Huntress (comics)
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The Huntress is a superheroine from DC Comics. Helena Rosa Bertinelli is the character who uses the name for the longest time. She first appears in Huntress #1 (April 1989).
Helena Bertinelli
Character history
In the 1989 Huntress limited series, Helena Janice Bertinelli, who was born into one of Gotham City's most prominent Mafia families, is a withdrawn girl.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 boarding school and assign a bodyguard for protection. Helena hides her fear and shame until the age of 19. After she witnesses the mob-ordered murder of her entire family at a wedding, she crusades to put an end to the crime families. She travels, accompanied and trained by her bodyguard Sal, before returning to Gotham to make her debut as the Huntress. This origin story is heavily revised in the 2000 limited series Huntress: Cry for Blood.
Batman rarely accepts the Huntress, believing her to be too unpredictable and violent. Others in the Batman family feel differently; for instance, Tim Drake has a good relationship with her. Early in his career he worked with the female vigilante, and later clears her name in a murder case. Batman sponsors Huntress' membership in the Justice LeagueJLA Secret Files #2, and for some time, Huntress is a respected member of the League. Under the guidance of heroes such as Superman, Helena grows in confidence but is forced to resign after Batman stops her from killing the villain Prometheus JLA #40.
In the Huntress: Cry for Blood limited series Huntress's origin is revised; 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. When a capo named Mandragora orders the murder of the Bertinelli family, his underling Cassamento arranges it, but orders that Maria be spared. The killer misinterprets the message and leaves eight-year-old Helena alive instead. Helena's maternal family sends her to Sicily to live with her cousins, the Asaros, an assassin family. Helena learns to hurt those who have hurt her. Helena's cousin Sal trains her in a variety of weapons and hand-to-hand combat techniques and schools her in the concept of omerta. When Sal and his father are arrested, a shocked Helena is sent to boarding school in Switzerland. Finally understanding that her family is involved in organized crime, Helena vows to wage war on the criminal underworld. At 16, she briefly returns to Gotham to attend a party held by her her mafia-connected uncle, where she first encounters Batman, who inspires her. She attends university at Palermo. Upon graduation, she returns to Gotham and becomes the Huntress.
Years later, Helena discovers the truth of her parentage and her family's slaying. She confronts Cassamento, who long ago realized that his daughter's return coincides with the debut of the Huntress. He threatens to reveal her identity to the rest of the mob if she does not work for him. To preserve her identity, she reveals to her uncle that Cassamento was responsible for the deaths of her family and asks that Cassamento be killed.
She is eventually featured in the four-issue "Nightwing/Huntress" limited series, in which Helena partners with Nightwing on a mission against the mafia. The young heroes engage in a brief affair, after which Helena confesses to Nightwing that she seduced him partly because she thought it might help get her into the "boys club" of Batman's world. Later, Nightwing cares about Helena as a friend, but is annoyed whenever she brings up their sexual past. Although the affair was short, it also puts Huntress in some awkward situations with her later partner, Oracle, who has also been romantically linked to Grayson.
In the "" 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 temporarily assumes the mantle of Batgirl, and she discovers criminals fear her more as Batgirl than they do when she is the Huntress Batman: No Man's Land #0. When Batman returns, he tells her that if she failes him, she must to give up the costume. When Huntress fails to protect Batman's territory from Two-Face and his gang of more than 200 criminals Batman, holds her responsible and formally strips her of the title of Batgirl. The Joker later shoots the Huntress several times when she prevents him from murdering Gotham City's newborn infants Batman #574. She almost dies, but this seems to earn Batman's respect. However, this is only temporary. After the "No Man's Land" storyline ends and she recuperates, Batman and his "family" become distant and combative again when she is framed for a series of murders.
Huntress is asked to serve as co-leader of the Outsiders after Arsenal sustains major injuries on a mission Outsiders #8. She gets along well with the team, but frequently finds herself at odds with Nightwing, the other team leader. At the end of her mission with the Outsiders, it is revealed that the Huntress slept with Arsenal (one of Nightwing's best friends) in the past.
