Why is Cassandra Cain so good at martial arts?

#1 Posted by Trinity00 (2504 posts) - 11 months, 20 days ago - Show Bio

Of course she was trained from birth but so has a lot of other characters, why is she just that good?

#2 Posted by danhimself (18752 posts) - 11 months, 20 days ago - Show Bio

not only was she trained from birth but her father trained her in a way that instead of learning how to talk and interpret language her language center of the brain was adapted to read a person's body movements....so she can see what your next move is before you make it based on the way your muscles are contracting prior to the move

#3 Posted by JonesDeini (3593 posts) - 11 months, 20 days ago - Show Bio

@danhimself: Bingo

#4 Posted by Trinity00 (2504 posts) - 11 months, 20 days ago - Show Bio

@danhimself said:

not only was she trained from birth but her father trained her in a way that instead of learning how to talk and interpret language her language center of the brain was adapted to read a person's body movements....so she can see what your next move is before you make it based on the way your muscles are contracting prior to the move

Is that the ONLY reason?

I thought batman can do that already.

#5 Posted by Ravager4 (1476 posts) - 11 months, 20 days ago - Show Bio

Of course, this led to numerous ridiculous accomplishments for someone without any meta powers... which include, but are not limited to:

She can dodge bullets she can't hear or see being fired from, perhaps, miles away.
There are multiple (and explicitly drawn) instances of her dodging gunfire not by predicting where the shot will be fired, but by only stepping aside after the bullet has already left the barrel and is halfway to her head.
Even when she is actually hit by a bullet, she can do so without flinching, because she was conditioned from when she was very young to ignore the pain.
She's kicked a man-sized hole in a steel-reinforced concrete wall
Thrown a Batarang at a target and then changed her mind and outran her own Batarang to reach the target first
Punched 50 men unconscious in less than five seconds.

Granted, writers did seem to nerf her in later years, but still... most of that is just outrageous when you remember that she has no actual meta powers. I'm also taking this from secondhand sources, so take those with a grain of salt if, since I haven't actually read most of those instances.

#6 Posted by oraclefyre (936 posts) - 11 months, 19 days ago - Show Bio

Trained and also because she's Cassandra freakin' Cain.

#7 Posted by ChadwickDavis (439 posts) - 11 months, 13 days ago - Show Bio

@danhimself: not only was she trained from birth but her father trained her in a way that instead of learning how to talk and interpret language her language center of the brain was adapted to read a person's body movements....so she can see what your next move is before you make it based on the way your muscles are contracting prior to the move.

You neglected to mention that her father/ instructor is David Cain arguable the world's deadliest and most elusive assassins and he also trained Batman.

@Trinity00: Is that the ONLY reason? I thought batman can do that already.

Below is an effective summary of Cassandra Cain's abilities from the eyes of government agents (CIA) from Batgirl vol. 1 issue 14 which should explain her physical and mental parameters. Combine this quite with the fact that she was trained by Batman ("Bat-jitsu"/batman's combat regimen), David Cain (Assassination, firearms, survuval training, close quarters combat....anything involving violence), Lady Shiva (hand to hand combat), Bronze Tiger (close quarters combat), and Tim Drake (investigation/deduction)

"Her individual moves are borderline human. It's her aggregate speed that's metahuman. Look—humans can throw a 100 miles-per-hour fastball, smash concrete blocks with their heads, and run 4.2 forties. What they can't do is all of that at once. It's not so much physical as... as mentally impossible. Too much to coordinate"

@Ravager4: Of course, this led to numerous ridiculous accomplishments for someone without any meta powers...

I completely agree, that she was overchocked and the "nerfed" to some degree, but you also have to take into consideration that she lacked most of the common sense psychological and physical inhibitions in a fight that most people have, which would affect /limit her performance ;like most sane human beings anyways. Besides everything they did to her writers have done to Batman in some form or another; they just limited hers to close quarters combat. For example...

She can dodge bullets she can't hear or see being fired from, perhaps, miles away. explained in Batgirl 14 and it was meters away not miles and she looked at her attacker afterwards...Great issue...Trained killer, instaneous reflexes, changes in the wind...Viable but very improbable (in comics theory anyways)

There are multiple (and explicitly drawn) instances of her dodging gunfire not by predicting where the shot will be fired, but by only stepping aside after the bullet has already left the barrel and is halfway to her head. again explained in Batgirl 14 see my quote Trinity00 above for more details...Viable but very improbable (in comics theory anyways)

Even when she is actually hit by a bullet, she can do so without flinching, because she was conditioned from when she was very young to ignore the pain. She has also forced her heart to stop after being shot. Having a father who regularly shot you as a child could do that to a person...if they lived through it (in comics theory anyways)

She's kicked a man-sized hole in a steel-reinforced concrete wall... Definately overchocked. No arguments there

Thrown a Batarang at a target and then changed her mind and outran her own Batarang to reach the target first...Definately overchocked. No arguments there

Punched 50 men unconscious in less than five seconds... I think it was closer to 20-30 people but they were in close quarters and that was no man's land (I think)...and that was a huge part of what got her the job...Viable but very very very improbable (in comics theory anyways)

#8 Posted by danhimself (18752 posts) - 11 months, 13 days ago - Show Bio

@Trinity00 said:

@danhimself said:
not only was she trained from birth but her father trained her in a way that instead of learning how to talk and interpret language her language center of the brain was adapted to read a person's body movements....so she can see what your next move is before you make it based on the way your muscles are contracting prior to the move
Is that the ONLY reason?
I thought batman can do that already.

the thing is that Batman had been continuously training for what 20 years to get to the level he was at and no he could not read muscle movement like Cassandra can...add to that Cassandra is a 16-18 year old little tiny girl who is a real match for Batman...like there's a good chance that if they fought she would either win or the fight would end in a draw....Batman is all reaction...like you've made your move and Batman is reacting to it after you've made it..like any martial artist is taught....Cassandra is reacting before you've made your move because she can read the way your muscles are contracting prior and formulate a plan before you get that move off

Cassandra Cain

Daughter of assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva, Cassandra left her father as a child after she killed a man. After saving Commissioner Gordon's life, she was adopted by Bruce Wayne. Becoming the new Batgirl with Batman and Oracle's blessing, Cassandra later took on the mantle of the Black Bat.

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