Carrie Kelley

Caroline Keene "Carrie" Kelley is a superheroine from Frank Miller's Dark Knight trilogy of Batman graphic novels (1986–2017). She becomes the new Robin in The Dark Knight Returns (1986) when she saves Batman's life. Later in The Dark Knight Strikes Again (2001–2002), she adopts the identity Catgirl, and in The Dark Knight III: The Master Race (2015–2017), she adopts the identity Batwoman.

Carrie was the first full-time female Robin in the history of the Batman franchise, though Julie Madison had passed off as Robin for a brief time in a Bob Kane story published in Detective Comics #49 in March 1941; because Miller's Dark Knight trilogy is not part of the main DC canon, Stephanie Brown became the first mainline female Robin in the early 2000s instead. She has been featured in different forms of media in and out of comics, and made her live-action debut in the television series Gotham Knights, portrayed by Navia Robinson.

According to Frank Miller, the idea to create Carrie Kelley was sparked by a conversation with superhero comics veteran John Byrne while they were flying to an Ohio comic convention. When Miller told Byrne he was writing a Batman story featuring an old and crankier Batman, Byrne recommended he make Robin a girl and drew him a sketch. Miller liked the concept so much that he ultimately included it in The Dark Knight Returns.

Carrie Kelley is a 13-year-old schoolgirl and scout whom Batman saves from a sadistic group of Mutant gang members on the night of his return from retirement. Idolizing the Dark Knight, she then spends her lunch money on a Robin outfit, sets out to attack petty con men, and finds Batman in the hope of becoming his partner. Kelley uses a slingshot and firecrackers as weapons. She also wears green-tinted sunglasses instead of a black domino mask. Before she begins her training with Batman, she is already trained in gymnastics. Like most of the young characters in the book, she speaks in a futuristic slang that Miller credited colorist (and Miller's wife) Lynn Varley with helping to create.

Unlike the first and second Robins mentioned in the story, Kelley is not an orphan, but she appears to have rather ignorant and neglectful parents who are never actually seen—one of them mutters "Didn't we have a kid?" while their daughter is witnessing the fierce battle between Batman and the street gangs known as the Mutants. It is hinted through their dialogue that they were once activists and possibly hippies during the 1960s, but have since become apathetic stoners.

In the series, the government's banning of superhero activities and Jason Todd's death led to the Dark Knight's retirement. Still, Batman accepts her as Robin when she saves his life just as he is on the verge of being killed by the unnamed Mutant Leader by jumping on him from behind and tearing at his eyes. She practically drags him back to the Batmobile and makes a sling for his arm out of part of her cape and a piece of pipe. He often threatens to fire her but she shows considerable ability and improvisation which impresses him enough to give her a stay of dismissal even when she disobeys his orders. The police, now led by newly appointed Commissioner Ellen Yindel following James Gordon's retirement, take a very poor attitude toward Batman and his methods and issue a warrant for his arrest. When she sees Batman with Kelley leaping in mid-air and barely catching a passing hang-glider, Yindel adds child endangerment to the growing list of charges against Batman.

As Robin, Carrie plays a crucial part in tracking down and confronting the Joker who (at a fairground) has poisoned several children and planted a bomb on a roller coaster. While Batman goes after his age-old nemesis, Carrie manages to dispose of the bomb but gets into a tangle with Fat Abner, Joker's accomplice. As they grapple together, Abner is decapitated by an overhanging section of the track, driving Carrie momentarily into shock and tears, but recovering enough to rescue a seriously injured Batman from capture by the police and help heal his wounds with Alfred Pennyworth. Carrie also helps Batman restore order in Gotham after a nationwide blackout caused by an electromagnetic pulse with help from the Sons of Batman. Unnerved by Batman's activities, the United States government sends Superman to bring the Dark Knight down. As the big battle is about to start, Carrie delays Superman's arrival using the tank-like Bat-mobile and a slingshot, to which the Man of Steel simply replies "Isn't tonight a school night?" Using a variety of powerful weapons, including synthesized kryptonite, Batman manages to defeat Superman but "dies" in the process. It later emerges that he had faked his death and Carrie (who had attended the funeral disguised as an older woman) unearthed Batman from his grave soon after he revived. They then go underground to the Batcave where, with Green Arrow, they set about training various teenage street gangs into an army in preparation to deal with people "worse than thieves and murderers."

Three years later, Kelley has begun calling herself "Catgirl". She remains Batman's able second-in-command. She wears a skin-tight cat costume with a leopard pattern and is now trained extensively in combat. Her equipment includes motorized rollerskates and an arm cannon that fires batarangs. Catgirl's main duty is to oversee an army of Batboys to help save the world from a police-state dictatorship, led by Lex Luthor and Brainiac. She leads them into battle, liberating imprisoned heroes such as the Atom and Flash. However, she also causes serious injury to a Batboy who exceeded her orders by maiming and killing a couple of police officers. She beats him up and tells the others to treat him but not bother with anesthetic. Once alone, however, she breaks down in tears but is offered a comforting hand by Batman. She has been referred to as "The daughter [Batman] never had" but also as "jailbait". ^{[citation needed]}