerina herself was a dormant agent of mother.^[8] They survive the attack, but Mother escapes Nightwing and Cass freaks out when Harper touches her hair, as she remembers killing Harper's mother, a thing she deeply regrets and that does not know how to tell to the only friend she's found.^[9]

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Rebirth

Gotham Knights

Joining the Team

For some time Orphan battled crime in Gotham City taking out a ring of human traffickers. During a battle with traffickers, Orphan was contacted by Batman and his cousin Batwoman (Kate Kane), who were putting together a new team and wanted Orphan to be on it.

Orphan accepted the invitation and travelled to the GCPD Headquarters where she met her new teammates. The team consisted of Cass's old friends Red Robin and Spoiler, the reformed villain Clayface (Basil Karlo), Batman and Batwoman. Batman informed the team that there was a target on their heads and that under the watchful eye of Batwoman, they would train to defeat this veiled enemy.^[10]

The team were introduced to their new headquarters- The Belfry, an incredibly advanced facility designed and maintained by Red Robin. The group were put through hours of grueling exercises, battling the most outlandish enemies possible, like an army of Jokers. Orphan was criticized by trying to fight everyone else's fights, as Batwoman believed that for the team to flourish every member would have to pull their weight, not just Cass^[11] The next day Orphan was called back to the Belfry; however, upon arrival she was attacked by four Batman-esque soldiers. After defeating them, she leapt into the Belfry, where the team were being held at gunpoint by more of these soldiers. The soldiers quickly opened fire on Orphan, knocking her out with sedative rounds.^[12]

Death of Tim Drake

When Orphan woke up, she was in the hands of the Team, who had managed to escape. Red Robin told the group that the lookalike Batmen were a military faction known as the Colony, which had recently emerged in Gotham with unknown intentions. The Colony were under investigation by Batman, Batwoman and Red Robin, who formed the team to combat the threat. Batman had been captured by the Colony, thus entrusting the team to save him. The team were eventually able to find the Colony's base in the subways of Gotham, something they nicknamed the Cave.^[13] After fighting through waves of Colony soldiers, Orphan and the rest of the team grabbed Batman and escaped the area. Batman told the group that the Colony intended to replace the Bat-Family as the protectors of Gotham, enforcing lethal justice on criminals.^[14]

After making it back to the Belfry, Red Robin informed the team that the Colony were sending a fleet of drones into Gotham that were to eliminate a neighborhood containing several dangerous fugitives. Because these fugitives couldn't be identified, the Colony planned to eliminate the whole neighborhood to stop their nefarious plans. Each member of the Team was tasked with evacuating civilians. Red Robin decided that the only way to stop the drones was to give them a new target, and so made himself the target.^[15] Although he fought with incredible skill and intelligence, Red Robin was incinerated by the drones, averting the threat they posed to Gotham. After the defeat of their drones the Colony went into hiding, consolidating for another attack.^[16]

Against her mother

After the Victim Syndicate Batman began working with Mayor Hady to lower the corruption levels in the city. One evening the Bat traveled to meet with the mayor where he found him dying impaled on his wall, the mayor told Batman in his dying breath that the League of Shadows did this. The League then replicated the Joker's initial attack by killing a news team with Laughing Gas. The team then received news that people were fighting each other on the streets due to being effected by the gas. Upon arriving at the scene Orphan discovered that they'd walked into a trap as the citizens were actually League members.^[17] Orphan spotted the group leader on a rooftop and went to confront her.

