Characteristics

Paula Brooks, the original Huntress

The Golden Age

The original Huntress, Paula Brooks, was a super villain in the Golden Age. Originally a super hero named the Tigress, Paula turned to crime, adopting the Huntress identity. Her first showing in the world was when she tried to capture Wildcat and place him in her collection of wild animals. She eventually joined the villainous team known as the Injustice Society and fell in love with, and married, Sportsmaster. Together they had a daughter, the current Tigress.

The Silver Age

Earth-2 Version: Helena Wayne

The Modern Age

Introduced in April of 1989 in Huntress #1, Helena Rosa Bertinelli was born into one of Gotham City’s biggest Mafia families. When she was only six years old, she was kidnapped and raped by a man from a rival Gotham Mafia Family. Her parents decided to send Helena to boarding school and hired her a personal bodyguard that would protect her as she grew up. She was sent to Europe for protection. At the age of 15 she learned that she came from one of Gotham City’s most influential Mafia families. When Helena was at a family wedding, her entire family was massacred by another Mafia family. She swore to rid Gotham of Mafia families and began her journey to become a vigilante. She traveled the world with her bodyguard Sal, who trained her in hand-to-hand combat.

Origins Revised

Huntress and Nightwing

Helena’s origins would later be revised during her own limited series. Helena believed her father to be Franco Bertinelli. Helena witnessed her parents’ (Franco Bertinelli and Maria Panessa) murder at the age of 8. The hit was ordered by Steven Madragora, capo of a local Mafia family. It was later revealed that her father was not Franco Bertinelli, but in fact, Santo Cassamento, the Don of one of Mandragora’s underling families, and the reason she wasn’t killed alongside the Bertinelli's. Helena was soon sent to Sicily to live with her cousins, the Asaros. They were an assassin family, which Helena would use to her advantage to learn how to punish those that destroyed her life. She was taught to defend herself by her cousin, Sal Asaro, member of a Sicilian assassin family, who also trained her in hand to hand combat and in a wide range of weapons. Sal and his father would later be arrested, resulting in Helena being sent off to boarding school in Switzerland. When Helena discovered her families dark secret, that they were involved in organized crime and that her family was one of the largest Mafia families in America, Helena would wage a war against organized crime. At the age of 16 she briefly returned to Gotham in an attempt to discover her family’s assassin while also attending her Mafia uncle’s party. This party was broken up by Batman and Helena became inspired by the crime fighter. When she first saw Batman, she decided to create the Huntress persona in his image. The fear that she saw on her uncles' and cousins' faces made her want to become a vigilante just like the Dark Night. She eventually took care of both the killer and Mandragora himself.

Helena would later attend the University of Palermo, and upon graduation returned to Gotham indefinitely. After years had gone by, Helena finally discovered the truth about her biological parents and who was responsible for murdering her family. Helena would soon confront Cassamento, who has deduced that Huntress is Helena because of the coincidence in their arrival in Gotham. He threatened to reveal her identity if she did not work for him, however Helena would not give in. She approached her uncle and told him the truth about who killed their family and asked him to kill Cassamento. In the end the plan to set up Santo was a success. What she had set out to do was finally done, Huntress threw away her costume and was left to find who she is.

Huntress wanted for murder?

Helena would team up with Nightwing to fight against the Mafia. During this time the two of them had a fling. Helena confessed to Nightwing that she did it because she thought it would help her get into the “boys club” of Batman’s world. Nightwing and Helena continued their relationship as friends.

Helena and Batman have never seen eye to eye, and he would rarely accept her as a hero because he believed Helena was too unpredictable and violent. However, Helena does get along with other members of the Bat family such as Tim Drake. The two of them have a good relationship and would also team up together. When Helena was framed for murder, Tim was there to help clear her name. Eventually, Helena would be offered a membership in the Justice League of America. Batman was the reason she was allowed on the Justice League, he would sponsor her. In time, Helena became respected amongst her peers in the Justice League. Also, working with Superman has helped Helena become much more confident in her abilities. She is eventually forced to resign when she attempted to murder the villain Prometheus.

Helena is Batgirl

Helena Taking Over The Batgirl Mantle

During the No Man’s Land arc, Helena decided to take on the persona of Batgirl at the absence of Batman. On her first night out as Batgirl, she discovered that the criminals feared her more as Batgirl than as Huntress. So with no one to fight off criminals, she decided to keep order in the city while Batman was missing. Upon Batman’s return, she is told that she may keep this identity under the condition that she does not fail him. She eventually does fail when she could not protect Batman’s territory from Two-Face and 200 of his henchmen. Batman held Helena responsible for the failure, she was stripped of her Batgirl title and returned to being Huntress. Soon afterwards, the Joker shot Huntress several times when she was able to stop him from murdering all of Gotham City’s newborn infants. It helped earn Batman’s respect, but she did not have it for long. When she finally recuperates, Helena was framed for murder and it seemed the Bat family has become distant to Helena. Except for Tim who stuck by her side and helped clear her name.

Birds of Prey

Huntress and Black Canary

Finding Out The Truth

She is eventually offered to join the Birds of Prey and work as Oracle’s agent alongside Black Canary. Black Canary and Huntress begin to develop a close friendship but Huntress would not stay on the Birds of Prey for long.Oracle knowing about what happened had kept a close eye on her and I guess in a way she had felt threatened on some scale of Huntress because she was afraid of losing Nightwing. Huntress had soon found out about how she knew after spying on Barbara and realizes what was going on. She realized that Oracle had been manipulating her the whole time and quit the team. Eventually, Huntress had to rejoin the team when she could not prevent an incident from getting worse and had to ask Oracle for help. While working for the Birds of Prey, Huntress still went out on solo missions. Her missions mainly consisted of revenge against the Mafia families. Batman feared that she wants to cause a massive gang war, but in the end she confronts Batman and gives him a map listing all of Gotham’s Mafia family locations and base of operations.

One year after Infinite Crisis, Huntress is still working with Oracle and the Birds of Prey along side Black Canary, Lady Shiva, Gypsy, and Lady Blackhawk. When Black Canary left the Birds of Prey, Huntress became one of Oracle’s top agents, earning her full access to Oracle and her equipment.