| The Huntress | |
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Art from the cover to Birds of Prey #91, by Jesus Saiz |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Huntress #1 (April 1989) |
| Created by | Joey Cavalieri Joe Staton (based upon the Helena Wayne character by Paul Levitz and Joe Staton) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Helena Rosa Bertinelli |
| Team affiliations | Birds of Prey Batman Family Justice League Outsiders Checkmate |
| Notable aliases | Batgirl, Helena Bartholomew, Helena Bonham Caprice |
| Abilities | Excellent athlete, marksman, and hand-to-hand combatant. |
Huntress (real name Helena Rosa Bertinelli) is a fictional character in the DC Universe. Based upon the Earth-Two character Helena Wayne, she is one of several DC characters to bear the Huntress name. Helena was also for a time one of the versions of Batgirl and was a longtime member of the Birds of Prey.
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In the 1989 Huntress series, Helena Rosa Bertinelli, who was born into one of Gotham City's most prominent Mafia families, is a withdrawn girl. At the age of six, she was kidnapped and raped by an agent of another Gotham crime family. Her parents, Guido and Carmela, send her to a boarding school and assign a bodyguard for her protection. After she witnesses the mob-ordered murder of her entire family at the age of 19, she crusades to put an end to the Mafia. She travels, accompanied and trained by her bodyguard Sal, before returning to Gotham to make her debut as the Huntress.
Huntress' origin was revised in 2000 in the six-issue Batman/Huntress: Cry for Blood limited series written by Greg Rucka, art by Rick Burchett and Terry Beatty. Helena Rosa Bertinelli witnesses the murder of her entire family in their home when she is aged 8; a young Helena Rosa Bertinelli believes Franco Bertinelli to be her father, but her father is actually Santo Cassamento, the don of a rival mafia family, who was carrying on an affair with Helena's mother, Maria. The story revolves around Helena's exile from Gotham, ordered by Batman, who finds her to be too violent and out of control. In an extended retreat with Richard Dragon and Vic Sage (The Question), she tries to achieve better emotional balance, returning to Gotham to confront her true father and learn more about her family's murder. She faces a choice between the more ethical woman she is becoming and the earlier Helena, who still hears the vengeance call as "blood cries for blood."
Huntress starred in her own six-issue biweekly Year One miniseries from May to July 2008 by Ivory Madison and Cliff Richards.[1] The story recounts and expands upon the beginning of Helena's vigilante career. She is in Sicily, days from turning 21 and receiving the inheritance from the murder of her family, which occurred before her eyes when she was eight years old. Learning more about her family's murder, Helena adopts a costume disguise and weaponry to seek revenge, confronting not only the men who ordered her family's death, but the assassin himself.
In the process, she establishes herself as angrier and more violent than a standard costumed hero, foreshadowing the conflicts with more mainstream heroes, predominately Batman. She crosses paths with Barbara Gordon (destined, as Oracle, to be a close friend and colleague), Catwoman, and Batman, who will become partial mentor, partial antagonist during her subsequent career as a Gotham superhero. She states that her compulsion derives from the moment before her family was murdered, when she believes she could have acted to save them. The story ends with her renouncing the Bertinelli legacy of crime and “baptizing” herself The Huntress.
Batman rarely accepts the Huntress, regarding her as unpredictable and violent. However, when Commissioner Gordon questions Batman about his attitude towards the Huntress, Batman replies; "You know exactly why I don't approve...You're not the only one she reminds of Barbara" — in reference to Barbara Gordon, who had previously fought crime as Batgirl. Others in the Batman family feel differently; for instance, Tim Drake has a good relationship with her. Early in his career, he works with the female vigilante, and later clears her name in a murder case.
Huntress is briefly involved with the Justice League International when she happens upon a brainwashed Blue Beetle attempting to murder Maxwell Lord. The League is impressed, and asks her to join. However, besides League members helping her on one of her own cases and getting a tour of the group's New York embassy, she never officially joins the team.
