The Codenames of the Batkids

I recently found out that at one point Cass used the name Kasumi. I've learned about the Batfamily rather piecemeal and I thought maybe other fans could use a primer of the various identities the kids have used over the years. I'm only trying for codenames here, not an accurate history. I had fun doing this, hope it's at least a bit useful.

Dick Grayson

Robin - First Robin. The name was his mommy's nickname for him. I'm sure you know the basics.

Nightwing - After graduating high school and starting university (he quit after one semester), Dick started hanging out with the Teen Titans a lot more. Bruce had difficulty with how little time Dick had for him and Gotham and dealt with this by firing his son. He told him if they weren't partners then Dick wasn't Robin. Dick went to Superman to figure out what to do and decided to rename himself after a legendary Kryptonian hero. If you want to give Dick a partner, Flamebird works as a name - on Krypton, Nightwing was part of a duo.

The Target - When Rookie Cop Dick Grayson got framed for killing some young men, Batman and Dick realized that Nightwing couldn't get caught trying to clear his name. So Dick created this short lived identity, with a literal giant target on his chest.

Crutches/Renegade - Blockbuster, the mob boss who pretty much ran Bludhaven, figured out that Dick was Nightwing. He blew up Dick's circus and the apartment Dick lived in and then explained that he was going to kill anyone Dick got even slightly close to. Bludhaven was to corrupt to bring Blockbuster in and Dick didn't know what to do. Tarantula, a young woman he was trying to keep on the straight and narrow, told Dick to get out of the way. He did and she killed Blockbuster. Trying to cheer Dick up afterwords, she ended up raping the unresponsive man. He spiraled into deep depression and guilt, and after getting shot in the leg, left the batfamily to punish himself by becoming a villain. He wasn't very good at it, not as a crutch wielding mob enforcer, or a brown clad supervillain. His morals stayed the same, and he ended up rehabilitating Deathstroke's daughter Rose while trying to prove to Slade he'd really turned evil. Eventually, Bruce gave him an incredibly bad pep talk(really, really, bad) and Dick goes back to being Nightwing.

Batman -after Bruce's "death", Gotham falls apart, and Tim convinces Dick to become the new Batman. He hates the weight of the cape, has a tendency to smile in costume (which really creeps people out), and usually plays good cop to his homicidal new Robin, Damian.

Talon – in the New52, Dick was trained at the circus without his knowledge to become part of the Court of Owls. Their assassins are called Talons. He avoided this when he was adopted by Bruce.

Red X - Okay, Dick's only wore this on the Teen Titans cartoon, but it's a cool costume, and shows up in fic. Robin wears it while trying to convince Slade he's a thief. He doesn't tell his team mates who he is, Slade figures it out pretty quick, and the costume is quickly stolen by an actual thief when Robin stops wearing it, so this can't be counted among one of his better plans.

(Burn) - This may or may not be a secret identity. It shows up on the wiki, but I don't know anything about it.

Babs Gordon

Batgirl - Babs stopped a crime while wearing a Halloween costume and decided she wanted to keep saving people. She was awesome enough that she could run over wet rooftops in high heels and fight crooks with tricked out beauty products and still not seem too offensive.

Oracle - Babs quit to be a full time librarian. The Joker changed the course of her life by shooting her to prove a point to her daddy (Commissioner Gordon). Instead of giving in to anger at being paralysed, she brushed up on computer hacking and became an information broker for superheroes called the Oracle. Also, leader of her own team, the Birds of Prey (only one of which has a bird related name).

Bluebelle - during the nu52 event Gothtopia, Gotham is a slightly creepy paradise and Babs goes out during the day as Bluebelle in an all white version of her Batgirl costume.

Bete Noire (the Black Beast) - nu52 alternate future thing that's going to happen. Babs is a freedom fighter, advertised as part Bane, part Batman.

