For the member of Leviathan, see Margot Morrison.

"You know how this works. We steal from the rich because they'll never miss it. You aren't supposed to miss them."

—Margot to Reagan^[src]

Margot is an extremely intelligent and deft thief known as Magpie, who is drawn to shiny objects and thus; has a penchant for pickpocketing the rich. She is the daughter of an unnamed woman, the sister/former associate of Reagan and an enemy of Batwoman in Gotham City.

Biography

Original multiverse

Early life

Margot was born in Gotham City to an English teacher and raised in conditions of great poverty alongside a sister, Reagan.^[1] In her childhood, she lived in a quiet neighborhood in a small, yet welcoming building of ten apartments. However, when a group of real estate moguls began buying these buildings to turn them into luxury penthouses, Margot, her family, and all their neighbors were forcibly evicted.

Due to the hardships her family endured growing up, Margot developed an obsession for shiny objects and matured the belief that people have to do whatever possible to survive. Thus, she eventually began a criminal career as a jewel thief. As a cover, Margot worked as a photographer to case the places she wanted to steal from.^[2]

Operating as Magpie

At some point, Margot took up the name "Magpie" and built her own "nest", a secret base of operations completed with sensors that, if activated, would blow up the room to kill anyone who trespasses.^[2] She also recruited her sister, Reagan, to aid in her crimes by looking out for events where expensive objects and valuables were being held.^[1]

In the fall of 2018, after multiple robberies, Margot was almost caught by a guard and she used explosives that severely injured him to escape, catching the media's attention in the process.^[2]

Stealing Martha Wayne's necklace

When Kate Kane authorized Martha Wayne's pearl necklace to be put on display at the Museum of Antiquities to represent strong women in Gotham, Margot was responsible for taking photos of the necklace in Wayne Tower. She and her team followed the curator Roxanna's instructions until they had enough.

That night, Magpie broke into a museum to steal a jeweled Fabergé egg but Batwoman arrived and cut her cable. They began to fight, during which Magpie briefly tried to persuade Batwoman to join her but the vigilante refused, also mentioning she was allergic to feathers, like the ones stuck all over Magpie's attire. The thief briefly chuckled in amusement about her somewhat advantage over the bat-themed vigilante. In their altercation, Magpie and Batwoman proved themselves equally skilled as belligerents while trading barbs on the former's choice of career and moniker. Magpie escaped by jumping out of a window. Batwoman threw a batarang at her, only to miscalculate the weapon's return and miss, which also shattered a priceless vase held at the museum.

The next day, Magpie broke into Wayne Tower and quickly knocked out Luke Fox when he arrived to confront her. She then stole Martha's pearl necklace.

Magpie printed out a 3-D model of the necklace rigged with explosives and put it on display to distract Batwoman so she could steal various jewels in the museum. However, Margot was foiled by Batwoman and arrested. When Kate confronted her over the many lives she endangered, Margot simply replied that she wasn't born with Kate's privilege and needed to survive. She was eventually incarcerated at Blackgate Penitentiary.^[2]

Anti-Monitor Crisis

During the Anti-Monitor Crisis, Margot as well as everyone in the multiverse except for the seven Paragons, was killed in an antimatter wave by the Anti-Monitor on December 10, 2019,^[3] only to be restored a month later, after the Paragons and the Spectre created a new universe.^[4]

New multiverse

Time at Arkham

At some point, Margot was deemed insane and sentenced to Arkham Asylum. During one therapy session with Dr. M. Butler, she stared blankly out of a window and only intervened to correct Tommy Elliot when he got her name wrong.^[5]

Helping Alice and escape

Alice enlisted Magpie's help to steal Lucius Fox's journal and set her free on Gotham. A tracking chip was implanted in Margot's neck to ensure she followed orders. Margot eventually reached the Lookout, where Johnny Sabatino was holding the journal for Tommy. When the man's office was clear, she descended from the ceiling and managed to find and break into the vault, successfully obtaining the journal.

Once Magpie arrived on the Lookout's rooftop and was about to make her escape, Batwoman suddenly appeared in front of her and the two fought each other for possession of the journal. Magpie was about to be defeated by Batwoman, so she threw the journal off of the roof as a distraction. When Batwoman went to retrieve it, the thief took her chance to escape.

