Inspired by @TalkinLadyShiva and @Comrade_Bullski's threads about the origins of Lady Shiva and Black Canary respectively. I'm going to cover one of my favorite character's history. Ladies, Gentlemen, and Random Folks meet Mary Elizabeth Kane! The very first Batgirl!

She was created because of Fredric Wertham's infamous book "Seduction of the Innocent" which claimed that Batman and Robin were gay and in a pedophiliac relationship. DC having seen success with the "Superfamily" idea decided to replicate it with Batman.

In 1956 Kathy "Batwoman" Kane was created (No she is not Kate Kane) to be a love interest for Batman. She was successful so in 1961 DC decided to give her a sidekick who could serve as Dick's love interest. In Batman #139 Betty Kane made her debut by saving Kathy, Dick, and Bruce

She went by Batgirl or "Bat-Girl" as it was spelled. In her first appearance she took down the Cobra Gang with little help from Batwoman, Batman, and Robin. Betty is the niece of Kathy Kane. Should be noted that at the time, the Kanes and the Waynes weren't related yet.

Betty came to Gotham to stay with her aunt and figured out her secret identity as Batwoman. Deciding she wanted to help her aunt out she suited up. I love Betty's Bat-Girl costume. It's adorable and I'd love to cosplay as her.

Betty was received decently so she'd appear a few more times before 1964. In 1964 the Bat-books got a new editor is Julius Schwartz. He hated Betty, Kathy, Ace and Bat-Mite so they were all jettisoned.

Betty would disappear from comics until 1977 when Bob Rozakis rescued her from limbo by making her part of the Titans West in Teen Titans Vol 1 #50. In a three issue arc the Titans West were formed. The team consisted of Don and Hank Hall, Lilith Clay, Garfield Logan, and Betty.

*and Charley Parker! Sorry I forgot him

After the Titans West arc the book got cancelled so Betty returned to limbo. She'd cameo a few times in big Titans events like Donna's wedding. But was mostly unused. So I'm going to detour and cover an imaginary story.

Batman 163 released in 1964 is a future story that features Bruce and Kathy married with a son named Bruce Wayne Jr who is the second Robin. Dick's become Batman so it's only natural that Betty succeed her aunt as Batwoman. It's a cute story and sets up a later arc.

So I'm going to take a break and finish this later became my laptop's about to die. Stay tuned for more of the History of Mary Elizabeth Kane.

Let's dive back in to the fascinating history of Mary Elizabeth Kane. In 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths was released and Betty was a character affected. Crisis wiped her history as Bat-Girl away so that Barbara was the first and only Batgirl.

Betty was reintroduced as Mary Elizabeth "Bette" Kane with the alias of Flamebird. Let's take a moment an talk about the new costume. It kept the Bat-Girl color scheme of red and green but introduced yellow which would become one of Bette's "colors". I really love the goggles.

So now we get the point in her history that is her first period of serious mistreatment. So Marv Wolfman and George Perez really hated the Titans West characters that weren't Beast Boy or Omen. That meant that Bette would spend a good few years being treated like a joke.

Also her new origin in the Post-Crisis world was that she was raised in California and then joined the Titans West as Flamebird because she wanted to meet Robin. This period is when her mild crush on Dick from the Silver Age got turned into her defining feature.

Thankfully in 2000, Bette was rescued by Ben Raab and Geoff Johns in their Beast Boy miniseries. After Garfield is arrested Bette shows up to bail him out of jail. He's not thrilled that she's the one who came to his rescue but he humors her and lets her help.

Nightwing then shows up and well, Dick's never particularly liked Bette so he tells her to go home and stop being a hero. Bette's response?

Pissed at Nightwing, Bette decides she needs to reinvent herself so she designs herself a badass new costume and heads out to rescue Gar. I adore this new costume. It's my favorite out of all of hers and I love how it channels the phoenix.

The miniseries ends with Bette moving in the Gar in LA and them trying to restart Titans West. Them trying to restart Titans West would be plot thread that would appear in other books but then it got dropped. The next important Bette appearance is in the pages of Young Justice.

In Young Justice #20 we see Bette briefly being recruited to be part of the "New Young Justice". Then in #21 we see the lineup of Beast Boy, Flamebird, CM3 (Captain Marvel Jr), Lagoon Boy, ..... and Batgirl (Cassandra Cain). So fun fact, Bette has only met 1 of her successors.

2 if you count Huntress. So in the YJ issue, the new YJ form to let the old team have a break. Cass and Bette's interactions are my favorite part of the issue. The team ends up fighting Teen Lobo and at the end of the story he kisses Bette which is disgusting.

She and Cass briefly fight each other and it leads to the scene that I really want to talk about. The scene acknowledges Bette's history as Bat-Girl and sort of reinstates Bette's Bat-Girl tenure into canon.

Her next major appearance is in Birds of Prey #72 and #73. In #72 she just appears in one panel but in #73 she along with some other heroes fight Huntress and Vixen while mind-controlled.

This brings me to Detective Comics #856 where Bette moves too Gotham to go the university and she's revealed to be Kate Kane's cousin. This panel basically shows their relationship in a nutshell. Kate's always too busy for Bette.

