Is Strix the New Cassandra Cain?

A month or two ago, I saw someone mention the idea that Strix, a recent addition to Birds of Prey, is essentially the new Cassandra Cain, and I thought, “Yeah, okay, so they are both female, Asian martial arts experts, but that hardly makes them the same character,” and I basically dismissed the idea, but after mulling it over for the next several weeks, I slowly began to put the pieces together, and you know what? Strix is the new Cassandra Cain.

To see this article with images, Click Here.

Let's observe the similarities, shall we? I'll start with the most obvious and benign and work towards the more suspicious and peculiar.

1. Female

I assume I do not need to elaborate on this point.

2. Asian

Cassandra Cain is the daughter of David Cain, a Caucasian, and Sandra Woosan (Lady Shiva) an Asian woman who grew up in Detroit. Mary's (Strix's) family consisted of United States immigrants from Japan who lived in Oregon.

3. Martial Arts Master

Cassandra was taught martial arts from her birth by her father, David Cain. Mary learned gymnastics at Haly's Circus where she was recruited to be an assassin for the Court of Owls and taught martial arts by undisclosed masters.

4. Tragic Past

Cassandra's life was a tragedy from the moment she was born. Lady Shiva had no interest in raising her daughter, and David Cain viewed Cass as his ultimate experiment and weapon. Strix, on the other hand, lived a mostly peaceful life until her family was killed by a Japanese firebomb during WWII. The firebomb disfigured Mary badly.

5. Flying Nocturnal Animal as Totem

Cassandra's, of course, was the second character to be called Batgirl. Mary, on the other hand, has taken the codename Strix which is a specific kind of owl without ear tufts.

6. Worked as an Assassin

After honing her for eight years, David Cain finally deployed Cass in the field where she, unaware of what she was truly doing, killed a target and completed an assassination. Though she immediately sensed the wrongness of her actions, Cass never lost her sense of guilt over the murder. It is not clear how many Mary killed in the name of the Court of Owls, but given what we have seen from other talons, it can be fair to assume she murdered dozens during her tenure as the Court's assassin.

7. Tied with Shadowy World Dominating Organizations

Cass was on the straight and narrow for a long time after running away from David Cain, but after being mind controlled by Deathstroke, she did run the League of Assassins for over a year, an organization often tied to Ra's Al Ghul's schemes to save the world's ecosystem by destroying ninety percent of all life on the planet. Mary worked for the Court of Owls, a quasi shadow government whose goals include being evil, plotting and scheming.

8. Became Heroine because of Barbara Gordon

Cassandra Cain was recruited by Barbara as an street level informant during No Man's Land. Over time, Babs, Batman, and other members of the family saw her potential and heart and offered her the position of Batgirl. Strix, on the other hand, tried to kill Batgirl (Barbara) during the Night of the Owls before arbitrarily deciding to spare Babs' life because all villainous assassins are just misunderstood. By talking through their feelings, (well, Mary writing down her feelings) Batgirl's feminism saved the day.

9. Essentially Mute

Cassandra Cain was never taught how to speak. Instead, David Cain taught her only fighting stances, and when she needed to talk to David, she communicated through motion. As such, Cassandra developed a nearly supernatural ability to read people through body language, but she never had much ability to carry on a conversation until a psychic rearranged her brain. Mary is mute though it is not clear why. She seems to have been able to talk at a younger age, so perhaps it was psychological trauma or physical damage from the firebomb.

10. Only Communicates with Barbara Gordon

Cassandra used her very small repertoire of words to pass information on to Oracle in her early days, and she rarely breathed a word to anyone else. Now, Mary pulls the same shtick staring menacingly at her teammates and only occasionally “says” something to Barbara by drawing words in the dirt.

Conclusion

What are we to make of this? Gail Simone (former writer of Birds of Prey and current writer of Batgirl) invented the character. Was she intentionally trying to reinvent Cassandra Cain for the DCNU, or is this merely a long list of coincidences? Regardless, Strix has thus far been a poor substitute for Cass unless you enjoy watching a mute character start pointless fights with allies on a regular basis.

story yes

but does she bring the same amount of skill/badassery?