After a small fight the figure beat her because of unwillingness it strike a killing blow, the figure then introduced herself as Lady Shiva- Cassandra's mother. Shiva and the League then left the scene with Azrael and Batwing promising to destroy Gotham for her daughter's weakness.^[18] Cassandra was put on house arrest by Batman so she wouldn't do anything rash, however Clayface let her go confront Shiva. Orphan confronted her mother but was once again defeated due to her holding back.^[19]

After this Shiva systematically took down all the Knights and brought them to her hideout underneath the city. Realizing that holding back wouldn't work Orphan stormed the fortress taking down every Shadows member in her way.^[20] Eventually she got to the Knights and freed them where they were being held next to a nuke that would destroy Gotham, the whole team then confronted Lady Shiva.^[21] Shiva began beating the Knights making Batwoman and Clayface retreat, with Batman sending Azrael and Batwing to defuse the nuke. Orphan managed to defeat her mother when Ra's al Ghul arrived on the scene and shot Shiva. Ra's then took the all the League members including Shiva and then disarmed the nuke before leaving.^[22]

Fighting the Outlaws

The crime rates in Gotham City soon began to lower, until they dropped to zero. The Team was perplexed by this odd occurrence, as out of the blue there hadn't been a single crime in a week. Equally troubling was an invisible fortress floating above the city. As Cass practiced lines with Basil, a message appeared on the holographic projector of the Belfry. The message read "If you are reading these words you are probably a costumed crime-fighter or a vigilante. Please be advised that your services are no longer required in Gotham City at this time. Yours, the Outlaws". Batwoman told the team that the Outlaws were a group of crime-fighters led by the Red Hood, however the usual Outlaws shouldn't have had the ability to perform something as big as wiping out crime in the city. Cassandra and the team snuck into the floating fortress and captured Bizarro, one of the Outlaw's members.^[23]

Bizarro was a failed clone of Superman, who usually maintained an intellect of a toddler, however when exposed to Green Kryptonite his cognitive abilities skyrocketed, making him the smartest creature in the universe. He had built the fortress and a new system that would allow him to stop crime before it happens. As the team interrogated Bizarro in the Belfry his fellow Outlaws- Red Hood and the Amazon Artemis, used his advanced technology to teleport into the Belfry. The two teams quickly began fighting, with Orphan going up against Artemis. The Outlaws were quickly overwhelmed by the Team, who knew the Outlaws should pay for their tyrannical rule of the City. The team turned the Outlaws over to the authorities, where they were inducted into the Suicide Squad for a brief time.^[23]

Karma

After the dissolution of the Gotham Knights, Duke Thomas was severely injured in a bombing. Cassandra sought to visit Duke however she was turned away by Alfred, who stressed that Duke was still in intensive care. While driving down the streets of Gotham in her civilian attire she was attacked by a man calling himself Karma.^[24] Cassandra attacked Karma and quickly gained the upper hand, however this didn't last long as Karma quickly began turning the battle in his favor. Karma told Cassandra that he wanted her to join him in his crusade against Batman, seeing that she was the most dangerous of all of Batman's allies. Cassandra refused his request and prepared to die at the hands of Karma. A hero from Metropolis named Black Lightning (Jeff Pierce) soon arrived and forced Karma back. Believing that their opponent was defeated, Lightning and Cassandra began to leave the scene. However Karma shocked Black Lightning with his own lightning and did the same to Batman when he arrived at the scene.^[25]

Believing he might be outmatched, Karma ran. Although Cassandra tried to pursue him he was able to escape into the sewers of Gotham. After the fight the Bat-Family retreated into the Batcave where they believed they would be safe from Karma. Cassandra quickly began training to best Karma the next time she fought. She began to believe that Karma's mask could read minds and transmute powers, as she saw no other way he could manipulate lightning and beat her in a fight.^[25]

Cassandra, Duke and Batgirl were all put under the protection of Black Lightning, who was under strict orders from Batman not to allow them outside of the penthouse they were staying in. Black Lightning had been brought over from Metropolis to be a guiding compass for Cassandra, Duke, and all the other young vigilantes of Gotham. As the group were watching television, a disturbing news cast came on. A kidnapped reporter said that Batman's followers were making him weak and soft, and that he planned to thin the heard so that Batman would be strong again. The reporter informed the people of Gotham that he had kidnapped a group of school children, and if the Bat-Family was not destroyed he would kill the children. The news reporter was then burned alive by Karma and the news briefing ended.^[26]

