The Dark Knight Returns Carrie Kelley is a 13-year-old schoolgirl and
scout whom Batman saves from the
Mutants on the night of his return from retirement. Idolizing Batman, Kelley 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. 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 his wife
Lynn Varley with helping to create. Batman accepts Kelley as Robin when she saves his life just as he is on the verge of being killed by the 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. Batman often threatens to fire Kelley, 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 Commissioner Ellen Yindel following
James Gordon's retirement, oppose Batman's methods and intend to arrest him. As Robin, Kelley plays a crucial part in tracking down and confronting the
Joker. While Batman goes after Joker, Kelley manages to dispose of a bomb, but gets into a tangle with Fat Abner, Joker's accomplice. As they fight, Abner is decapitated by an overhanging section of the track, driving Kelley momentarily into shock and tears, but recovering enough to rescue a seriously injured Batman from capture by the police. Kelley, along with Batman and the Sons of Batman, helps restore order in Gotham after a nationwide blackout caused by an electromagnetic pulse Batman. Unnerved by Batman's activities, the United States government sends
Superman to bring him down. Using a variety of powerful weapons, including synthesized
kryptonite, Batman manages to defeat Superman, but is apparently killed in the process. In actuality, Batman faked his death, with Kelley recovering him from his grave.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again 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. 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. Kelley eventually comes into conflict with a supernatural man resembling Joker, who is revealed to be
Dick Grayson having resented her because he had been shoddily treated and dumped by Batman. Her lips are badly
lacerated and several of her bones are broken in the fight. Thinking that she is about to die, Kelley tells Batman that she loves him, with Batman later reflecting that he feels the same. Frank Miller clarified in an interview in the book
Batman Through the Ages that Batman saw Kelley as a daughter, meaning Kelley most likely saw Batman as a father figure.
The Dark Knight III: The Master Race Three years after being missing, Batman makes some appearances in
Gotham for the first time. After a confrontation with the
GCPD and Commissioner Yindel, Batman is apprehended and unmasked as Kelley. Kelley and Bruce Wayne see the news on the
Kandorians, led by Quar, giving mankind three days to surrender to their demands and accept them as gods. Bruce and Kelley go to the
Fortress of Solitude and wake
Superman, who has been sitting and covered by ice for three years. Kelley reunites with the Bat Boys Army while Batman and Superman defy Quar. After being defeated by
Lara, Superman is encased in
black matter by Quar, who turns to Gotham and demands they hand over Batman to them or face obliteration. Bruce presents Kelley, as a "graduation present", a green and purple
Batgirl outfit and sends her on a mission to engage
Aquaman’s help to find and free Superman. After the
Kryptonians are defeated, Kelley is attacked by
Baal and disfigures his face using a slingshot and
kryptonite. Lara confronts Kelley and it's about to kill her when
Diana stops her. Kelley witnesses the fight between Diana and Lara, impressed by the power both of them show. Later, Batgirl finds out that Batman was killed by Quar before escaping. Batman is resurrected after being immersed in a Lazarus Pit. While following a lead on a crime, Commissioner Yindel is captured by
Bruno and the
Jokers. She is saved by Batman and Batgirl. They then head to the desert where the Kryptonians are joining forces again and use a band of bats to confuse them, causing them to disparately attack themselves, the rest are eliminated by the four remaining Quar's children. Superman, Batman, and Batgirl then attack them but they go nuclear and are about to explode when the
Atom appears and reduces them in size so the explosions are insignificant. Two months later, as Batman continues to determine Superman's fate, Kelley returns with a new suit of her own design. Declaring that she has too much experience to go back to being Batman's apprentice, she instead becomes his partner as
Batwoman.
The New 52 In September 2011,
The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. On Prime Earth, Carrie Kelley makes her first appearance in
Batman and Robin #19 (titled
Batman and Red Robin). She is a college student and
Damian Wayne's acting instructor. As a homage to
The Dark Knight Returns, she wears a Robin costume as a Halloween costume on her first appearance.
DC Rebirth In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "
DC Rebirth" which restored its continuity to a form much as it was before "The New 52". Carrie Kelley appears in a possible future where Bruce Wayne chose to retire as Batman for a chance to spend the rest of his life with
Catwoman. Kelley, who is implied to have succeeded him as Gotham's protector, is shown with an elderly Selina as Bruce dies. ==Other versions==