Black Bat

No Man's Land
Cassandra Cain was first introduced during the "No Man's Land" crossover storyline in 1999. She is one of the Oracle's agents in Gotham city . In that arc, Gotham was leveled by an 7.6magnitude earthquake, declared a "no man's land," and isolated from the rest of the United States. After proving herself by saving Comissioner Gordon's life, she is given the Batgirl costume with the approval of both Batman and the Oracle. She becomes a ward of Barbara Gordon (Oracle). In this story arc, Cassandra cannot speak at all and can only communicate through gestures and drawings.

Bruce Wayne (Batman) eventually learns about Cassandra's past. She murdered a businessman when she was eight years old after David Cain transmitted a video he had made of the murder to the Batcave. Nevertheless, Wayne continues to accept Cassandra after she takes several bullets to save the life of a hired assassin, proving her devotion to protecting human life. This action illustrates the major difference between Cassandra and the other members of the Batman family; that while the other characters were motivated to fight crime by the murders of loved ones, Cassandra is fighting crime to atone for a murder that she herself committed.

In 2000, Cassandra became the first Batgirl to be featured in an eponymous ongoing comic book series. A telepath"rewires" Cassandra's brain so that she can think with words and use language, but these abilities come at some cost to her ability to read people's body language. As she had relied completely on this ability to fight, she is unable to effectively fight crime. Worried, Bruce Wayne takes away her costume and begins training her in defensive skills.

Cassandra's birth and childhood are revealed in the Batgirl series. David Cain had sought a perfect bodyguard for Ra's al Ghul. He found a potential mother when he saw Sandra Wu-San fighting her sister Carolyn in a martial arts tournament. Believing that Sandra was holding back for Carolyn, Cain murdered Carolyn and lured Sandra into a trap, sparing her life in exchange for giving birth to his child and leaving that child for him to raise. She agreed. After the birth of Cassandra, Sandra set out to become Lady Shiva.

Cain trained Cassandra from birth how to be an assassin. She was not taught to read or write; instead, reading body language was her only language. She was able to read people's movements and predict what they were going to do. When she was eight, Cain took her to kill a businessman. As the man died, she read what he was feeling, realized what she had done, and ran away from her father, resurfacing again during the "No Man's Land" story arc.

Cassandra soon discovers that assassin Lady Shiva can read people like she used to be able to and asks Shiva to reteach her. Lady Shiva accepts on the condition that they would have a duel to the death a year later. As Cassandra would rather be "perfect for a year" instead of "mediocre for a lifetime," she accepts the offer. When the women fight in a year's time, Cassandra dies within minutes. Shiva then restarts her heart, realizing Cassandra had a death wish, so that they can have a real fight. In the subsequent fight, Cassandra beats Shiva but does not kill her.In The subsequent fight, cassandra beats shiva but deos not kill her.

Though not known for her private life, Cassandra does have a one-time romance with Conner Kent after meeting him on a cruise ship.He was the first boy she ever kissed, and she even visited him at his home in Smallvile, though the relationship never became serious.

Batman holds Cassandra in high regard. During the "war games" story arc in 2004, he relied heavily on her to help control the violence of the gang war in Gotham City.

Following "War Games", Batgirl moved to Bludhaven with Tim Drake (the third Robin) at Batman's suggestion and with his financial support (Nightwing had been injured during the crisis, and the Gotham City Police Department had declared all costumed heroes illegal). There, Deathstroke took on a contract from the penguin to kill Batgirl and decided to let his daughter, Rose (the current Ravager), do the job instead. Cassandra beat Rose by playing on her emotions to leave her open for a critical strike, giving Deathstroke no choice but to get her medical attention.

During this time, Cassandra starts developing a friendship with Brenda, the woman who owns the local coffee shop, and even a very short-lived relationship with a boy named Zero. Unfortunately, her friends would all be killed in the Blüdhaven disaster.

Cassandra also went undercover for Batman in the Justice League Elite, working under Sister Superiour to track and eliminate metahuman threats to the population. She worked with the Batman's old fellow Justice League members Green Arrow and the flash, and formed a certain bond with Coldcast, who was the first person she revealed her real identity to. Although he was subsequently accused of murder, she and the rest of the team soon realized that he had been manipulated by renegade Elite member menagerie who was also being manipulated by the spirit of Manchester Black as he tried to drive his sister to destroy London. As the JLA fell, the Elite, united by the spirit of the deceased Manitou raven, freed Vera and vanquished Black, although the team disbanded after this last mission.

Cassandra gathered evidence that indicated that Shiva could have been her mother, and sought out Shiva to confirm this. After being proclaimed by Nyssa al Ghul as the "One Who Is All", the students of the League Of Assasssins split their allegiances, half following Shiva and the others Cassandra. In the ensuing confrontation, Cassandra was mortally wounded by her "adoptive brother", the mad Dog, while heroically saving one of the students under her leadership. Shiva revived Cassandra in a Lazarus Pit, then answered Cassandra's questions on her parentage. When Cassandra asked Shiva if she had killed more people since their last battle and Shiva said that she had, Cassandra asked if she would ever stop. Shiva responded, "It's why I had you," and Cassandra agreed to fight her to the death once more.

In an evenly matched battle, Cassandra managed to break Shiva's neck, paralyzing her. She appeared ready to place Shiva in the Lazarus Pit, but Shiva pleaded with her not to do so. In response, Cassandra impaled Shiva on a hook hanging over the pit, apparently killing her. Although Cassandra's intent regarding this action is unclear, whether to kill her or let her fall into the pit and be revived, it has been confirmed that Shiva is alive in the "One Year Later" storyline. Cassandra then abandoned the identity of Batgirl and returned to her life as a wanderer.