Barbara had traced the broadcast which led to Karma's location, and sent Orphan there behind Lightning's back. When Orphan entered the warehouse she was greeted by Batman, the Bat told her that he was blocking all signals to and from the building, incase Karma had mobile detectors which would give away their location, this meant Orphan would have no mobile support from Barbara. Batman ordered Orphan to save the children while he went after Karma. Orphan eventually found the children and discovered them hooked up to a bomb, this made Cass panic as she had no idea how to disarm a bomb. Lightning soon arrived and used his lightning to create a shield around the bomb, Cass then freed the children which set off the bomb. After ushering the kids out the building, Cass drove back in on her motorcycle to pick up Lightning. Batman, who had managed to make Karma flee, rejoined them and the trio fled the building before it could explode.^[27]

Cassandra was later told by Batman that Karma was once a Markovian warlord named Fleet Delmar. Batman had infected the warlord with the Fear Toxin of the villain Scarecrow, which had made him claw his own face off in fear. Seeking revenge against Batman and his allies, Fleet bought an alien artifact off an arms dealer in Markovia. This arms dealer was named Martina Dementieva. Batman told Cassandra her theory was correct, Karma's mask did allow him to read his opponents' minds and imitate their powers, however it also gave him a form of sight after he clawed his eyes out and enhanced his strength and speed. Batman then introduced a new specialist- Katana, a former Olympic-level athlete turned sword-wielding vigilante and member of the Suicide Squad. Katana, Orphan, Duke, Pierce were formed into a unit tasked with hunting down and containing the dangerous weapons owned by Dementieva, this operation would be spearheaded by Batman and the team would be known as the Outsiders.^[28]

Alfred then arrived in the room and informed the Outsiders that Karma was currently attacking a Wayne Enterprises building. The team arrived at the building and took out a group of mercenaries holding a security guard hostage. Batman then went upstairs to face Karma alone, so he could prove to Karma and himself that his students didn't make him weaker. The rest of the Outsiders cleared the building. Using his fear, Batman was able to overwhelm Karma's mind and defeat him, bringing him into custody.^[28]

The Outsiders

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Infinite Frontier

Batgirls in the Hill

In the aftermath of Scarecrow and Simon Saint's attack on Gotham, Cassandra moved to The Hill with Barbara Gordon and Stephanie Brown, with all three operating as Batgirl, with Barbara more often working as their support as Oracle due to her failing spine implant.^[29] Cassandra and Stephanie rescued Grace O'Halloran and defeated Spellbinder,^[30] before coming into conflict with Simon Saint's disciples, the Saints, as well as Seer, who was intent on using Oracle's network against the Bat-family.^[31] The three Batgirls managed to defeat the Saints and Seer with the aid of Nightwing, though Seer managed to escape.^[32]

During their time in the Hill, the Batgirls caught wind of a serial killer, the "Hill Ripper".^[33] The three managed to apprehend him with the aid of Officer Brooks of the Gotham City Police Department, despite facing opposition from Commissioner Montoya and interference from the Riddler, and gained widespread community support thanks to the efforts of Grace O'Halloran.^[34]

Dark Crisis

In the aftermath of the presumed death of the Justice League, Cassandra and Stephanie were called on to fill the void.^[35] Cassandra joined the Bat-family in protecting North and South America during the crisis, during which she and Stephanie met and grew fond of Irey West after she repeatedly teased Damian Wayne.^[36] Cassandra was among those who made a final stand against King Deathstroke's in front of the Hall of Justice.^[37]

