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Like any DC character who’s been around for more than, say, ten years, there’s no simple answer to that question. Characters get complicated when reality folds and bends around them semi-regularly. Never the less, I will try and muddle through what should have been a simple history.
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- The Darkknight Daughter
Huntress Version 1.0
Before the Crisis on Infinite Earths, all the “Golden Age” characters resided on a world eventually dubbed “Earth-2.” Since these characters started back in the 30′s, their histories were longer and more developed by the time of the “modern” era. In that world’s Gotham City, the Batman eventually hung up his cowl. He married his long-time foe, now reformed, Catwoman. They had a daughter, and with that gene pool, you know she wasn’t going to stay at a desk. She went to law school, graduated, and became Helena Wayne, attorney by day, and the Huntress by night. She worked in Gotham with her “uncle,” the grown up Robin, and eventually joined her father’s old team, the Justice Society of America.
Huntress became best friends with team mate Power Girl, and they worked on the off-shoot team the Super Squad together. Huntress and Robin continued as Gotham’s protectors, even after the tragic death of Police Commissioner Bruce Wayne, the former Batman. Later, when some of the sons, daughters, and proteges of the JSA formed their own team, tired of being treated like kids by the older heroes, Huntress and Power Girl joined them as founding members of Infinity, Inc. Then came the Crisis on Infinite Earths. History was reworked, and all the Earths merged into one. In this new setting, none of the direct “duplicate” heroes had a place, which also meant no place for their offspring. Huntress died fighting the Anti-Monitor’s Shadow Demons. The caption of the panel in which she died used the phrase “the bodies were never found” (Robin died here as well), and set off a furor of fan speculation. It was so bad that the next JSA project opened at the funeral for Robin and Huntress, whose bodies were, after all, recovered. Then the post-Crisis history set in, and the vast majority of the planet forgot there ever had been a Huntress.
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- Huntress, the New York City reboot
Huntress Version 2.0
Huntress Version 2.0- After the Crisis, DC had some gaps in their line up from all the carnage. Huntress was reborn, now Helena Janice Bertinelli. She was a child of a powerful New York City Mafia family, and was abducted by a powerful rival when she was quite young. She was sent to Europe to boarding schools, and grew up ignorant of her heritage. Helena eventually returned to NYC, and her family was killed by rivals at a wedding. Helena alone survived, and went on the run with her bodyguard, Tony Angelo, a.k.a. “Sal.”. He trained her to fight, building on her Olympic level gymnastic skills. Huntress sought to avenge her family, seeking the assassin known as Omerta, and clashed over her methods with the Batman a few times. She also was briefly a member of the Justice League International. Huntress was adept with crossbow, whips, knives, and a tranquilizer pistol.
Somewhere in here, there was what’s known as a “soft reboot” where they reworked the character yet again.
Huntress Version 2.1
Now, the Bertinellis were a Gotham mob family. She still grew up without knowing her past, and was taken under the wing of her cousin Sal after her family was killed. Helena (now her middle name is Rosa, I guess it sounded more Italian), learned all manner of deadly arts from Sal, an assassin by trade. She eventually returned to Gotham, and repeatedly clashed with Batman over her violent methods. Huntress was eventually, provisionally, accepted into the Justice League. She was, ironically, dismissed from the League for trying to shoot the downed Prometheus in the head with a crossbow bolt. Years later, Green Arrow would kill the villain by shooting him in the head with an arrow. Huntress had brief romantic flings over time with both Nightwing and Question. During No Man’s Land, she regained much of Batman’s respect, by staying, fighting for the people, and even creating the costume eventually worn by Cassandra Cain as Batgirl. Eventually, she came to the attention of Oracle, the DCU’s premier heroic hacker, and much later became a member of Oracle’s team, the Birds of Prey. Huntress is an expert fighter and shot with a crossbow.
This is the modern version of the Huntress that most are familiar with. She is the one who appeared on Justice League International, and has been part of the Bat-family for quite sometime. I’m not wholly sure why they changed a relatively new character, but they did, and you really can’t reconcile the two. The middle name change to one side, they just act too differently. So, at present, while there is, and has been, only one Huntress in the DCU, there have been three. Confused yet? Welcome to the shifting sands of DC continuity.
Oh, and just to be confusing, Huntress was also the name of a Golden Age villainess for a time.
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Clik here to view. - One of the many costumes worn by the modern Huntress
Recommended Readings:
Dark Knight Daughter- a trade that collects the Huntress backup stories that used to appear to back of the Wonder Woman title, written by Paul Levitz, who currently writes the Legion of Super Heroes. This is Huntress 1.0, the JSA version. All the rest below are 2.1.
Huntress: Year One- a modern retelling/update of the current Huntress’ origin, with appearances by Batman and Batgirl Barbara Gordon, written by Ivory Madison.
Nightwing/Huntress- They team up to solve a murder, and end up briefly together, in part a ploy on Huntress’ part to learn more about the Bat Family she’s never been accepted into. This was by Devin Grayson, who started as a good writer before utterly losing it towards the end of her run on the Nightwing series (IMHO).
Huntress: Cry For Blood- This is a great character study of Helena, what drives her, and what she will and won’t do as a character. It’s a great series, with appearances by another personal favorite of mine, the Question. This was written by Greg Rucka, who is one of DC’s better writers in my opinion.