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Carrie Kelley became Robin III of Earth-686 after being rescued by Batman. She later used the alias Catgirl, Batgirl and Batwoman in later miniseries.

History

CarrieKelley1

Carrie as Robin

Carrie Kelley was a thirteen year old schoolgirl and girl scout on Earth-31 who was attacked by muggers one night, but was saved by the recently returned and grizzled elder Batman on his first night out of retirement. Soon, she would spend her lunch money on a Robin costume and hunt down some petty con-men to find Batman again, using a slingshot loaded with firecrackers as weapons.

In a major difference to the two previous Robins, Carrie does indeed have parents, but they aren't seen much. They were very neglectful of her and through their dialogue were hinted to be activists and yippies during the nineteen-sixties and had become apathetic stoners. In the story, Jason Todd's  death during his time as Robin was the reason behind Batman's retirement and when Carrie became the new Robin after saving his life from an enemy, Bruce threatened to fire her numerously for disobeying orders. But since she showed immense talent, he allowed her to stay. When She and Batman found the City Dump lair of ruthless street gang that numbered in the thousands, The Mutants, Batman and the Mutant Leader engaged in hand-to-hand combat. The leader nearly kills Batman but is narrowly defeated by the battered cape crusader.

Carrie then attends to him while on the way back to the Batcave and he fully accepts her as the new Robin. Fierce Batman critic Ellen Yindel, the new Commissioner, sees this as child endangerment to his growing rap sheet when she sees them on patrol saving a hang-glider.

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Carrie as "Catgirl"

Despite being imprisoned, the Mutant Leader still threatened to unleash the Mutant army during negotiations with the Gotham City mayor. He kills the mayor by ripping his throat out with his teeth. Batman and Carrie infiltrate the Mutants' ranks and spread a rumor of the leader ordering an assembly and get Commissioner Gordon to release him from jail. Batman lures him to a mud-pit and defeats him brutally. With their leader defeated, a number of the Mutants accept Batman as their new leader and name themselves "The Sons of Batman" while several splinter into new groups.

Carrie played a major role in the defeat of Batman's resurfaced arch-nemesis, Joker who, after killing the audience at of a late night talk show, forced former Batman flame, Selina Kyle (New Earth) to plant mind altering lipstick on two female escorts who are in Selina's employ and hired by a congressman and the governor of Gotham City. the lipstick makes the congressman commit suicide but Commissioner Yindel saves the governor thanks to Batman's warning, only to be beaten by Joker and dressed in a Wonder Woman costume. He then runs off to a fairground and kills 16 Cub Scouts and plants a bomb on the fairway, which Carrie defuses. When Joker's henchman Fat Abner attacks her, Abner falls and dies instantly and Carrie, shocked, cries.   At the book's finale, the US government calls upon Superman to take down Batman for good. Carrie delays his arrival with the Batmobile and Superman asks if it's a school night. When Superman engaged Batman in combat, Batman had an arsenal of Green Kryptonite, and various weapons and finished the fight with having Alfred Pennyworth detonate a bomb in the Batcave, killing himself and Batman and destroying Wayne Manor and the Batcave in the process. In the end, during Batman's funeral, a "relative" of Bruce Wayne comes to the procession to claim the body. Superman, attending the funeral, hears the heartbeat of Batman in the coffin and recognizes the "relative" as Carrie, winks at her, and flies away. Carrie unearths Batman after everyone leaves and Batman, Robin and Green Arrow go literally "underground" and establish a new Batcave with the Sons of Batman to fight on.

Earth Prime

Carrie Kelley was tutoring Damian Wayne before he was murdered by The Heretic. Bruce Wayne paid her for the lessons but she still tried to contact Damian.

Carrie also appears in a possible what-if scenario as a member of the Batman Family who comes to see Bruce before he dies.[1]

Powers and Abilities

Talented in acrobatics and can fight efficiently in hand-to-hand combat. She is also skilled in first aid, as she was seen splinting the arm that Batman broke after fighting the Mutant gang's leader. In addition, like the other Robins and Batman himself, she is able to think quickly and cleverly at the tensest parts of fights, since she successfully evacuated Batman with his helicopter while disobeying his orders. With Batman safe from getting caught by the new commissioner, Bruce took back his decision to fire Robin.

Appearances

In Other Media

Carrie has rarely appeared in Batman media, often in a minor role. She has also been referenced in several Batman media, notably live-action.

Live-Action

Gotham Knights

Carrie serves as one of the main characters of the CW series Gotham Knights, played by Navia Robinson. The series depicts her as the current Robin at the time of Batman's death, with the series suggesting a similar history to her comic counterpart. Carrie becomes a member of the team whilst investigate Bruce Wayne's murder by the Court of Owls.

Other

  • In an interview, Zack Snyder claimed he'd planned for Carrie to appear in DC Films whilst under his direction. She was planned to be the universe's second Robin. However, these were abandoned due to direction changes at DC Films.
  • A photo of Carrie briefly appears in the Titans episode "Barbara Gordon" in a Batcomputer file listing potential Robins. Her actress is never credited.

Animation

The New Batman Adventures

Carrie serves as one of the main focal characters in The New Batman Adventures episode "Legends of the Dark Knight". In it, she tells the group a story about Batman that serves as a condensed retelling of "The Dark Knight Triumphant".

The Dark Knight Returns

Carrie appears in both parts of the animated adaptation of Dark Knight, voiced by Ariel Winter. The film stays loyal to her character, though her usage of firecrackers is remove. She is also more directly involved in Abner's death, albeit accidentally.

Other

  • Carrie appears in the Teen Titans Go! episode "The Best Robin", where she is among the group to compete.
  • Carrie's appearance influenced the design for Dick Grayson's Robin in The Lego Batman Movie.

Trivia

  • Unlike her predecessor Robins, both of her parents are alive. However they are quite neglectful as they are high on marijuana everytime they talk and not even mentioned after Carrie becomes Robin.
    • Her parents were also implied to have been involved in the notorious Days of Rage riots in Chicago in 1969, as her mom when watching the newscast revealing James Gordon shot a 17-year old mutant in self defense at a mini mart sarcastically comments he was a "macho cop" like the ones in Chicago and asks her dad if he remembers, only him to admit that he doesn't have much memory due to "tripping" the whole time.
  • Carrie was born in 1973.

References

  1. Batman Annual (Vol. 3) #2

See also

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