During the League's restructuring following the Rock of Ages crisis, Batman sponsors Huntress' membership in the Justice League,[2] hoping that the influence of other heroes will mellow the Huntress, and for some time, Huntress is a respected member of the League. Under the guidance of heroes such as Superman, Helena grows in confidence, even playing a key role in defeating Solaris during the DC One Million storyline; inspired by the time capsules students in her class had been making, she realises they had over 800 centuries to set up a plan that would result in Solaris's defeat in the future. She also helps the League defeat foes like Prometheus and encourages Green Lantern to fight the Queen Bee's hypno-pollen during her invasion of Earth. However, she is later forced to resign after Batman stops her from killing the currently-incapacitated Prometheus.[3]
In the 1999 No Man's Land storyline, an earthquake levels Gotham City. The United States government declares Gotham City a "No Man's Land," and Batman disappears. To bring order to the city, Huntress assumes the mantle of Batgirl, and she discovers criminals fear her more as Batgirl than they do as Huntress.[4] However, Batgirl fails to protect Batman's territory from Two-Face and his gang of more than 200 criminals, leading to an argument between her and Batman. Huntress refuses to follow Batman's exact orders and gives up the Batgirl costume.[5]
Huntress then ends up with former police officer Petit and his men, who had broken off from the group led by former commissioner James Gordon, Petit believing that extreme force was the only way to survive No Man's Land. Batman intentionally drove Huntress to join Petit, knowing she could keep him in line and prevent him from hurting any innocent people. During Christmas Eve, the Joker attacks Petit's compound. Petit is killed and the Huntress stands her ground, barely surviving the attack as the Joker and twenty of his men attempt to take control of the compound. Batman and Nightwing intervene in time and Huntress is taken to a field hospital operated by forces who wanted to rebuild Gotham City.
Huntress is asked to serve to fill in an empty spot of the Outsiders after Arsenal sustains major injuries on a mission.[6]
The Huntress becomes involved with Oracle and Black Canary in the comic series Birds of Prey, establishing a close friendship with Black Canary in the process as their initial storyline featured them going up against a man called Braun who had seduced and left them both.
The Huntress also appeared in the Hush storyline. In the storyline, Huntress saves an immobilized Batman's life from a criminal gang when he suffers a fractured skull from a fall after his batrope is cut over Crime Alley. Batman thinks to himself how she is, "so much like I was when I started out", and "she's better than she knows..." In the story, Huntress continues her semi-feud with the Scarecrow. She eventually returns with a new costume and equipment, paid for by Thomas Elliot. While under the influence of Scarecrow's fear toxin, she fights Catwoman, thinking her to be her old self and wants to be more like the Dark Knight.
In 2006, the narratives of most DC Comics superhero series skipped one year. In the One Year Later stories, Huntress works with other members of Oracle's group: Black Canary, Lady Blackhawk, Lady Shiva, and Gypsy. With Black Canary's departure from the team (issue #99), in issue #100 Huntress and Lady Blackhawk are Oracle's top two agents, with full access to Oracle as needed (along with Black Canary, should she decide to return). Helena is made the team's field commander.
In issue #116, Helena is savagely beaten and kidnapped after teaming up with Lady Blackhawk on a mission to stop Killer Shark. The villain's accomplice, Killer Queen Shark (who was in reality a brainwashed Lady Blackhawk), takes her to a submarine and stuffs a bound and gagged Helena into a torpedo hatch. Huntress cuts herself free and attacks the villains, defeating Killer Shark and eventually returning Lady Blackhawk to normal.
Huntress later returns to Gotham after the Birds disband, aiding Cassandra Cain in maintaining order after Gotham descends into chaos during the midst of the Battle for the Cowl event.
Joined by Lady Blackhawk and Grace Choi, Huntress later assists her then love interest Catman and his team the Secret Six in a massive supervillain battle to steal Neron's Get Out Of Hell Free Card.[7]
Helena briefly appears in Final Crisis: Requiem, as one of the heroes attending the funeral of Martian Manhunter.[8] After Franklin D. Roosevelt's posthumous Article X draft is put into effect, Helena is one of the superheroes assembled by Alan Scott to battle Darkseid's invading forces.[9] In Final Crisis: Revelations she helps The Question (Renee Montoya) fight Cain so that she can recover The spear of destiny and free The Spectre.
In the aftermath of Batman R.I.P and Battle for the Cowl, Helena assists the new Batman, Dick Grayson in battling Man-Bat.[10] She begins appearing in the The Question co-feature of Detective Comics, aiding Renee Montoya, Vic Sage's successor to the Question identity.[11] Sporting a new design, Helena helps the Question in helping take down a criminal syndicate, and eventually ends up paying off the hitman known as Zeiss after he is hired to kill the two vigilantes. With help from Oracle, Question and Huntress head to Ukraine to find more info on the syndicate they are after. On the way to their next destination, Helena and Renee are captured by the police force of Oolong Island.
During the Brightest Day event, Oracle gathers the Birds of Prey back together in Gotham. In addition to getting the band back together, Oracle adds Hawk and Dove to the team. Huntress aids Black Canary (who had now left the Justice League), in a battle against a new villainess calling herself the White Canary.[12] The Birds soon stike up an uneasy alliance with the Penguin, who ultimately betrays them and severely injures Zinda and Hawk. He attempts to kill Huntress as well, but she and Dove easily defeat him.[13] While Dove takes Hawk and Zinda to a hospital, Huntress binds and gags the Penguin with duct tape, intending to take the villain prisoner in order to interrogate him. After being informed by Oracle that she has to leave the Penguin behind, Huntress considers murdering him in cold blood, but instead opts to leave him alive.[14]
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