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. However, she leaves the team when she believes Oracle is manipulating her. Following Black Canary's request for aid in a battle, Huntress comes to terms with Barbara's actions and returns to the team. (Birds of Prey #85-6) She appears in a subplot depicting her attempts to take down the Gotham mafia by parlaying her family heritage into a position as a capo. When she turns over to Batman the detailed "mob atlas" of Gotham that she compiled, Batman evinces surprise and, uncharacteristically, expresses his gratitude. 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.
Paula Brooks
She was later retroactively renamed the Tigress in the pages of Young All-Stars. These stories took place prior to her villainous career. At this point, the young Paula Brooks (approximately age 18-19) was super-heroine, and fought both Nazis and criminals alongside Iron Munro, the first Fury, Neptune Perkins, Tsunami, and Dan the Dyna-Mite. During these stories, Paula expressed a fan worship of Paul Kirk, the Manhunter. She frequently made a play for Iron Munro as well. During a battle with the Nazi warriors known as Axis Amerika, Tigress was attacked and seemingly killed by the Valkyrie known as Gudra. She came back to life (or was revived, it was unclear if she really was dead or not) with a new attitude which led to her becoming the villainous Huntress.
In the All-Star Comics two-issue mini-series of the late 1990s that went under the byline "JSA Returns," Tigress was depicted in 1945 still on the side of the law, this time as the companion of Manhunter.
At some point though, she moved permanently to the criminal side and became one of Wildcat's biggest foes, as well as a member of the Injustice Society. She later married Sportsmaster aka Crusher Crock, one of the biggest foes of the Golden Age Green Lantern. The two of them were known as "Mr. and Mrs. Menace" and fought Black Canary and Starman in the 1960s as well as continuing to serve as members of the Injustice Society.
Pre-Crisis, the Huntress battled the Helena Wayne Huntress and was defeated. Also pre-Crisis, an Earth-1 Huntress and Sportsmaster were revealed. They fought Batgirl and Robin in "Batman Family" and then challenged the Earth-1 superheroes to a baseball game between heroes and villains. When the heroes won, the Earth-1 Huntress and Sportsmaster reformed and weren't seen again. After the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the villainous pair ceased to exist as the Golden Age versions became the dominant version in the new unified universe.
Post-Crisis, Helena Wayne never existed, so that battle did not take place. It is assumed that the Huntress and Sportsmaster vs. Batgirl and Robin battle did still take place. The softball game did not.
At some point, Huntress and Sportsmaster had a daughter named Artemis Crock. Artemis grew up to be a supervillain much like her parents. As Artemis she served as a member of Injustice Unlimited, fighting Infinity, Inc. She later took the name Tigress and served as part of the new Injustice Society alongside her on-again, off-again lover Icicle II, Shiv, Solomon Grundy, Wizard, Gentleman Ghost, Blackbriar Thorn and others. She also fought alongside Copperhead and Shadow-Thief against Hawkman and Hawkgirl.
The Paula Brooks Huntress was last seen out of uniform in Young Justice at an Olympic Games-type event where her daughter Artemis competed on behalf of Zandia, a country that harbours supervillains.
Helena Wayne
The Bronze Age Huntress was Helena Wayne, the daughter of the Batman and Catwoman of Earth-Two, an alternate universe established in the early 1960s as the world where the Golden Age stories took place. Earth-Two was also the home of the Golden Age versions of various DC characters. Helena's first appearance was in All-Star Comics #69 (December 1977) and DC Super-Stars #17, which came out the same month and revealed her origin.
Helena was born in 1957 to Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle Wayne, and grew up enjoying the benefits of being in a wealthy household. As a youth, she enjoyed a thorough education, as well as being trained by her parents, Batman and Catwoman, to become a superb athlete. After finishing school, she joined the law firm of Cranston and Grayson, one of whose partners was Dick Grayson, alias Robin.
