Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe (New Earth)

Misfit
Mainstream Universe‎, 1986‎-2011‎
Gallery
Real Name	Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe
Main Alias	Misfit
Other Aliases	Batgirl
Affiliation	Formerly Birds of Prey
Base Of Operations	Dalten Towers, Metropolis
Status
Alignment	Good
Identity	Secret Identity
Race	Homo Magi
Citizenship	American
Marital Status	Single
Occupation	Adventurer, Student
Characteristics
Gender	Female
Eyes	Blue
Hair	Red
Origin
Universe	New Earth
Creators	Gail Simone · Nicola Scott
First Appearance	Birds of Prey #96 (September, 2006)
Last Appearance	Birds of Prey Vol 2 #10 (May, 2011)

Charlotte "Charlie" Gage-Radcliffe is Misfit, an impetuous and overeager member of the Birds of Prey.

History

Origin

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe lived with her mother and her newborn sibling in an apartment in Metropolis's worst slum. She never met her father.

Charlie knew she had superpowers from a young age, but rarely used them, because they made her mother uncomfortable. She was a big fan of Barbara Gordon's Batgirl.

The landlord of the apartment building had bribed the safety inspectors. The fire escape had been removed, and the smoke detectors were broken. When a fire broke out, Charlie and her family were trapped in the apartment.

In Charlie's experiments with her powers, she had discovered that living beings didn't survive teleporting with her - she couldn't get her family out. In the end, Charlie's mother made her leave, shouting at her to teleport out.

Seventeen people died in the fire. The landlord's sentence was six months, time served.

Batgirl

As Batgirl

Some while later, Charlie surfaced as a crime-fighter in Gotham City, using the Batgirl name and wearing a homemade Batgirl costume, complete with utility belt.

This drew the attention of Barbara Gordon, now operating as the all-seeing master hacker Oracle, who sent out her team of operatives, the Birds of Prey, to discover who was using her old identity.

The Birds laid a trap for the new 'Batgirl' in the hopes of confronting her. When Charlie showed up, she leaped into combat, enjoying the chance to go up against the Birds, all the while talking as if she'd been their friend for ages.

When they were confronted by a gun-runner seeking revenge for her imprisonment at the Birds' hands, Charlie teleported in to take a gunshot intended for one of the team. However, as the Birds went to Charlie's assistance, she disappeared.

Charlie reappeared in Oracle's control room, without a scratch on her. She revealed that she'd been in and out of Barbara's control room on numerous occasions, without Barbara's knowledge, and wanted her approval to become the new Batgirl. Barbara, identifying Charlie as untrained and ungrounded, tried to talk her out of becoming a superhero, and thought she'd succeeded when Charlie agreed to stop being Batgirl. However, before Charlie left, she told Barbara that while she'd promised to stop being Batgirl, she'd never said she'd stop being a superhero, leaving Barbara utterly frustrated.

Misfit

Charlie popped up again a couple of weeks later, this time using the name Misfit. She tagged along with the Birds on a couple of missions, doing what she could to help out.

When Barbara managed to get some downtime, she followed up on a tip she'd received from Spy Smasher, which led her to Charlie's last known address - the burned-out shell of Charlie's old apartment block. When Charlie showed up, she confessed what had happened to her family, and that she was currently homeless. Barbara took her in as one of her team, giving her a home.

After Batman's death, Misfit was summoned to Gotham City along with many other heroes to be part of The Network. Following Oracle's instructions, Misfit delivered medical supplies to every hospital in need and later rescued a hostage from Hugo Strange. She later teamed up with Ragman to capture Strange but the villain escaped. Around this time, Misfit was also having physical troubles with her bouncing power.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Magic: Misfit is a Homo Magi and is early in her studies of the occult and heroism.
  • Bouncing: Charlotte has the ability to teleport (or, as she calls it, "bounce") vast distances without error, or even needing to know the layout of her destination, she does so by appearing and disappearing in a burst of pink-purple smoke. She is only able to teleport herself because no other living objects could survive bouncing. She is considered by Oracle to be the most powerful teleporter that she's ever encountered.
  • Sensor Bypass: The ability to bypass security systems, as she is able to enter Oracle's home without triggering any of the many alarms, a feat not even Batman or the Martian Manhunter have been able to achieve.
• Accelerated Healing: Misfit also has some degree of accelerated healing when she is shot in the belly with a bullet intended for Huntress, she heals completely mere minutes later. She apparently heals faster while teleporting.
• Superhuman Strength: She has taken out Gypsy in one punch and fought Harley Quinn.

Abilities

• Video Gaming: Misfit is good at video games (at least according to herself).
• Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic): During her tenure with the Birds of Prey, Misfit has received extensive martial arts training by Oracle. Even if still lacking the skills and the experience of her teammates, Misfit has improved enough to be able to defend herself, and even to beat more experienced metahumans.

Recommended Reading

• Birds of Prey (Volume 1)

Related

• 38 Appearances of Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe (New Earth)
• 14 Images featuring Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe (New Earth)
• Quotations by or about Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe (New Earth)

Footnotes

Batman Family member This character is or was an incarnation of or an ally of Batman, and a member of the Batman Family. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "Batman Family members" category.