Grace Balin
Grace Balin is a marine biologist who is involved in an accident that leaves her paralyzed and dependent on a wheelchair for mobility. She continues to work at the Gotham Aquarium until it is supposed to be closed for lack of funding. Grace experiments with spinal cord tissue regeneration using orca spinal cord tissue, giving herself the ability to transform into an orca hybrid. [2] [3] [4] She can easily switch between her normal and powered forms, though she remains paraplegic in her human form. While battling Batman, Orca is forced into an underwater cave and begins to revert to normal, forcing Batman to give her a serum to permanently transform her and prevent her from drowning. Having ingested the formula, Orca swims away. [5]
In One Year Later , Orca is found dead in the sewers under Gotham City. She appears to have been shot in the head by Harvey Dent, although Batman is convinced Dent is not the true killer. Orca's murder was orchestrated by the Great White Shark, who plans on becoming the top crime boss in Gotham. [6]
Orca is reintroduced in Nightwing (vol. 4) #11, where she is a part of a criminal group in Bludhaven called the Whale's Enders and is ordered to kill Nightwing. [3] [7] Orca was formerly a member of the Run-Offs, a rehab group for former Gotham supervillains, but left because she considered herself too much of a monster to relate to them. [8]
