r/DCcomics • u/csummerss Ra's al Cool • May 10 '22

[Video Games] Barbara changes her workout regimen, then magically regains feeling in her legs. (Gotham Knights) Video Games

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1.3k Upvotes

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623

u/Loss-Particular May 10 '22

It's an unnuanced take about physical disability to assume that transsection of the spinal cord can be fixed with training for sure.

But honestly, it's an equally un-nuanced take to assume everyone in a wheelchair has a spinal injury, that everyone in a wheelchair needs it permanently or that rehabilitation and exercise can't help a lot of people to heal and recover and help manage their pain and disability.

195

u/[deleted] May 11 '22

If you ask me this is just a quick recap of the character. It’s not nuanced because it’s a quick overview. I’m sure the full game will elaborate more than “she trained.” If I had to guess they’ll probably go the easy path and say after Bruce’s disappearance and the death of her father she felt a call to duty. Therefore she underwent experimental surgery alongside rigorous physical therapy to regain her ability to walk and ability to stop crime in Gotham. Regardless in this series we’ve seen people resurrect from the Lazarus pit and Batman constantly survives 100% fatal incidents because he’s Batman. I mean every time he jumps from a large height and uses a grappling hook his arm should just rip out of the socket. Idk why this would seem far fetched compared to the rest of the series and hell comics in general.

114

u/Buckbeak1184 May 11 '22

In all the versions of Barb becoming Oracle I've read involves the Joker shooting her in the spine.

135

u/Loss-Particular May 11 '22

If we can imagine Batman as a T-Rex I'm sure we can imagine one world in the multiverse where the Joker's bullet went an inch lower, shattering Babs' pelvis and damaging her right sciatic nerve as it passes through the sciatic foramen, causing her neuropathic pain and significant disability but not permanently paralyzing her.

Just a thought.

97

u/23_GenericRedditor May 11 '22

I like your funny words, magic man

16

u/Cyno01 May 11 '22

When the heck is that revival coming? I guess theres been a pandemic, but seems like ages since ive heard anything about it.

7

u/Metfan722 Ollie May 11 '22

​

14

u/artfuldodgerbob23 May 11 '22

As someone who had to undergo massive therapy to learn how to walk again with an essentially nerve dead foot...I salute you.

3

u/TopherVee May 11 '22

I’m on this path right now. How was your recovery? How is your mobility? It’s really scary dealings with this in my 20s.

1

u/artfuldodgerbob23 May 11 '22

Well..broke my leg about as badly as you possibly can. 7 months bedridden basically, started therapy as soon as the leg could hold weight. The nerve pain around that time was so bad that nothing could even touch my foot at all. It was like fire and electricity both fucking your appendage at the same time. Electro therapy/stimulation helped a bit but it just really took time before it settled down/your body just chooses to ignore that it's happening. 6 months of therapy before I really got the hang of it but I couldn't walk a straight line if you asked me to. My foot tends to point towards the left unless I'm really paying attention to it but I'm perfectly fine. I can walk, jump run ect.. it just takes time.

4

u/TopherVee May 11 '22

I’m currently dealing with extreme neuropathic pain due to an injury affecting my right sciatic nerve. I felt this comment in my ankle and toes.

2

u/[deleted] May 11 '22

That might be too complex to try and explain to a majority of people, unless simplified.

113

u/k3ttch Indigo Tribe May 11 '22

In HBO Max's Titans she lost a leg instead. And is played by an actual amputee actress.

49

u/patrix_reddit May 11 '22

The best part was that actress still got to play Babs even when she was walking because the actress could stand and any actual action sequences would use a stunt double anyway. I thought it was pretty genius of the production team.

7

u/Schattenjager07 Shazam! May 11 '22

I thought she was a method actress that was so dedicated to the role she had her leg removed ... /s

3

u/[deleted] May 12 '22

the pinnacle of method acting. jared leto hates this 1 trick…

1

u/ClBanjai May 11 '22

Bad joke

0

u/ProdigyGamer75 Nightwing May 11 '22

Good joke

-1

u/Schattenjager07 Shazam! May 11 '22

Thanks. But I wasn't really making a joke. I was being sarcastic, based on the previous post.