A few issues later in 'Tec #861 we see Kate visit Bette and take her to lunch. Kate's concerned that Bette may be a target for the Cutter.

The next issue sees Bette thinking about giving up Flamebird

The final issue of this arc (Detective Comics #863) sees Bette get rescued by Kate (I forgot the Cutter kidnapped her) and Bette revealing she knows that Kate is Batwoman. Then Bette tells Kate that she wants to be her partner as Flamebird.

In Batwoman #0 (2011) we see Bette and Kate hanging out at the library while Bruce spies on them.

The last comic I want to talk about is Batman Incorporated Vol 1 #4. In "The Kane Affair" we see flashbacks to the life of Kathy Kane and her tenure as Batwoman. This one panel shows Kathy with Bat-Girl. It's not confirmed to be Bette but it probably is. So she's back in canon!

After this Kate makes Bette her partner but treats her like a sidekick. Bette gets fed up and decides to go solo. She ends up being gutted by the Hook and then ends up in a coma. The DEO uses her as blackmail to make Kate work for them.

Bette eventually wakes up and becomes Hawkfire and by God do I hate this costume. It's really ugly and completely unnecessary. After this Bette got shipped off to West Point and hasn't been seen since 2018.

I want to end this thread on a high note so let's check out her out of continuity appearances. Starting with Tiny Titans!

She first appears in Tiny Titans #13. Bette's adorable here!

Then in Tiny Titans #22 she joins the Bird Scouts

Then she next appears in #27 going to a Bar-B-Que hosted by Raven.

Her final Tiny Titans appearance is in #45 in a story called "Batgirls! Batgirls!". I love it because Bette being refereed to as a Batgirl brings me joy and Steph as Robin is mentioned.

The last story I want to talk about is DC Bombshells. For Bombshells I'm going to be going by digital numbering not print numbering. So be warned.

Bette debuts in #1 as a baseball player for the Gotham Griffins. I really like Bombshells Bette and Kate's relationship. It's healthier than the main universe one. They feel like equals.

She next appears in #19-21 where Bette sees the Smoak family kicked out and decides to help. She heads out to Pinkney's Orphanage to help out the Batgirls. She discovers that her aunt Katharine Webb is a Nazi.

Here are a few more panels from this issue that I really like. What Bette says about Kate reminds me of their relationship in main continuity.

The Bette takes over Kane Industries and she shuts down any protest

Last thing for this arc. I love this shot. I can name everybody here. From left to right; Nell, Felicity, Alysia, Tim, Cullen, Harper, Kathy, and Bette

Her next appearance is in #37-39 in "The Batgirls Swing Again!". The weird thing is that they say her name on panel multiple times but we don't actually see her in 37. In 38 we see her with the other Batgirls and she's there when Lois decides to start printing news

Then they get captured by Penguin. Then Bette just disappears.

Her next appearance is in #55 where she and Kathy are helping Harvey recover from mind control. Then The Reaper attacks and they barely escape. Then they strategize and I love Bette's response.

the Batgirls end up leading Reaper to Killer Frost. Bette goes with the others to stop Reaper from killing Hugo Strange.

Then we see Bette and the others comforting Harvey over his new injury. Then celebration!

Her last two appearances in Bombshells are in #76 and #82. In 76 we see her and Kathy on a ferris wheel and that's it. In 82 we see a flashback to Lois's rescue by the Batgirls and they actually put Bette in this time.

We're nearing the end here. I'm going to cover DC Bombshells United and again I'm going by digital numbering.

Starting with #25. Bette gets mind controlled by Black Canary's singing and fights the other Batgirls

In 32 we see Bette get released from the mind control.

#36-38 is the end of the book and Bette appears in all 3 issues. In 36 we see Bette fighting Parademons. In 37 we see her celebrating with the rest and reuniting with Kate.

38 is the last issue in the series. It's an epilogue and we find out that Bette is running Kane Industries.

Little fun thing is that Steph cameos.

Honorable mention to the Titans Tomorrow storyline that saw Bette as Batwoman. She was murdered then resurrected in a Lazarus Pit in that storyline. It's Teen Titans Vol 3 #17-19.

I'm going to close this thread with a quote and some fan art. Feel free to ask me questions about Bette Kane. I have recommended reading that I will post below. Let's start with the fan art

"So what if we never saved the universe. We did something special for the young heroes living out here on their own. We were there for each other when things got tough. When life sometimes became too much for any one of us to handle alone." Part 1

Granted, we weren't natural athletes like Nightwing, or heroes of legacy like the Flash. We had to work hard at being heroes, but it was worth every minute of it. The experience shaped all of us for the better. Well... almost all of us. We were more than just friends or family."

We were Titans." - Bette Kane, Titans Secret Files #2.

Also enjoy her profile page.

Last thing on the agenda is her recommended reading. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FhqzLViPsNzHI4mj0Jzpe4pSmTMahvE_dBKJjIdZc-0/edit

If you have any questions about Bette please ask them in the comments.

Also a little pronunciation guide for her name. Betty is pronounced "Bet-ee" while Bette is pronounced "Bet".