@BatWatch: *ahem*

1. Well obviously

2. No, Mary is not Asian. She actually appears to be African American (I think Gail might have confirmed that, actually), and while her family was from Oregon it is never said that they were Japanese immigrants, only that they died in a paper balloon bombing. The girl at the beginning of Batgirl #9 was not Mary, that was a different girl named Ayumi living in Japan, who was helping make the paper balloon bombs that killed Mary's family two years later.

3. She's not really a "martial arts master". In fact, her fighting style is rather feral, lacking any high level of "skill", per se, and her ability is more a result of the enhancements she acquired when turned into a Talon.

4. Who in DC doesn't have a tragic past? Like, five people maybe?

5. And just about everyone in the bat family has a "Flying nocturnal animal" as their symbol. They aren't even in the same animal kingdom, that's kind of reaching. Not to mention every Talon was connected to the Court of "Owls", so it was kind of an obvious pick.

6. As did every other Talon.

7. Again, trying to to reach for comparisons here. Not only was Cassandra's stint with the League of Assassin's horribly out of character for her and just an atrocious decision all around, it really didn't last very long, and trying to use it as a basis to compare another character to her is kind of weak.

8. Well I'll give you that one.

9. She isn't "essentially" mute. She is mute. Absolutely, completely, and always. Why? It's stated plainly in Batgirl #9 that she has no tongue (probably a result of the bombing, maybe).

10. She's only had like 4 appearances, so the fact that she hasn't really communicated with anyone other than the first person she really met outside the Cout of Owls isn't exactly surprising, and now that she's on a team she has a chance to grow and interact with more characters. Also, still false, as she bonded with Catwoman in the Batgirl Annual.

Conclusion

I think you're reaching for a lot of comparisons, and you've gotten some information flat out incorrect. While there are a few minor similarities, they are still two clearly different characters and Mary was never created to replace Cassandra. In fact, she was supposed to die at the end of Batgirl #9, until Scott Snyder himself asked Gail to keep her alive so she could be used in the future. I rather like her so far, though granted she hasn't had much of a chance to develop since her first appearance, since her total appearances have been extremely limited. Let's see her grow as a character for a bit before discarding her.

@Rumble Man said:

story yes

but does she bring the same amount of skill/badassery?

I don't think anyone brought the same amount of skill/badassery to the DCNU.

@BlackReaper: I am convinced that she is the ancestor of Karate Kid in the 30th century

@BatWatch: oh, come on, are you serious with this

she is just a bad clone of her and a very uninspired character, Cass Cain was basically Oracle's daughter, Mary is basically Birds of Prey's PET

the idea of her being the new Cass Cain is Insulting to be honest

And she is not Asian, I have seen a ton of people making this mistake, further proof that just like we talked a long time ago BATGIRL #9 SUCKED

Didn't Grant Morrison state that Cassandra Cain will appear eventually in some way?

@Ravager4 said:

5. And just about everyone in the bat family has a "Flying nocturnal animal" as their symbol. They aren't even in the same animal kingdom, that's kind of reaching. Not to mention every Talon was connected to the Court of "Owls", so it was kind of an obvious pick.

Umm....not really. Since when were Robins nocturnal? I'll give you Nightwing and Batgirl, but Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin, and Catwoman definitely do not have "flying nocturnal animals" as their symbol.

She's the new Cassandra Cain and Harper Row is the new Stephanie Brown and it's annoying as hell.

@Rumble Man said:

@BlackReaper: I am convinced that she is the ancestor of Karate Kid in the 30th century

SHE IS NOT ALIVE!

I dont get it, why is this such a hard concept to grasp even for writers

The Talons are Undead

so she cannot have children

I think she might of been originally made as the new 52 Cassandra but it was dropped and she became her own character. Strix is not a good character she is going to be a member of Birds till Worlds Finest gets cancelled leaving a lost Huntress in Gotham leaving a good point to have her on the team. I just hope they get Strix out of BOP fast. I really do not think anything good came out of the Court of Owls story it was good but the characters have nothing special about them.

If strix is the new Cassandra Cain, i'm the new Martian Man Hunter...lol, now seriously, they do look alot alike, but i still have hope that Cassie will return some day.