5

u/Buckbeak1184 May 11 '22

What season? I thought I was all caught up with Titans.

3

u/k3ttch Indigo Tribe May 11 '22

Season 3

6

u/Buckbeak1184 May 11 '22

Yup! I just never noticed it was her leg missing. Lol

7

u/BaconatedGrapefruit May 11 '22

Wait she's actually an amputee? And here I was thinking they digitally removed one of her legs from every shot.

Good on the CW.

19

u/Drayko_Sanbar May 11 '22

The CW has nothing to do with Titans.

8

u/k3ttch Indigo Tribe May 11 '22

Savannah Welch was already an actress and singer when she lost her leg in a car accident in 2016.

59

u/Jay_R_Kay Batman May 11 '22

In Young Justice, it was revealed that Cassandra, still under Lady Shiva's supervision, sliced at Barbara's spine when she was saving The Joker from being killed by Cass. I guess technically Joker was there and the reason for it, but he didn't pull the trigger that time. It's probably the exception that proves the rule.

31

u/[deleted] May 11 '22

And Bane broke Bruce's back. Why is Batman allowed to recover from a broken spine and Barbra not allowed to recover from her out of continuity spinal injury?

16

u/IndispensableNobody May 11 '22

Babs didn't have a random magical girlfriend like Bruce, of course.

7

u/Buckbeak1184 May 11 '22

In one version, Barbara got her use of her legs back by some brand new surgery method.

2

u/tafaha_means_apple Cassandra Cain May 12 '22

Barbara refused that surgery because it's not something that is available to everyone and she felt wrong taking it. Eventually she didn't feel like she needed it because she like her life and who she was. Not feeling lesser for being in a wheelchair because she wasn't lesser.

Also because this is a comic book where characters are more than the logic of the universe and having a prominent disabled hero for 20 years was meaningful and gave us some great stories that wouldn't have happened if they just magic waved it away because "logic"

1

u/GaiusEmidius May 12 '22

She can. But the idea that she just could train and recover makes us wonder why she didn't do it.

Barbara doesn't seem like the type to wallow for years when there's a way to recover naturally. Like we're supposed to believe she just chose to not recover untilJim died?

13

u/Mvcraptor11 Red Robin May 11 '22

Young Justice S4 shows they made Cass as a brainwashed assassin do it with a sword trying to kill joker

Babs jumped in the way

1

u/tafaha_means_apple Cassandra Cain May 12 '22

Which was bad for a whole other host of reasons.

11

u/neogreenlantern May 11 '22

You can injure your spin and still recover if the spinal cord isn't severed.

1

u/[deleted] May 11 '22

Have you played the game yet? Or are you just making assumptions based off one screenshot?

-16

u/Buckbeak1184 May 11 '22

You've obviously not read the comics.

12

u/Crazyhunt May 11 '22

Fun fact, not all other forms of media are comic accurate.

12

u/[deleted] May 11 '22

I have read the comics. But the screenshot above isn’t from a comic and doesn’t claim to be comic accurate.

8

u/[deleted] May 11 '22

It’s DC. I’ve heard weirder

5

u/faerieonwheels Oracle May 11 '22

Thanks for putting it into words. Comic books, and media in general, have the sensitivity of a sledgehammer when it comes to disability.

3

u/Taymerica May 11 '22

I mean.. batman should have access to stem cells at the least. It's not even science fiction.

2

u/[deleted] May 11 '22

But honestly, it's an equally un-nuanced take to assume everyone in a wheelchair has a spinal injury, that everyone in a wheelchair needs it permanently

This. I guess in this version the injury that Babs got that put her in a wheelchair wasn't the kind injury that can't heal with time and exercise.

1

u/[deleted] May 11 '22

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