Bruce Wayne isn’t the Best Batman (This Surprising Character Is)

The Batman is more than one of DC’s greatest heroes, he is a symbol. He is a legend that haunts the nightmares of Gotham’s criminals and gives hope to its innocent civilians. He inflicts vengeance and offers mercy and kindness, hoping to transform Gotham from a cesspool of crime to a city where no one’s family is taken away from them. He represents a strict code and unending faith in humanity. He is human determination personified, a person that has pushed themself to the absolute limit of what any normal person can do and gone well beyond it, standing side by side with near deific beings. For the longest time, the name Batman has been synonymous with Bruce Wayne, but as it is, he is not the best person to represent the myth of what Batman has become.

Bruce Wayne invented the idea of Batman, some even say that Batman is his true self, and Bruce has proven time and again why he wears the cape and cowl. He’s beaten gods, solved crimes that others would have deemed impossible, and always stuck to the code of help above all else. And yet, while Bruce is definitively a phenomenal Batman, the person who represents what Batman is more than anything isn’t Nightwing, his son Damian, or any of the Robins. Instead, it is Bruce’s daughter, Cassandra Cain, the second Batgirl.

Who is Cassandra Cain?

Cassandra is the daughter of one of the world’s deadliest assassins, David Cain, and the world’s greatest martial artist, Lady Shiva. She was raised by David to be the ultimate assassin. Instead of words, he only communicated with Cass through body language and combat. In time, she came to understand the body as someone else might understand their first language, and it granted her an unparalleled ability to understand what other people’s intentions were, especially in a fight. He trained her with brutal and horrific tactics, and when she was eight years old, sent her on her first mission.

However, David missed something important in Cass’s training. What he saw as an edge in combat was actually an enhanced ability to completely understand what other people felt. In essence, he gave Cass the superpower of ultra empathy. So when she did kill her target, his body language intimately described the terror and pain he felt in that moment, and it traumatized the little girl who saw all of this as some kind of game with her dad. Cass ran away and disappeared into the night.

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She would spend the next ten years on the streets of Gotham, and meet up with Barbara Gordan during the “No Man’s Land” storyline. She would prove herself during it by fighting her father, and be chosen by Barbara to succeed her as the second Batgirl. Over time, she would even be taken in by Bruce as his adopted daughter, and became a central figure in the Bat Family.

Why Should Cass be the Next Batman?

Cassandra Cain exemplifies everything that Batman is in a way that no other character does. She is one of the greatest fighters in the DC Universe, and is contentiously even the best. Her unique view of the world allows her to see evidence and circumstances in ways that no one else can, leading to her own detective style. And she is the most dedicated out of anyone, even Bruce, to the idea that Batman never kills and tries to save everyone.

Batman as an idea is centrally tied to that mission to improve Gotham by refusing to kill, as that would be giving into the same tragedy that made Bruce an orphan. And yet, there are no shortages of the members of the Bat Family failing this code. Bruce tried to kill the Riddler in “The War of Riddles and Jokes,” Dick once let Blockbuster die and beat the Joker until his heart stopped, and Damian has no shortage of skeletons buried by his hand. Every Bat Family member regrets these moments of weakness and works to better themselves so they won’t be repeated, but Cass would never let herself do any of that.

After the first time she took a life, Cass made a vow to never inflict that on anyone else again. She understands more than anyone how that feels, and has worked her entire life to make up for the one she took. There was a time when she was brainwashed by Deathstroke to be his assassin, but she has never willingly done anything of the sort. She ripped the Bat symbol off of Batwoman’s chest after she seemingly killed Clayface. She ran headfirst into a stream of bullets to protect a man behind her and take down a criminal. She will not be stopped in defending life. Cass says it herself in issue #2 of the current Batgirl ongoing. She is the embodiment of the Bat Family members’ greatest strengths and more. 

Cassandra Cain is the perfect representation of what Batman should be. She is unstoppable in combat, a great detective, and truly and endlessly empathetic and kind. She knows more than anyone what the pain of death brings, and wants to save everyone. Cass is all of the strengths of Batman taken to a new level, and the best person to take up the cowl after her dad.

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