Batgirl's biography in Gotham Knights is updated after the initial controversy

Gotham Knights recently found itself in hot waters with fans. Batgirl's official biography, which was earlier uploaded on the game's website, was criticized for being tone-deaf and promoting a harmful representation of disabled people.

WB Games Montreal quickly responded to the matter and adjusted the text. Batgirl, one of the four playable characters in the game, went through a traumatic "face-off" in the canon, which restricted her to a wheelchair.

The fictional hero has often been at the center of controversy because of the incident which left her paraplegic. In 2015, readers had reacted to a violent cover, done by Rafael Albuquerque, of a Batgirl comic issue.

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WB Games Montreal listened to fans and addressed their concerns regarding Batgirl in Gotham Knights

Barbara Gordon, or Batgirl, is the daughter of Jim Gordon and is part of the Batman Family. Alan Moore's iconic 1988 Batman: The Killing Joke gave her a backstory where the Joker shoots and paralyzes her. This resulted in her becoming the Oracle - "a powerful information and communications expert".

In the earlier biography of the hero on the Gotha Knights website, WB Games Montreal continued:

"But her father's death spurred her to train and recover from her wounds so that she could return to active duty as Batgirl."

This was met with severe backlash from fans of Gotham Knights. Terming it as terrible and an attempt to minimize the seriousness and severity of Barbara's paralysis as wounds, the wording was criticized for making it sound like the disability could be overcome simply through motivation and gritty training.

Fans pointed out that they brushed over the details and instead could have stated that she recovered with the help of advanced technologies that accelerated her healing or through other such courses.

In a recent Q&A on Gotham Knight's Discord, the creative director of the game, Patrick Redding, stated:

"We worked with the awesome folks at AbleGamers to learn about different types of spinal injuries and the potential for someone to regain mobility."

Redding explained that the circumstances surrounding Barbara's injuries would not be the same in some important ways as those portrayed in the comics.

He continued stating that the character:

"Has been through multiple surgeries followed by a lot of physical therapy and pain management."

Players will be able to see the same in the Belfry, where:

"She’s doing exercises and stretches that are designed for that ongoing rehabilitation. She also has back bracing integrated into her suit and you’ll see it in her off-duty gear in the Belfry."

He concluded by saying that the developers are aware of the issue in their earlier wording and have updated the descriptions on the Gotham Knights site to address these criticisms that fans had rightly put up.

The current biography of Batgirl on the Gotham Knights website states:

"With extreme training and rehabilitation, she recovered from her wounds, and returned to active duty as Batgirl."

For the players interested in going through the Q&A, which touched on several different topics regarding the game, they merely need to join the official Gotham Knights Discord, which has the conversation stored. They can join the same here.

The upcoming action RPG, based on the iconic DC Comics characters, Gotham Knights, will be released on October 25 later this year.

The title will be available for Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The long-awaited game is set after the death of Batman and is reportedly influenced by the comic series Batman: Gotham Knights and will not.