WARNING: Contains potential spoilers for BATGIRL#1 (2024)!
Cassandra Cain is without a doubt my favorite BatgirlSo when I heard she was doing a new solo series, I was very excited – although, I’ll admit, a little apprehensive, as I’m incredibly picky about how she’s portrayed. But I’m thrilled to say that this series has already delivered one of the strongest takes on her character yet, thanks to the creative team’s brilliant revival of Cass’ signature “superpower.”
…I feel strongly about how Cassandra’s childhood and adolescence shaped her speech because it’s something I can personally identify with.
Some fans may be scratching their heads at my mention of an iconic Batgirl ‘superpower’ returning in Takeshi Miyazawa, Mike Spicer, and Tom Napolitano. Batgirl #1 by Tate Brombal, considering Cass is not meta. When I say “superpower,” I’m using this loosely to refer to his iconic ability to read people’s body language with unparalleled skill.
Cass’ aptitude in this area is so high that, in my opinion, it reaches a meta-level and deserves to be called a superpower. She’s essentially a walking lie detector, reading people like open books and anticipating your movements before you even make them.
Batgirl #1 FINALLY returns Cassandra Cain to her purest form
How Cassandra Cain perceives the world is the quintessence of her character
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that DC has completely stripped Cass of her ability to read people in recent series, but I feel like ongoing titles like Birds of Prey They didn’t do justice to this skill as they didn’t put enough emphasis on it. Since “body language” was Cass’s first – and, for most of her life, only – language while she trained with her father, David Cain, your thoughts, internal monologue and entire worldview should, in my opinion, be filtered through this “first language”. It’s not just a skill; they are the lenses through which she sees and interprets everything.
Put another way, every thought, every perception, and every interaction should be influenced by Cass’s remarkable ability to read body language, and every narrative involving her should reflect that depth. For me, this ability constitutes the essence of Cassandra’s character. When this skill doesn’t reach ten, Cass appears extremely out of character. That’s why I was over the moon reading Brombal’s book Batgirl #1 because this issue goes above and beyond to put the spotlight back on Cass’ unique ability. He refocuses his narrative in a way that makes this one of the best interpretations of his character in recent memory.
“Before I knew speech, I only knew the language that the body speaks.”: Cassandra Cain’s Ultimate Superpower Shines Batgirl #1
C card stock variant of Stanley ‘Artgerm’ Lau’s cover for Batgirl #1 (2024)
Batgirl #1 does an exceptional job of emphasizing Cass’s ability to read body language, tying together her internal monologue– and even some of his lines – directly to him. A large portion of Cass’ internal monologue is devoted to her observations of the body’s subtle movements and the conclusions she draws from them, conclusions that would be imperceptible to most people. For example, much of Cass’s monologue reads as, “Look. Touch. Heartbeat. Smile,” as he watches his mother’s body language, analyzing every movement to confirm or question Lady Shiva’s words.
A particularly powerful moment comes when Cass directly acknowledges this “superpower” her: “Before I knew speech, I only knew the language that the body speaks. To read a lie from a truth. To read the final dilation of the pupil in the death of a man…” This direct reference to her unparalleled skill, combined with an entire issue centered around observing microexpressions and body language, really highlights the skill that sets Batgirl apart from her peers. This focus makes the portrayal feel like the purest version of Cassandra Cain.
Another big win for this series is how the creative team handles Cass’ spoken dialogue, keeping it short, somewhat choppy, and to the point. This way of speaking is central to Cass’s character, reflecting both her background and personal preference. Cass grew up isolated by her father, not speaking or hearing other people speak. As a result, his style of speech – direct and economical – is both a natural result of his upbringing and a likely personal choice.
Why Cassandra Cain’s speech journey resonates with me personally
Card variant of cover B by Marcio Takara for Batgirl #1 (2024)
One of the reasons I feel so strongly about Cassandra Cain’s way of speaking and how her childhood and adolescence shaped her speech is because it’s something I can personally identify with. As a child, I had a speech problem that made certain letter combinations difficult, caused me to become tongue-tied, and led to the strange habit of saying only the middle part of longer words. Although speech therapy has helped me get to a point where no one would guess I had a speech problem if they spoke to me now, I still avoid certain words and prefer to communicate in writing.
As I struggled with verbal speech, I identify with Cassandra, who also went through her own learning curve when it came to speaking. My childhood speech difficulties shaped the way I communicate today and influenced my personal preference for written communication. So in my mind, It makes perfect sense that a character who grew up without speaking would have a unique way of speaking and distinct preferences in the way she communicates. Batgirl Issue #1 really captures this, showing how Cass prefers short, direct sentences in contrast to the way the other characters speak.
Cassandra Cain’s ‘Body Language’ Superpower Has 1 Exception
Batgirl and Lady Shiva’s partnership will make Cassandra question her abilities
While DC’s return to an emphasis on Cass’ ability to read body language and her unique way of interpreting the world around her has brought back my favorite version of Batgirl, I’m also excited to see how Cass’s “superpower” will affect his relationship with his mother. . As Cass points out in the issue, Lady Shiva says the same thing “language” when it comes to body language. This creates a challenge for Cass, who is usually a walking lie detector. As Lady Shiva is equally skilled at reading and manipulating body language, she can send false signals to deceive her daughter. This dynamic adds complexity to the mother-daughter relationship and will really put Batgirl skills for the test.
Batgirl #1 is now available from DC Comics!
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