Hammer Rant: Cassandra Cain

Here's something original in the world of Batman: Batgirl. Wait, that's not original at all. Isn't that what Barbara Gordon was before she was Oracle? Although that is true, Cassandra Cain is something totally different. All of the Batman Family have one thing in common, they come from broken homes Bruce Wayne's family was murdered in front of him, Dick Grayson's parents died in front of him, Barbara Gordon's parents are divorced. Cassandra Cain comes from that pattern but in an inherently different way. Cassandra Cain is the daughter of assasins David Cain and Lady Shiva. Cassandra is raised to be the perfect assasin, and is therefore unable to communicate. It takes a telepath rewriting her brain for her to utter her first words. But Cassandra is an interesting character. Cassandra first took up the Bat-mantle during the No-Man's Land arc. Cassandra saved Commissioner Gordon, which makes Batman and Oracle trust her. Oracle makes Cassandra her ward and gives her a Bat-suit. Batman learns of Cassandra's past through a video sent to him by David Cain. It shows an 8 year old Cassandra killing a businessman. Cassandra became Batgirl to atone for a murder she herself committed, differentiating her from the rest of the Batman Family. Batman trusts Cassandra highly, as he relies on her much during the War Games arc. Cassandra joined Titan's East to fight Deathstroke. Another thing that differentiates her is that she doesn't follow Batman's code. She will kill to remove crime from the streets. During her stint with Titan's East she attempted to murder Deathstroke. However, Nightwing stopped her by knocking her unconscious. Cassandra then joined the Outsiders, butting heads with Oliver Queen (Green Arrow). After Final Crisis however, Cassandra disappeared, leaving the Batgirl identity to Stephanie Brown.
I rather liked Cassandra as a character because she is inherently very different from any other member of the Batman Family. She is willing to kill criminals, and she used to operate on the other side of the law. As a member of the Batman Family, she is interesting, 3 dimensional and well rounded (although critics of 1 Year Later say she is 2 dimensional). I would love to see her in Nolan's Movieverse as she would fit in nicely.