Huntress II
Created by Paul Levitz & Joe Staton
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NAME + ALIASES:
Helena Rosa Bertinelli, Batgirl II
KNOWN RELATIVES:
Franco & Maria Bertinelli (mother and father, deceased), Giuseppe
"Pino" Bertinelli (brother, deceased), Tommy Bertinelli (uncle), Nicola
& Antonia Asaro (adoptive
parents), Salvatore Asaro (adoptive brother)
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GROUP AFFILIATIONS:
Justice League of America, Birds of Prey
FIRST APPEARANCE:
Huntress #1 (April 1989).
As Batgirl: Shadow of the Bat #83
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Helena Bertinelli's father Franco was a powerful Sicilian
Mafioso in Gotham City. Helena and her brother Pino grew up knowing
their father's "work" was no good, and they endured watching him beat
their mother Maria. One night during dinner, an assassin came to call
and killed Helena's entire family. As
he snatched away the girl's crucifix, she realized that her God would
not protect her. He walked away with the necklace as a souvenir. Her
family's crime empire crumbled and Helena was sent for her own protection
to live with the Asaro family in Sicily. Although she
attended boarding school in Switzerland, the Asaros were a family of
assassins.
Her adoptive parents, Nicola and Antonia
Asaro were eventually
arrested when Sicilian authorities gathered enough evidence against that family.
Helena was closest to their son, Salvatore, who sheltered
her like a brother and taught her how to fight; he, too, went to prison.
At age 21, her blood uncle, Tommy, came to Sicily to retrieve
her. He was in Siciliy to do business with a mafia leader called
"The Pope," named for his devotion to his faith. Before that, they drove
Helena to visit Salvatore in prison in Palermo. Unexpectedly, Helena
turned on the prison guards and attempted to break Sal out. (Huntress
#1, Huntress: Year One #1)
In her heroic identity, Helena ran into Justice League International
shortly after Justice Leaguer Blue Beetle succumbed to psychological programming
embedded in his psyche by the villainous Queen Bee, and began attacking
his teammates. (Justice League America #26) Shortly
after helping the League subdue the Beetle, Helena helped Mister Miracle,
Big Barda, and Fire recover Barda's Mega-Rod from the clutches of a young
hoodlum who had stolen it. Her performance on these two occasions so impressed
Maxwell Lord that he extended an invitation to the Huntress to join the
JLI herself. She declined, but a subtle push from Max's telepathic powers
made her change her mind. (#30) The first case
she participated on with the JLI was the battle against Dr. Teasdale and
the Gray Man. (#31-32, Justice League Europe #7-8)
Eventually she learned of his manipulation (#35)
and left the League soon thereafter. (#42). At
Batman's insistence, she joined the new JLA
(JLA #16), only to have that membership revoked
when Batman found her on the verge of killing Prometheus. (#39)
It is likely that Batman wanted her in the new JLA both for a proving
and a training grounds.
The Huntress also adopted the mantle of Batgirl II
during Gotham City's "No Man's Land." (Shadow
of the Bat #83) She and Batman eventually had another falling-out,
and she was forced to abandon the guise in favor of Batgirl III
(Cassandra Cain, Legends of the Dark Knight #120; Cassandra first
appeared in Batman #567). From time to time, she also partners
with Oracle and Black
Canary, the "Birds of Prey." Recently, she has become a permanent
part of that team (BoP #69) and Oracle has
procured a teaching job for Helena.
Despite her stand-offish nature, she was also invited to join the
Outsiders when Arsenal was incapacitated (Outsiders
v.3 #8);
she resigned when he returned to health, (#12) but
not before having sex with him as well.
All her life, Helena has been rather cold and distant, thanks to her
early separation from her parents. As a heroine, she maintains this reserved
posture. Although she is certainly no killer, Helena is somewhat use to
her father's brand of justice and uses a bit rougher hand in dealing with
criminals than most of her fellow Leaguers, a quality that Batman admires.
In pre-Crisis continuity, the Huntress
was the daughter of Earth-2's Batman & Catwoman. She joined the JSA
and died in the Crisis #12 (3.86). The first
Huntress was both a hero (as Tigress I)
and villain (a foe of the JSA).
In her original post-Crisis origin, the Asaro family were not part of
the story.
In the DC/Marvel Amalgam universe cross-over (1996), the Huntress was Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel).
The Huntress has no metahuman powers, but is an above average hand-to-hand combatant, and a skilled marksman with the crossbow.
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