Warning! Spoilers ahead for Titans season 3, episode 6
In Titans season 3 the show introduces Barbara Gordon (Savannah Welch), but episode 6, “Lady Vic,” clarifies a large change to her alter-ego as the computer genius Oracle. While Barbara’s new role as Commissioner Gordon and her distaste for Batman made it unlikely that she was still operating as Oracle, Titans had not previously mentioned the name. The change that the show has made makes Oracle a much darker symbol in today’s society.
In the comics, Barbara Gordon’s origin story sees her become Batgirl because she wants to help make Gotham a better place. After she had effectively retired from the role, she was shot by the Joker in “The Killing Joke”, not because she was Batgirl but because she was Commissioner James Gordon’s daughter. The attack leaves her paralyzed from the waist down and she takes on the new alter-ego of Oracle. In her new role, Barbara Gordon uses her extensive knowledge of computer systems and her eidetic memory to be able to provide Batman with all the information he needs about the city. After cutting ties with Batman, Oracle becomes the leader of the vigilante group the Birds of Prey.
Much of Barbara Gordon’s backstory has remained the same in Titans, with the character having served as Batgirl alongside Dick Grayson (Brenton Thwaites), been attacked by Joker, and largely cut ties with Batman. However, change comes with the show’s reference to Oracle, which is no longer a codename Barbara used, but rather that of a computer system. Based on Barbara’s discussion with Dick, it seems likely that Oracle was an AI that gained sentience, as she refers to it as a “monster” and appears to be scared of it. While Barbara Gordon still gatekeeps exclusive access to Oracle, it is unclear from season 3 episode 6 as to why that would be the case.
Changing Oracle from being Barbara Gordon’s persona to being a monstrous AI makes a lot of sense for Titans in 2021. Titans has demonstrated Nightwing unabashedly using Wayne technology to track people and hack into surveillance systems, acts that are certainly illegal. Beyond being illegal, however, the breach of people’s privacy is a larger issue for the show in today’s technology-driven world where online privacy is a very real concern. By making Oracle into a monster that shouldn’t be used, it allows Titans to show the negative side of that surveillance culture and highlight the issues with the way the original Oracle had access to people’s personal information.
All of this doesn’t stop Dick from asking to use Oracle, and it is only Barbara Gordon’s fear of what the machine could do that keeps them from using it to help track a killer. Having introduced Oracle as a concept within the Titans universe and then moved on from it so quickly makes it extremely likely that the team, with or without Barbara Gordon, will end up accessing Oracle later in the season as it currently serves as a sort of Chekov’s computer system. While Titans season 3 already has multiple villains and potential villains (Red Hood, Scarecrow, Blackfire, and Lady Vic), before long the Titans will probably have to deal with the fallout from their use of Oracle as well.
Titans releases new episodes every Thursday on HBO Max.
