Several heroes comprise Gotham’s iconic Bat-Family, many of which host either shifting mantles or temporary places within the bat-team. One such mantel is the Black Bat. Which DC characters have filled the role of this character? An assassin, a SHIELD agent, a union soldier, and a competing comic character have all served as the Black Bat at one time or another. Get to know these interesting, lesser-known faces below!
A brief intro to each Black Bat is essential for readers before diving into their story origins and details. Naturally, the assassin is Cassandra Cain. After her time as Batgirl, Cassandra switches over to The Black Bat name. Next is Barbara Hardy, a SHIELD agent in a thrilling DC-Marvel cross-over event. One of the earliest Black Bat characters is Samuel Braxton, a union soldier from an Earth-One American Civil War adventure. And who is the competing Dynamite Comics character? None other than the original Black Bat, a non-DC character who served as heavy influence for DC’s Batman. We’ll get to why in a moment, but he’s included on a fun technicality.
Cassandra Cain
Readers familiar with the infamous No Man’s Land arc, or Batgirl fans, know Cassandra Cain’s exciting comic run. For novice fans, Cassandra is introduced to Gotham as a highly-skilled, lethal assassin who puts on the Batgirl costume under Oracle and Batman’s guidance. After Bruce’s disappearance, Cassandra ditches the Batgirl costume and gives it to her pal, Stephanie Brown. Tim Drake tracks her down in Hong Kong, and asks her to join the Bat-Family once more. She becomes The Black Bat in 2011’s Batman Inc. #6, fights local drug rings, and rescues Red Robin from a deadly tournament. She’s, perhaps, the most aptly skilled martial artist in DC due to her assassin upbringing, and has heightened senses detecting body language that’s almost as good as mind-reading.
Barbara Hardy and Samuel Braxton
Barbara Gordon Hardy takes the spot of The Black Bat in DC’s Almagam Universe, a DC-Marvel cross over the storyline in which the creators of each universe force the characters from each to battle in a parallel, alternate timeline. Here Bruce Wayne and Barbara Hardy join SHIELD and fall in love along the way. Barbara’s first appearance takes place in 1996’s Bruce Wayne, Agent of SHIELD #1. She utilizes her natural talent for athletics and martial arts to become an invaluable player to the team and even helps Bruce dismantle a Doomsday device. She has enhanced talent for probability predictions and favors the occasional weapon for her operative roster. Her comic appearance is brief but is loads fun for fans of a DC-Marvel Universe cocktail.
But before Barbara or Cassandra become Black Bat, there is Samuel Braxton from Earth-One’s American Civil War comic, pre-Crisis. Batman and Robin find themselves in the throws of battle and square up against Confederate soldiers. Just when it seems they may be outnumbered, a masked ally joins the scene, The Black Bat. They happily discover Black Bat to be their friend, and union soldier, Samuel Braxton in The Batman #600 (1940-2011). Samuel suggests that although the war is won, he might continue helping his citizens by keeping up his Black Bat persona, which Batman and Robin fully support. Samuel serves as one of the first POC representations for a Batman character, and thankfully Stan Lee kept that tradition going with his creation Wayne Wilson, the first African-American Batman.
The Original Black Bat
Now, for the controversy. Does a non-DC Black Bat count? The short answer is, yes. It would be a shame to leave him out, as his creation fueled the inspiration for DC’s Batman. Nedor Comics crafted Black Bat in the ’30s. DC would argue over who had the idea first, but this Black Bat was the first to have his dark, caped, costumed image hit the press in 1934. Like DC, there have been several Black Bat stories, with one of the most popular revamps being Dynamite Comic’s 2013 The Black Bat #1. To avoid issues with DC, The Black Bat was changed to The Mask. But The Black Bat is now back, with guns blazing. He shares a similar origin story to Marvel’s Daredevil -but perhaps it’s more accurate to say the reverse is true. DC occasionally does cross overs with Dynamite Comics, such as 2006’s cross-over event with Red Sonja and Claw the Unconquered. How cool would it be to see The Batman and The Black Bat either team-up or face-off? For now, fans can enjoy the unique cats of characters that make up the Bat-Family and relish the diverse DC Black Bat stories.
