Barbara Kean (Gotham)

Barbara Kean
Gotham‎ and Pennyworth
Gallery
Real Name	Barbara Kean
Other Aliases	Queen of Gotham, Barbara Queen
Relatives	Everett Kean (father, deceased) Mrs. Kean (mother, deceased) Barbara Gordon (daughter)
Affiliation	Formerly Sirens, League of Shadows, Butch Gilzean, Oswald Cobblepot and Theo Galavan
Base Of Operations	Gotham City
Status
Alignment	Neutral
Identity	Public Identity
Citizenship	American
Marital Status	Single
Occupation	Nightclub Owner, former Art Gallery Owner
Characteristics
Gender	Female
Height	5' 5"
Eyes	Blue
Hair	Blond
Origin
Universe	Gotham (TV Series)
Creators	Frank Miller · Dave Mazzucchelli · Bruno Heller
First Appearance	"Pilot" (September 22, 2014)
Last Appearance	"The Beginning..." (April 25, 2019)

I'm not sick. I'm free.

— Barbara Kean

History

Barbara Kean was an art gallery owner in Gotham City, and formerly the fiancée of Jim Gordon. Both his work and Leslie Thompkins eventually ended their relationship. Under the influence of the Ogre, she murdered her parents, which got her sent to Arkham Asylum.

Following her escape from Arkham facilitated by Theo Galavan, she worked with him, bent on destroying Leslie Thompkins and getting Jim back. After a failed attempt on Thompkins' life, Kean fell out of the top story of a church, which landed her in a coma. When Kean eventually awoke from her coma, her mental illness seemingly dissipated. Professor Hugo Strange, the chief of psychiatry at Arkham Asylum, was unaware of whether or not Kean was faking her sanity. Curious of what would happen, Professor Strange declared Kean to be sane and released her to the public as part of an experiment. Barbara, still in love with James Gordon, attempted to reconcile with Gordon by helping him obtain information about the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Gordon turned Barbara down, wanting nothing more to do with her. Desperate, Barbara sought refuge with Tabitha Galavan. With Tabitha, Barbara Kean currently resides with Butch Gilzean and Oswald Cobblepot.

She murders Butch and is killed by Tabitha in reprisal.

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Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Demon's Head (Formerly): Ra's al Ghul transfered his power known as the Demon's Head to Barbara before his death, Barbara was able to use this to summon members of the League. This power was returned to Ra's after his resurrection.
  • Chronokinesis (Formerly): Barbara was able to rewind time by a brief period, allowing her to recover from recent injuries and tactical mistakes.

Abilities

• Intimidation
• Leadership
• Deception
• Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): Barbara has received training in hand to hand combat from Ra's al Ghul.
• Business Management: In the end of the No Man's Land ark, Barbara bought a large amount of residencial areas and, after a couple of years of rebuilding in several points of the city, she become the richest woman in Gotham.

Weaknesses

• Mental Disorder (Formerly)
  • Mental Instability (Formerly): The fragile mental stability of Barbara was seen when she admitted to killing the parents themselves and tried to assassinate Leslie Thompkins.
  • Misandry/Blind Hatred (Formerly)
• Drug Addiction (Formerly)

Notes

• This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the television series Gotham, Pennyworth and its tie-in webseries and shorts, Gotham Stories and Gotham: A City Gone Mad. It is an adaptation of Barbara Eileen Gordon. The original character was created by Frank Miller and Dave Mazzucchelli and first appeared in Batman #404.

Behind the Scenes

Barbara Kean was portrayed by Erin Richards.

During the run of the show, the showrunners considered turning Barbara Kean into the iconic Batman villain Harley Quinn, the sidekick and girlfriend of the Joker. This is apparent during the second and third season, when Barbara's personality obviously mirrored the Harley character. Additionally, she also teamed up with Jerome Valeska for a brief period of time. The show would later introduce Ecco as the direct precursor of Harley Quinn.

According to showrunner John Stephens, the producers were also thinking of turning Barbara into Magpie, a plan which was also discarded at a later point. During the first half of the fourth season, Barbara actually wore completely black outfits and had a white haircut very reminiscent of Magpie's modern redesign featured in the television series Beware the Batman. The real Magpie was eventually introuduced during the fifth season.

Related

• 77 Appearances of Barbara Kean (Gotham)
• 10 Images featuring Barbara Kean (Gotham)
• 6 Quotations by or about Barbara Kean (Gotham)
• Character Gallery: Barbara Kean (Gotham)

Footnotes

League of Assassins member This character is or was a member of the League of Assassins, a international organization of the world's greatest killers, operating both for hire and their own agenda, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "League of Assassins members" category.