Re: Babs needs to walk again
I'd say most if not all of them are junior in terms of Batman always being understood as #1, but specifically I think Babs would definitely be, especially after being out of commission for a while.
If Batman jumps the shark if he's no longer a loner, he jumped the shark pre-WWII since that's how long he's been with Robin. He is a father to his sons. Batman is, imo, a loner who draws people to him and feels the loss of the family he already lost. The fact that his relationships are distant, awkward or cold, or that he's hamstrung by his inability to get close to anyone doesn't make him not the father of the batfamily, it's what makes the batfamily dynamics interesting imo.
Mine is the brooding, tormented loner with a heart of gold as seen in the Burton and Nolan films and Mask of the Phantasm. Yours has "and Robin!" tacked on to it. The two really don't mix.
I think the loner and "and Robin" definitely mix, but that's me. I'm definitely not talking about the Nolan films here, where Barbara doesn't exist anyway. I am talking about the continuity where Bruce has sons and works with women as well. Bruce has lots of allies drawn to him despite his difficult nature. I don't know how to both have Nolan-verse and have Oracle leraning to walk again so she can reclaim her role as Batgirl, a role she held when Bruce wasn't an anti-social loner at all.
I think Barbara has already made herself his equal by being a completely different kind of hero.