Knowing that returning to Alice empty-handed was out of the question, Margot asked her sister, Reagan, to spend the night with Kate and bring the journal back to her. After doing so, Reagan met up with Margot in a square the next morning and gave her the journal. Margot insisted that this was just another job and her sister shouldn't have fallen for the mark. In response, Reagan angrily declared she was abandoning their partnership before they went their separate ways.

Margot then returned to Arkham with the journal, handing it over to Alice and Mouse. With her task completed, Alice removed the chip from Margot's neck as promised, finally letting her be "free to fly the coup." Margot quipped back that she was never a "homing pigeon" before escaping.^[1]

Margot subsequently went into hiding.^[6]

Personality

"You put a lot of lives in danger tonight."

"Well some people don't have the privilege of sitting in our tower, having angst about what to do with our lives, Ms. Kane. They just do it to survive."

—Kate Kane and Margot^[src]

Margot believes everything she does in pursuit of valuables is reasonable, despite the individuals she hurts or kills. Her main goal is to survive in life, even though she lets her kleptomania overtake her as she steals expensive, shiny objects. Ultimately, Margot claims she needs to steal because she wasn't born with a silver spoon like most of Gotham City's elites.^[2]

Despite often being at odds with her sister Reagan, who is far more sentimental, Margot loves her sister deeply. While she wasn't above coercing Reagan to help her, even if it meant her sister had to betray her love interest, Kate Kane, Margot seemed visibly saddened when Reagan was mad at her and ended their unofficial partnership.^[1]

Abilities

• Peak of human physical condition: As a thief, Margot is in top physical condition with remarkable flexibility and coordination, impressive durability, and quick reflexes. She is strong enough to knock out a grown man in a single hit. As Magpie, Margot is fast enough to exit a room unnoticed, and also has a high level of stamina.^[2]
  • Acrobatics/Free-running: Margot has great acrobatic skills and is able to evade some of Batwoman's tech, easily perform parkour, and scale buildings.^[2] She was also able to perform a backflip while evading enemy hits in a fight.^[1]
  • Honed senses: Margot has sharp hearing and sight, as well as keen skills of perception. She can pick up and incoming danger and react extremely quickly^[2] and identify who was approaching behind her back without looking.^[5]
• High-level intellect/Skilled tactician: Margot is an extremely intelligent individual and a very skilled tactician. She was able to predict Batwoman's moves and used several tricks and traps in an attempt to keep the vigilante occupied to get to the jewels.^[2]
  • Explosives expert: Margot knows how to use a 3-D printer to print explosives and disguise them as fake jewelry. She also uses small electronic magpies as bombs.^[2]
  • Expert thief: As a thief, Margot comes up with elaborate ideas on how to steal items. She mostly steals jewelry by breaking in through ceiling windows.^[2]
• Expert hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Margot is a very capable hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist. She uses her sharp nails and acrobatics, combined with grappling techniques, in an agile fighting style. Margot managed to go toe to toe with Batwoman several times, never being directly defeated^[2][1] and once temporarily trapped her in a hold.^[2]
• Photography: Photography was Margot's day job.^[2]

Equipment

Original multiverse

• Magpie suit: Margot wore a black uniform as her alter-ego, Magpie ^[2]
• Explosives: Margot utilized explosives as defensive weapons.^[2]
• Zip line: Margot uses zip lines and grappling hooks in order to move between Gotham's roofs.^[2]

New multiverse

• Magpie suit: Like in the original multiverse, Margot wears a protective suit as her alter-ego, Magpie.^[1]
• Zip line: Margot uses zip lines and grappling hooks to move between Gotham's roofs.^[1]

Appearances

Batwoman

Season 1 "Who Are You?" "A Narrow Escape" "If You Believe In Me, I'll Believe In You" "A Secret Kept From All the Rest" (mentioned) Season 2 "Kane, Kate" (mentioned) Season 3 "A Lesson From Professor Pyg" (mentioned)

Trivia

• Margot is a kleptomaniac and attracted to shiny objects, just like magpies, hence her moniker.^[2]
• This is Magpie's second live-action appearance, in which she first appeared in the TV show Gotham.

Behind the scenes

• In the DC comics, Magpie is Margaret Pye, a super-villain and enemy to Batman in Gotham City. Her first appearance in the comics was The Man of Steel #3 (November 1986).

References