Jason Todd

Robin - When Batman decided that the street kid that tried to steel the Batmobile's tires should be the new Robin, he gave him the option of a redesign. Jason decided to keep the tiny shorts and useless half cape.

Red Hood - This is actually the identity of Joker before he went crazy in some of the retellings of his past. When Jason came back to life he hung out with Talia al Ghul for a while and then decided to take on the Joker's name and rehabilitate it in a form of revenge. His rehabilitation involved a lot of guns, murder, daddy issues, and, every once in a while, modified batman logos.

Nightwing - While traumatised Dick and Tim were on a year long cruise with Bruce (One Year Later, Bruce does get to be a good daddy once in a while), Jason decided to take on the Nightwing identity, because someone needed to. Dick yelled at him, they fought, and Dick took the costume back.

Red Robin - Jason got this costume while travelling the multiverse with Donna (and other people). AU Batman who never got over Jason's death and killed people made it for his Jason but gave it to ours. And then died, of course.

Wingman - In the nu52, Jason has sort of made up with Bruce. He goes by Wingman while helping out Batman, Inc.

Tim Drake

Robin - Tim was the first Robin to get pants. He had two Robin costumes - his original green one, which he wore for most of his run, and his red/black one, which he wore when everyone died. Highlights from the first costume's time include an awesome girlfriend, a cool car, and a team full of friends. Second costume's - kissing his dead best friend's girlfriend, trying to clone/resurrect the people he loves, holding a gun to his head to stop his evil future self from doing horrible things.

Mr Sarcastic - While part of Young Justice, Batman forbade Tim from showing up on film, as the bats were trying to convince people they were urban legends. Young Justice decided to make a reality TV show of their lives. Tim had a problem. He solved it by creating Mr. Sarcastic, a truly ridiculous persona, complete with fake tattoos and a fur/fishnet skintight vest. I was entertained. Mr. Sarcastic has shown up again, but I think it might have been a videogame tie-in?

Red Robin - After Bruce's death, Batman!Dick tried to take Tim on as a partner, instead of a sidekid. Damian, who had tried to kill Tim; and belittled, verbally abused, and sneered at him constantly; was given the Robin mantle. Tim was angry and hurt, which became even worse when Dick doubted Tim's belief that Bruce was alive, and suggested Tim get counselling. Instead, Tim stole a second costume and identity from Jason and ran away to Europe as Red Robin. There he proved Bruce was alive, worked with and fought Ra's, and rebuilt his life and confidence. Then the reboot happened and he lost cowl and history, but kept the name and gained feathered wings.

Joker Jr – In the cartoon movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Tim was tortured and brainwashed by the Joker and Harley Quinn until he started to think of himself as their child. When forced to confront and try to kill Bruce, Tim instead killed the Joker. He was shown to never fully recover from this.

Steph Brown

Spoiler - Steph started wearing eggplant (not purple) in a bid to stop her father, the villain Cluemaster. She chucked a brick at Tim's head, which naturally led to dating, and her being a major supporting character during his Robin run.

Robin - When Tim's father found out he'd spent the last 2-3 years lying to him and risking his life as Robin, he forced Tim to quit. Steph decided to take up the mantle, getting some much needed training from Batman. Her costume was awesome, but her run was short. Bats fired her for disobeying him (he does this to everyone) and she decided to prove herself. This lead to a gang war and her 'death', the major character assassination of Dr. Leslie Thompkins, and other bad things I thankfully haven't read.

Katavi - This may or may not be the name Steph had while hanging out in Generic Africa. It may or may not have involved wearing an animal skull on her head. This information comes from one picture on DeviantArt and a subsection title of the Steph gallery on Comic Vine, so make of it what you will.

Batgirl - Steph came back to Gotham after a year of playing in Africa with Dr. Thompkins. She tried to be Spoiler for a short while but was met with hostility. Cass gave her the Batgirl costume while having her own breakdown and Steph decided to reinvent herself. She added eggplant to the costume and dropped the stitched full face mask for something less creepy. Then she worked with the first Batgirl (Oracle, now) to make Gotham a better place.

