Who are DC's Turner Hayes, Harper Row, Carrie Kelley, Cullen Row and Duela Dent? Comic origin explored ahead of appearance in CW's Gotham Knights

CW's Gotham Knights has a number of intriguing characters from the Batman Comics. While some tend to have villainous ways, like Duela Dent, some have proven to be one of the top allies of the Caped Crusader, like Carrie Kelly.

Despite their different personalities, fans are extremely excited to see these characters working together in live-action. But before we get to that, let's go through their roots to find out more about them!

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Gotham Knights characters and their origins

1) Duela Dent

The Batman Family #6 (Image via DC Comics)

This infamous villainess called herself The Joker's daughter in her very first appearance in The Batman Family #6 in 1976. Her primary foe was Dick Grayson, who figured out her identity and stopped her shenanigans that troubled Gotham in record time. Duela has appeared in multiple issues impersonating the fictional daughters of famous Batman villains. One day she would pretend to be Penguin's daughter, the other day she would be Riddler's daughter.

In her quest for feigning appearances, Grayson discovered her actual father, the former district attorney of Gotham, Two-Face. It turns out that Harvey and Gilda Dent have a daughter, Duela Dent, and she's up to no good. When Dick confronts her about this, she instead calls herself a hero trying to revert to her father's karma.

The Batman Family #9 (Image via DC Comics)

While she appears to commit more diminutive crimes like thievery and is seen committing good deeds sometimes, her status as a hero is debatable. In later issues, she also joins the Teen Titans by the name Harlequin (not Harley Quinn) to further prove herself as a hero.

In the new 52 and other continuities, we see Duela in a much more horrifying avatar, but we think the writers are going to use her very first origin story for obvious reasons.

2) Carrie Kelly

The Dark Knight (1986) #2 (Image via DC Comics)

Carrie Kelly first appeared in Dark Knight #1 in 1986, a canon universe taking place in Gotham. The comic takes place at a time when Batman comes out of his retirement after a very long time, the reason for his retirement being Jason Todd's untimely death.

On Batman's first day back, he saves Carrie from an attack by a mutant gang, leading to her obsession with the Dark Knight. One day, she gets her own Robin costume in the hopes of working alongside Batman. She even starts fighting con-men in the alleys of Gotham to get his attention.

What makes this Robin different from most Robins is the presence of her biological parents. Carrie has parents, but they are rather neglectful of her. They're both stoners and drug addicts who once considered themselves activists fighting for Gotham's rights. Her parents don't appear to care much about Carrie and what goes on in her life.

One fine day, when she's was doing her usual job, stalking the Dark Knight, she ends up saving his life from the mutant gang leader, and to thank her for the effort, he accepts her as his Robin. Carrie then becomes the first female Robin to work alongside Batman in canon, but in prominent DC continuities, Stephanie Brown is considered worthy of the title.

3) Harper Row

Harper Row is one of the newest members of the Bat Family. She first appeared in Batman (vol. 2) #7 in 2012. She possesses extraordinary abilities when it comes to electricity and electronics, which made her noticeable to the Dark Knight in the first place.

One day, when she fixed an electrical problem, she gained a ticket to go to a party thrown by the Wayne foundation. She was hesitant to leave Cullen (her brother) behind as he was frequently bullied when she was not around. But when Cullen consistently requested her to go, she went to the party.

Unfortunately, when Harper came back, she saw her brother covered in blood on the floor. He was once again attacked, bullied, and beaten for being homosexual by the goons in the neighborhood. Harper then created a homemade taser to teach the goons a lesson, but she was outnumbered by them. Fortunately, Batman saved her from them and taught them a lesson on her behalf.

As a result, another youngster became obsessed. She followed Batman everywhere in an attempt to help the Caped Crusader. She even created a better design for the technology used in Gotham's security cameras, but she was neglected and criticized by the Dark Knight whenever she tried to help.

After some time, when she noticed that Batman was behaving abnormally (because of Damian's death), she went to Bruce Wayne to discuss some plans that might help Batman. At last, Batman saw her ideas and her efforts and accepted her as a part of the family.

4) Cullen Row

Cullen Row and his sister Harper were both beaten by their deadbeat father, so they moved away and started living in the Narrows (a slum in Gotham). Cullen is often bullied and ridiculed for being homosexual in the neighborhood and in his school, which leads to her sister getting into many fights.

As a result of Batman saving his sister from homophobic goons, Cullen idolizes the Caped Crusader and plans on getting a bat-symbol tattoo. Batman is quite popular, I must say!

5) Turner Hayes

Turner Hayes is a character created solely for the sake of CW's Gotham Knights. He is the adopted son of the Dark Knight, who is very rebellious and is somewhat uncomfortable in Bruce Wayne's land of riches. Like most Robins, this character is also an orphan and is driven to live up to Batman's name.

While most fans may prefer an already established Robin like Dick Grayson, Jason Todd or Tim Drake in Gotham Knights, we have reason to believe that Turner is going to be just as amazing as these characters.

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CW's Gotham Knights is set to release in 2023, and we can't wait for it to shine on the network. The show has a very interesting plot, and is deemed to achieve success with such fascinating characters.

What do you think of these characters? Tell us in the comments.