Huntress (comics)

For the film with Steve McQueen see: The Hunter. For its TV Spin-off, see:The Huntress (TV series)

The Huntress is a name used by several characters in DC Comics.

The Golden Age Huntress is a supervillainess, while the Bronze Age and Modern Age Huntresses are superheroines.

Paula Brooks

Main article: Paula Brooks

The Golden Age Huntress was a supervillain with the real name of Paula Brooks who battled the superhero Wildcat, first appearing in Sensation Comics #68.

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 was a super-heroine, and fought both Nazis and criminals as a Young All-Stars member.

Helena Wayne

The Silver 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.

Created by Paul Levitz and Joe Staton,and Bob Layton her 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. The bulk of her solo stories appeared as backup features in issues of Wonder Woman that were published in the early 1980s.

Helena was trained by her parents 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.

Helena begun her super-hero career when a criminal blackmailed her mother 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."

In All Star Comics #72, Helena formally joined the Justice Society of America where she struck up a friendship with fellow new superheroine Power Girl. As a JSA member, she participated in several of the annual JLA/JSA meetings, most of which took place on Earth-One. Helena was also briefly associated with the superhero group Infinity, Inc..

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, like that of her parents and Earth-Two's Dick Grayson, was retroactively erased from the remaining Earth and the world no longer remembered her.

Following the character's death and erasure from history in Crisis on Infinite Earths #12 (1986), DC created a new Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), whose costume and weaponry are similar to Helena Wayne's.

In Superman/Batman #27, Power Girl, whose memories of Earth-Two were restored, recollects an untold adventure she had with the Huntress in which they clash with the Ultra-Humanite and Solomon Grundy.

Helena Bertinelli

Main article: Huntress (Helena Bertinelli)

Following the 1985 miniseries, Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Helena Wayne version of the Huntress was removed from continuity. Due to the popularity of the character, DC Comics introduced a new version of the Huntress with the same first name and a similar costume, but with an entirely different backstory and different personality.

The Modern Age Huntress is Helena Rosa Bertinelli, the daughter of one of Gotham's mafia bosses who, after seeing her entire family murdered by a mob hit, vows revenge. During the No Man's Land she works as Batgirl, but not alongside Batman (who the citizens believe abandoned them).

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 League,^[1] 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.^[2]

The emergence of Bertinelli as the Huntress has not kept DC from occasionally paying homage to the Helena Wayne incarnation of the character. During a post-Crisis JLA-JSA team-up, Bertinelli is so impressed with the skill and prowess of the Flash (Jay Garrick), Hippolyta and Wildcat, she states humbly, "I wanna join the Justice Society . . . ."^[3]

Helena is currently a member of the Birds of Prey, and although still prone at times to excessive violence, she has become a valuable member of the team.

In other media

• In the Amalgam Comics title Dark Claw #1, Huntress and Ms. Marvel are merged together as Huntress.

• The Huntress's first appearance outside of comics was in the 1979 NBC Legends of the Superheroes TV specials, with actress Barbara Joyce portraying the character. Huntress and Black Canary are the only two superheroines featured among a cast of some of DC's biggest heroes, including Batman, the Flash, and Captain Marvel.
• The Helena Bertinelli version of the Huntress has appeared in the 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 of Roulette's to use mind-controlled female Leaguers in metahuman cage matches and her rivalry with Black Canary comes to a boil. As evident from a street sign, the match is held in Bludhaven, Gotham's neighbouring city. 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 graciously turns her offer down. Instead, the two decide to get the aggression out of their systems by going one last round, "best two falls out of three".
• The Huntress appears as a featured character in the short-lived live-action series Birds of Prey. This version of the Huntress, played by Ashley Scott, was mostly based on the Bronze 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.
• 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.[1]
• Huntress is an unlockable player character in the 2006 video game. Justice League Heroes.

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