Establishing herself as a Gotham vigilante, she would have a short, unsuccessful stint as the fourth incarnation of Batman's partner and sidekick Robin in the early 2000s, replacing her longtime love interest Tim Drake.

In other media, Brown was portrayed by Morgan Kohan in a 2021 episode of the Arrowverse series Batwoman, and by Anna Lore in Gotham Knights (2023), in which she is one of the main characters; she does not use the Spoiler, Robin or Batgirl monickers in either apparitions.

Stephanie Brown was introduced in a three-issue story arc in Detective Comics #647–649 in which writer Chuck Dixon reinvented a villain called the Cluemaster.

The character was at the center of a high-profile teen pregnancy storyline in 1998, which caused Wizard Magazine to name Robin the best ongoing comic book of the year.

Stephanie remained an integral part of the Robin supporting cast for over a decade, until her death in the 2004 crossover storyline Batman: War Games.

Her death was revealed to have been faked in a 2008 story,[3] and she became the eponymous lead character in the 2009 Batgirl series written by Bryan Q. Miller, with pencils by Lee Garbett.

[12] On October 11, 2013, writer Scott Snyder announced at New York Comic Con that Brown would appear as Spoiler beginning in the third issue of DC's 2014 weekly series Batman Eternal.

Soon after, Robin's father sends him away to boarding school, and the couple is forced into a long-distance relationship, made even more complicated by the fact that Stephanie still did not know his real name.

Even after Batman, having decided that she was not crime fighter material, tells her to hang up her costume and have the Birds of Prey stop mentoring her, she still patrols secretly, in addition to going on occasional dates with Robin in their civilian identities.

Batman reluctantly accepts her as the new Robin, puts her through several months of intensive training, and makes her a better costume with roughly the same design as Tim's.

[18] In an effort to prove her worth to Batman, Stephanie steals one of his long-term plans for dealing with the entirety of Gotham's criminal underworld, arranging a meeting to bring them all together.

When Batman confronts the doctor, Thompkins claims she willfully withheld such treatment to send a warning to any of Gotham's youth intending to follow Stephanie's example.

Living with Leslie in Africa under an alias, Stephanie had been performing volunteer work until an attack from a local witch-hunting tribe prompted her to return to crimefighting, and subsequently to Gotham.

Because of Garcia's abduction, Stephanie and Barbara join forces with Batman and Robin, as some of the Gotham rogues are involved in the crime, including Roulette.

Stephanie was later asked by Barbara to shut down the vigilante operations of John Raymond, a wealthy young superhero who had been giving powerful exo-suits to a number of people in hopes of creating a nationwide army of crime-fighters he dubbed "Web Hosts".

After being convinced by John that he could keep his Web Hosts in line, Stephanie and Barbara agreed to not only allow him to continue his vigilante actions, but also upgrade the equipment he was using.

[28] In the first part of the Red Robin/Batgirl crossover story "Collision", Tim Drake returns to Gotham with proof that Bruce Wayne is not only still alive but also lost in time.

At the same time, immortal terrorist Ra's al Ghul begins his attack to destroy everything the Wayne family has built, in response to Tim crippling his League of Assassins organization during his quest.

The League of Assassins are eventually defeated after Tim thwarts Ra's al Ghul's plan strategically with Bruce Wayne's will that was made before his disappearance.

Stephanie would also show up against her mentor's nemesis, the Calculator, with his daughter, Wendy Harris, to rescue Barbara and Gotham itself after the villain injects nanites into the citizens and heroes of the city and controls them.

[30] She later appears alongside Batwoman and fellow teen superheroines Stargirl, Supergirl, and Lightning as part of an all-female team created by Wonder Woman to repel Professor Ivo's faux-alien invasion of Washington, D.C.[31] After Bruce Wayne's return, it is revealed that the true reason Cassandra Cain handed over her Batgirl mantle to Stephanie was that she was acting under her mentor's order in the event of his death or disappearance.

[32] Around this time, during The Lesson arc, Stephanie was forced to deal with a mysterious group known as The Order of the Scythe, who briefly framed her for murdering a student on her campus.

Stephanie experiences a number of future events, including a time-travelling adventure with Cassandra and Barbara, the Royal Flush Gang attacking her at her college graduation, and eventually training the new Batgirl, a girl named Nell.

She ultimately breaks free from the Black Mercy and confides in Barbara that despite the wonderful things she experienced while in the fantasy world, she preferred to live in the here and now.

[36] Following the Batman Eternal storyline, Brown as Spoiler helped other teens fight the Joker's chaos in Detective Comics: Endgame, and sought training from Selina Kyle and Eiko Hasigawa in Catwoman.

[37] After Red Robin is "killed" by Jacob Kane's Colony drones, Stephanie becomes depressed and questions her purpose and the world she wants to live in, in the "Victim Syndicate" storyline.

[41] When Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong, the General, infects Tim with the OMAC nanites and threatens to control Gotham, Batman and Cassandra ask Stephanie for help, and she reluctantly agrees.

[43] Instead of being cast down, Steph laughs and cracks into the timeline history that Brother Eye and the General have been using to manipulate Tim, showing him the truth, and convincing him to destroy the OMACs himself.

[46] In Batman: Urban Legends, it is revealed she and Tim broke up and are not speaking, although she is supportive when he comes out as bisexual and starts dating Bernard Dowd.

[47][48] In 2022, Stephanie and Cassandra received a series called Batgirls by Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad where they take up residence in one of Gotham's poorer areas after Fear State made them fugitives.