In 1976, a criminal blackmailed Selina into resuming action once again as Catwoman, an act which eventually led to her death. Helena, deciding to bring the criminal responsible to justice, created a costume for herself, fashioned some weapons from her parents' equipment (including her eventual trademark, a crossbow), and set out to bring in the criminal. After accomplishing this, Helena decided to continue to fight crime, under the code name "the Huntress."
Helena soon found herself involved with the Justice Society of America (the group her father was a member of), and formally joined the group in All-Star Comics #72. Helena was also briefly associated with the superhero group Infinity, Inc..
Helena also struck up a friendship with fellow new superheroine Power Girl. In addition to Power Girl, Helena frequently worked with Robin and with a new hero named Blackwing. Some of her foes consisted of Thinker, the Joker, Karnage, Crimelord, Boa and Earthworm. Her lover for a time was Gotham District Attorney Harry Sims.
She made several visits to Earth-One. Her first was in Batman Family #17, where she met the Earth-One Batman, Robin, Batgirl and Batwoman, and fought the Earth-One Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Madame Zodiac. She took to calling the Earth-One Batman her "Uncle Bruce," and built a familiar relationship with him. As a member of the Justice Society, she participated in several of the annual JLA/JSA meetings, most of which took place on Earth-One. She also participated in the battle against the Adjusticator as part of the female force of multiple earths led by the Earth-One Wonder Woman. Other heroines involved in this adventure included Zatanna, Supergirl, Phantom Lady, Madame Xanadu, Power Girl, Black Canary, Wonder Girl, Raven and Starfire.
During the 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, Helena was killed while attempting to save the lives of several children. After Crisis ended, Helena Wayne's existence, along with that of her parents and Earth-Two's Dick Grayson, were retroactively erased from the remaining Earth, and the world no longer remembered her existence.
An untold case involving both herself and Power Girl's clash with the Ultra-Humanite and Solomon Grundy is referred to in recollection after Infinite Crisis.
Post Infinite Crisis, Catwoman names her daughter Helena, in possible reference to Helena Wayne.
Amalgam Comics
In the Amalgam Comics title Dark Claw #1, Huntress and Ms. Marvel are merged together as Huntress.In other media
- The Huntress' second non-comics media appearance was as a featured character in the short-lived 2000s live-action series Birds of Prey. This version of the Huntress, played by Ashley Scott, was mostly based on the Silver Age, Helena Wayne version, although she is named Helena Kyle in this series. She is the daughter of Batman, who disappeared after the death of her mother, Catwoman. The Huntress in this series worked with Oracle and Black Canary's daughter as the primary crimefighters in Gotham City. Unlike the previous versions of the Huntress, this series' version possessed low-level superpowers.
- The Helena Bertinelli version of the Huntress has appeared in the 2000s animated series Justice League Unlimited, primarily as the love interest and partner to The Question. She is voiced by Amy Acker and starred in the episode "Double Date." In this episode, Huntress' thirst for revenge against the murderer of her parents, Steven Mandragora, results in her expulsion from the Justice League. Green Arrow and Black Canary chase Huntress only to find her ready to kill Mandragora, until the Question talks her down and Steve's rescued son is revealed. In the subsequent episode "Question Authority," the Huntress helps the Question uncover a government conspiracy against the League. She later rescues him, with the help of Superman, from the Cadmus Project after he has been captured and tortured for information. Huntress also appears in the fifth-season episode "Grudge Match," in which she uncovers a plot to use mind-controlled female Leaguers in metahuman cage matches. She plays a significant role in freeing the other heroes and shutting down the organization behind the brawls. At the end of this episode, Black Canary offers to advocate that Huntress be reinstated as a League member, but Huntress turns her down.
- While nothing came of it, there was consideration of bringing Helena Wayne/Huntress into Batman Beyond, as it would make a good alternative to having a Batgirl Beyond.[link]
External links
- [Amalgam Comics: The Huntress]
- [Huntress Unofficial Webpage]
- [Sequential Tart: The Huntress and the Hunted]
- [The Watchtower Creator opinions on the Huntress]
References
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