Dawn of DC

Spirit World

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Joining the Birds of Prey

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Powers and Abilities

Abilities

• Acrobatics: Orphan is an incredibly elegant and skillful acrobat.^[17]
• Artistry^[38]
• Dancing: Cassandra learned how to dance by watching ballerinas, and often incorporates this dancing into her fighting in a similar fashion to capoeira.^[39]
• Driving: Cassandra can drive motorcycles with a degree of skill.^[27]
• Enhanced Sense of Smell: Cass can detect the scent of cyanide, an uncommon ability in humans.^[40]
• Investigation^[41]
• Martial Arts: Cassandra is one of the best-trained martial artists in the world, having mastered multiple fighting styles including the obscure okichitaw form of the Cree.^[42] With nothing but her fighting skills, Orphan was able to fend off an entire army of highly trained ninjas.^[20] She was also able to easily defeat an injured Nightwing in a fist fight,^[4] as well as go toe-to-toe with her father David.^[5] Batman himself stated that he would lose if he had to fight her.^[17] Her skills are of such notice, that she's considered a valuable combat instructor to train the Teen Titans alongside Black Canary and Hawkman.^[43]
  • Dhritishastra^[44]
  • Jujitsu^[44]
  • Muay Thai^[44]
• Peak Human Condition: Due to being trained to fight since birth Cassandra is in the peak physical condition. She possesses a body that boasts the peak strength, durability, and stamina levels for someone of her age. Cassandra was able to fight an entire army of League ninjas without slowing until she had defeated all of them.^[20] She was mostly unaffected when slammed against a car, an action which bent the casing out of shape and shattered the windows.^[25]
• Stealth: Orphan was able to perform a disappearing act on Batman, not unlike the ones he performs on Commissioner Gordon.^[39]
• Tactical Analysis: Due to her upbringing Cassandra can pinpoint weak spots in every opponent she faces, this also allows her to read body language very well and predicts an opponents movements.^[39]
  • Precognition^[39]
• Weaponry: Cassandra is an expert in many types of melee weaponry, including axes, maces and many more.^[17]
  • Throwing: Orphan is an expert marksman when it comes to throwing projectiles. She was able to hit four targets with Batarangs while performing a flip.^[17]
  • Swordsmanship: Cassandra is an expert swordswoman, being trained since birth.^[20]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

• Grapple Gun: Cassandra frequently uses a grappling gun not unlike that used by Batman. This device fires a strong cable that latches onto a surface and winches Cassandra up. Orphan commonly uses this device while patrolling urban rooftops.^[39]
• Smoke Capsules: Cassandra often carries smoke capsules on her person. These bombs can be thrown against a surface to create a cloud of smoke. Orphan usually uses these bombs for a more concealed attack or a quick get away.^[39]

Transportation

• Batcycle
• Batroller

Weapons

• Batarangs: Orphan often carries multiple Batarangs on her person while on patrol. These devices are Bat-shaped throwing weapons usually used to disorientate enemies, and are a ranged substitute for firearms which Batman appalls.^[17]
  

Notes

• Cassandra Cain was created by Kelley Puckett and Damion Scott, first appearing in Batman #567. However, in the Prime Earth continuity Cassandra Cain first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in Batman & Robin Eternal #1 by James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, and Tony S. Daniel.
  

Trivia

• Cassandra's favorite flavor of milk tea is almond.^[46]
• Cassandra's best friend is Stephanie Brown.^[47]

Links and References

• 79 Appearances of Cassandra Cain (Prime Earth)
• Minor Appearances of Cassandra Cain (Prime Earth)
• Media Cassandra Cain (Prime Earth) was Mentioned in
• Images featuring Cassandra Cain (Prime Earth)
• 2 Quotations by or about Cassandra Cain (Prime Earth)
• Character Gallery: Cassandra Cain (Prime Earth)

Footnotes

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References

Batman Family member This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Batman Family members" category.

File:Birds of Prey 0008.jpg Birds of Prey member This character is or was a member of the Birds of Prey, a team of female super-heroes that go on special missions across the world, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Birds of Prey members" category.

Outsiders member This character is or was primarily a member of the super-hero team known as the Outsiders, in any of its various incarnations. They are a black ops team dedicated to fighting evil and taking the fall in public opinion that bigger groups like the Justice League cannot, started by Batman to avoid being crippled by public relations needs. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Outsiders members" category.