As we get ready for the theatrical release of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), we find ourselves exploring the comic book history of the team and its characters before the film, even though the film promises to introduce a totally different team of anti-heroes to work alongside Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead will be bringing the character of Huntress to the big screen, but there are a few questions fans have about this version of the character. So to get a better understanding of Huntress before she appears in theaters with the rest of the Birds of Prey, we wanted to take a bit of a deep dive into Huntress and her comic career to get ready for the film.
10 MORE THAN ONE HUNTRESS
There have been a couple of versions of Huntress from DC Comics over the years thanks to the various reboots and retcons. The first character to use the name of Huntress was the Pre-Crisis version of Paula Brooks, who appeared in Sensational Comics #68 as the Huntress.
Brooks would eventually adopt the name Tigress after the Crisis on Infinite Earths resulted in the history of the character being altered and her time as Huntress retroactively abandoned in favor of the heroic Huntress, who was created by Paul Levitz and Joe Staton.
9 MORE THAN ONE HELENA
The Huntress we will be seeing in the upcoming Birds of Prey film is Helena Bertinelli, but she isn't the first Helena to use the name Huntress. Helena Wayne was the original Huntress, created during the Golden Age as the daughter of Batman and Catwoman from an alternate Earth that aged relatively normal, known as Earth-2 in the DC multiverse.
After the Crisis erased the DC Multiverse, a new character and origin were created for Huntress, and Helena Bertinelli made her first appearance post-Crisis in the pages of The Huntress #1 in 1989. The Bertinelli version of the character was created by Joey Cavaleri with the updated costume design coming from Joe Staton once again.
8 SHARES BATMAN'S DARK ORIGIN
With Helena Wayne erased from continuity by the Crisis, the new version of the Huntress needed a new origin, and new motivation to put on a costume and fight crime in Gotham City. Helena Bertinelli received a new darker origin that was somewhat similar to Batman's own dark beginnings.
Helena was the orphaned daughter of a mafia boss who had been murdered in front of her by rival mob members, leading young Helena to seek out training and use her family fortune to become a vigilante and hunt down the criminal element that took her father away from her. It was a familiar story given a dark twist that separated her from the Bat.
7 NOT BATMAN'S FAVORITE VIGILANTE
Unlike most of the vigilantes that operate within Gotham City, Helena Bertinelli/Huntress did it without Batman's permission for most of her early career, with the only help coming occasionally from Dick Grayson/Nightwing or Tim Drake/Robin.
Batman disavowed her on a number of occasions and actively worked against her at times, causing serious issues between Batman and the Huntress for years. While her more violent and brutal methods seemed to be the reason for his disapproval, he revealed to Commissioner Gordon once that Huntress reminded him too much of Batgirl, who had suffered a serious tragedy years earlier.
6 BRIEFLY BECAME BATGIRL
That tragedy, which occurred in The Killing Joke, saw Barbara Gordon paralyzed by the Joker and her secret career as Batgirl ended before dramatically. This event would weigh heavily on Batman and his allies for years, and the role of Batgirl was left vacant in honor of Barbara and in the fear that something just as bad might happen to the next Batgirl.
However, during Batman's absence in the No Man's Land event, Huntress was forced to don her own batsuit in order to try and maintain control of the destroyed streets of Gotham City. She became a new Batgirl and used his symbol to bring back order, though she left the identity behind in anger when Batman returned and called her out.
5 LED THE BIRDS OF PREY
Huntress worked alone in the first few years of her Post-Crisis life despite a few team-ups with Nightwing and Robin, but she would eventually find a home for herself with the Birds of Prey, who she would help occasionally before becoming the first full member after Black Canary. She would eventually take over a leadership role with the team as field commander when Canary left.
Her time with the Birds of Prey also gave her a new shot at life as a school teacher, thanks to Barbara Gordon/Oracle who set up identities for Huntress and Black Canary so they could live normal lives while not working as her operatives.
4 MEMBER OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE
While Batman was cold to Huntress for most of her initial crime-fighting days, she would eventually prove herself to Batman who would nominate her for membership with the Justice League of America with the hope that time with the JLA would soften her violent nature a bit.
While Huntress grew as a hero during her time with the JLA and gained the respect of her teammates, she almost killed the villain Prometheus during the "World War III" storyline which forced Batman to kick her out of the League, again damaging their relationship.
3 CASUALTY OF THE NEW 52
Much like Helena Wayne was erased after the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Helena Bertinelli was likewise erased after the events of Flashpoint, which rebooted the DC Universe. The new continuity was known as the New 52, and it reduced the length of the DC timeline which saw the loss of some key characters.
There was still a Huntress in the New 52, though this version was once again Helena Wayne from Earth-2, daughter of that world's Batman and Catwoman who had served as her father's Robin before taking on the role of Huntress to work alongside her friend Power Girl as s new multiversal version of the Worlds' Finest.
2 REBOOTED BY REBIRTH
While Helena Wayne was brought back in the New 52, it was also revealed that the character of Helena Bertinelli was dead in this new continuity. However, it was soon revealed that there was a rebooted Helena Bertinelli in the New 52 universe who was working as a spy alongside Dick Grayson as an agent for Spyral.
This version of Bertinelli would eventually take on the role of a new Huntress when the DC Universe went through the soft reboot known as Rebirth. The new Huntress would even find a new place with Batgirl and her Birds of Prey, bringing the character of Bertinelli almost full circle, though her Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint past remains lost.
1 MULTIPLE LIVE-ACTION APPEARANCES
Mary Elizabeth Winstead won't be the first actor to bring the Huntress to live-action, as the character first appeared way back in 1979 for the Legends of the Superheroes live-action TV specials that aired on NBC. The variety show featured the return of Adam West and Burt Ward's Batman and Robin, and Earth-2's Huntress was along for the ride, played by Barbara Joyce.
The Helena Wayne version of the Huntress was adapted for the TV series Birds of Prey with Ashley Scott playing the role of Helena Kyle/Huntress, which she recently reprised for the Arrowverse "Crisis on Infinite Earths" crossover event. The Arrowverse also has its own Huntress, with Jessica De Gouw portraying the Helena Bertinelli version of the character.