Nightwing - Okay, it's one panel set in the future and I'm not doing alternate futures or realities (except when I am, of course) but wouldn't Steph make an awesome eggplant Nightwing?

Cass Cain

Batgirl - The costume was first worn by Huntress during No Man's Land. The stitched shut mask seems to have been part of Helena's attempt to just be The Bat, not Batman or Batgirl, no gender involved. It went well with Cass's silence. Cass was given the identity by Babs after showing up to help during No Man's Land and proving herself a hero despite her limited comprehension of others. All black with a few yellow highlights, scary good at fighting, rarely made a noise, Batgirl was the only Batkid to really get close to Bruce's intimidation level.

Kasumi - After Steph's death, Cass went undercover in the Justice League Elite for Batman. Her costume had a weird bug mouth and its unclear whether Batman invented the identity or she went as someone who actually exists.

Black Bat - After being brainwashed by Deathstroke, leading the League of Assassins, an various other horrible things, Cass went to Hong Kong to find herself. Tim showed up to give her back her Batgirl costume. He told her she was still a part of the family and she explained that even if she was, that didn't mean Gotham felt like home. He said that was fine, she could stay in Hong Kong, call herself whatever she liked, even gave some name ideas. The next time we see her she's wearing a bat on her chest again and calling herself Black Bat.

Damian Wayne

Robin - Given the costume by Dick when he became Batman, Damian added a collar, hood, and laced boots, as well as a terrible attitude, to his Robin portrayal. I've been told the 10 year old son of Bruce Wayne has moments of adorableness, but haven't been willing to wade through the buckets of blood to find them. His Batcow is cute, though.

Redbird - After being grounded by Bruce, Damian knocked out Alfred and took up the identity of Redbird. We assume he doesn't know this was formerly the name of Tim's car. His mask is great.

Helena Wayne

Robin - On Earth 2, Helena became the second Robin when her mommy Selina took her out crime fighting while Bruce was out of town. Her outfit is heavy on the armour and spikes.

Huntress - Helena seems to have become Huntress after her dad was killed. The outfit doesn't have the preboot's Huntress's belly window or short shorts and I think it's an improvement. However, as much as I like Bruce and Selina's daughter from an alternate reality who's now causing trouble in the DCnU, I miss the teacher who was a reluctant friend of Oracle. Did we have to lose Helena Bertinelli to gain Helena Wayne?

Selina Kyle
Catwoman - Selina isn't a Batkid, but she is sort of part of the family. First as a villain, than as a semi-hero, Catwoman has enjoyed Batman's company for a long, long time, in a wide variety of outfits.

Catbird - Authours may have changed her outfits, but few have changed her identity. With the nu52, however, all that's changed. During the event called Gothtopia, Selina was Batman's partner and called herself Catbird.

Black Mask - And during the event called Future's End, Catwoman is revealed to become Black Mask during a possible future.

Other Identities

Catgirl – Carrie Kelley, the Robin from Frank Miller's 'The Dark Knight Returns' started calling herself Catgirl in the sequel 'The Dark Knight Strikes Again'. She also changed costumes every few pages and I'm pretty sure she wore roller blades at one point (though I may be confusing her with Kitty Pryde.)

Aliases

Bruce Wayne – Matches Malone, Matthew Malone, Lefty Knox, Sir Hemingford Grey, Marty Loden, Lester Kurtz, Detective Hawke (Bludhaven PD), Gordon Selkirk, Frank Dixon, Chuck White

Selina Kyle – Irena Dubrovna, Elva Barr, Sadie Kelowski, Marguerite Tone

Dick Grayson – Robbie Malone, Freddy Lloyd, Chester Honeywell, Freddie Dinardo

Babs Gordon – Amy Beddoes

Tim Drake – Alvin Draper, Tim Wayne, Caroline Hill, Todd Richards, Gary Glanz