The daughter of two notorious assassins, David Cain and Lady Shiva, Cassandra left her father as a child after she killed a man and saw his pain and fear while he died. After saving Commissioner Gordon's life, she became the new Batgirl with Batman and Oracle's blessing, and was later adopted by Bruce Wayne. She would later give the role of Batgirl to her friend Stephanie Brown, and became Black Bat. In the New 52 and Rebirth, she takes the alias of Orphan.
@cascadeking09: I think "recognizable as Cassandra" would have more to do with personality than looks. Different artists have drawn her different ways. I would argue that her look has always boiled down to typical Asian features: flatter nose, fuller lips, dark hair, dark eyes, tan skin, almond-shaped eyes (tilt and even shape varies), and the rest totally depends on the artist. Oh, and superhero pretty, of course.
Edit: I think part of the reason why that is is because of the lack of other Asian superheroes in DC. Dick, Jason, and Tim all look pretty similar if you list their features the same way as I did for Cass above, but because they've been drawn side-by-side so often, the artists have developed tells for who is who. With Cass, well she's been reduced to the "Asian batgirl," and beyond that there's been no effort to reign in her look to specifics or bestow her with any unique "tell" features like Supes' spitcurl. Not enough scenes with Katana I guess.
I guess I just tend to look at it from the opposite direction, as long as she doesn't look like someone who I could NEVER see as Cassandra, I'm cool with it. And I don't get too picky on the details.
But now I'm curious, who is your definitive Cassandra Cain? Which artist(s)? Sample images would be great if you can find them.
@cascadeking09: Hmm. And his style is so cartoonish it's even harder to pick out a specific look. I'm trying to dig through his stuff and I'm hard-pressed to find images of her without a mask on (mostly because cover art is what comes up on google).
Hmm. Terrible angle. That could be anyone.
Close-up on the eyes. Almond-shaped but not too slanted, gray-blue color.
Yeah, with his style it's like trying to pick specific facial features off of an anime character. Even the head-shape is pretty inconsistent between the three images.
compare to some random piece I pulled off of deviantart, which has a less cartoonish style but I feel stays consistent with the above features:
Ignoring the very unusual hand anatomy, this piece has stronger definition of facial features. Of course, without more art from this artist it's impossible to decide if it's actually consistent trait-wise, so we could have a feature list to compare to a potential actress.
@cascadeking09: What I got out of our little exchange, more than anything else, is that Cass really doesn't have a pronounced nose, even for an Asian woman, and especially for someone of mixed Asian heritage. So someone like Chiaki Kuriyama (Gogo from Kill Bill) actually wouldn't look very much like her. That's not something I would've noticed without going through the art like this.
Cass's nose never looks that pronounced in any of the art we've gone over.
@cascadeking09: Well yes, but if I had to choose between totally hot and "intimidating" I'd probably go with "intimidating." Cass should kick ass first and foremost.
Also, don't forget to check out the cosplay I edited into my post on the last page.
@fodigg: Cass is intimidating with the mask on, but under the mask is the face of a regular teenaged girl. ok
Well, but she led the League of Assassins without a mask. Her current "blackbat" persona uses a mask that shows far more of her face. I mean, this is a girl whose first language is fighting and whose sole mission was murder. She's been redeemed by Bruce, yes, but if ever a character should be intimidating outside the mask then I'd say it would be Cass. I think she should be intimidating in and out of the mask. Unlike Bruce Wayne, she struggles with the non-bat persona. It doesn't come easy to her.
Not that I'm advocating she be portrayed as a "dragon lady" or something. Thor, no. But certainly intimidating.
@cascadeking09 said:
I like the second cosplayer you added.
Yes, she's a very good looking girl and she has the right features:
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