The Huntress

The Huntress is a vigilante operating out of Gotham City, and a member of the Batman Family. She is also a devout Catholic, and is very in touch with her Italian heritage. Her career is inspired by a personal vendetta against organized crime, responsible for killing her entire family. At first, her ruthless methods and willingness to kill made her an outcast from the heroic community, but in time she learned to temper her methods and became accepted by her peers. She has also been a member of the Justice League and the Birds of Prey.

Origins

Maria Panessa Bertinelli, wife of Franco Bertinelli of the Mafia family in Gotham City, was the subject of frequent beatings from her husband, though he was sure never to beat her face. Maria decided to have an affair with a man named Santo Cassamento. As a result, Maria became pregnant, with her husband knowing it was not his own child and still beat Maria. Maria gave birth to a girl whom she named Helena Rosa. For eight years, Helena grew up in a Mafia household, never suspecting the criminal dealings that took place there.

When Helena was eight years old, a man barged in to the Bertinelli household during dinner and shot Franco, Maria and Pino Bertinelli, sparing Helena. The hit came from Mandragora who wished for no vendettas against him. Helena's biological father passed the order along with a modification that "the sister" be spared. Santo was referring to Maria. But the gunman confused Maria with Helena and so Helena was spared, though she was not supposed to be.

Helena was placed under the care of her Uncle Tomasso's nephew, Salvatore Asaro. She was taken back to the old country, Sicily, where she would be kept safe and where the family was still strong. When arriving, she was terrified. Helena remained there for a number of years. Watching her cousin and uncle train and practice with weapons and hand-to-hand combat. However, the nightmares stayed with her. One night, her cousin showed her that only she could stop the nightmare by putting an end to those who murdered her family: blood cries for blood. When taken into the barn, she asked her cousin to teach her how, picking up a crossbow on the wall. She trained until the age of fifteen when she was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland to protect her from the Italian authorities who were cracking down on the Mafia. When reading and seeing what was happening, she realized that everything she had been told was a lie about the Mafia. She realized that the Mafia was a force of corruption and evil and for a hundred years, and it had been headed by her own family in Gotham City. At age sixteen, she finally returned to Gotham City to spend Christmas with her uncle. However, she hated everyone there. During the party, Helena witnessed her family finally was frightened of something. Batman had crashed the party and fought with them. Helena realized that she could fight them too.

Helena returned to Switzerland for school where she plotted her vengeance. She went to her old house in Sicily (which had since been abandoned as a result of her uncle and cousin being arrested), and took a crossbow and a number of items for her crusade. Enrolling at the university in Palermo, she learned all about the Mafia. She constructed her costume and a number of weapons. She thought herself as a nun, totally devoted to her quest. She returned to Gotham in pursuit of vengeance as the Huntress.
Huntress ended the lives of Mandragora and the assassin who murdered her family. Sometime later, Nightwing and she began a brief romantic relationship while working together on a murder case of a police officer with connections to the Mafia.

Birds of Prey

Batman eventually funded Helena for a new uniform and a new bike. She would later return the favor by saving his life when he took a fall in Crime Alley by fighting off attackers and putting him into the Batmobile. Huntress remarked in hindsight that he'd never thank her for her heroism. A short time later, the Scarecrow, working with the mysterious Hush, drugged her, and manipulated Helena into attacking Catwoman, who she perceived as her old self. With the aid of Batman, the Scarecrow's drugs wore off and Helena made a full recovery. The Huntress soon found herself allied with Oracle and Black Canary and continued to fight crime in both Gotham City and Metropolis as an official member of the Birds of Prey.
While with the Birds of Prey, Huntress once served with the Outsiders when Arsenal (Roy Harper) was shot five times in the chest and was put out of the line of duty for three months. However, she was at constant odds with Nightwing, despite their past relationship. Immediately after Arsenal was able to serve again, Huntress left the Outsiders.

Abilities

• Peak Human Condition: Huntress works hard to keep her body in peak physical condition. She stated her costume change to include more skin was a result to her 300 ab crunches a day.

• Archery: Huntress carries her trademark crossbows on her at all times. Whether they're dual mounted mini-crossbows or one large crossbow is up to her as she has proficiency to use both. She's once used a single bolt to split a bullet in two.

• Criminology: Huntress grew up in a criminal environment and later spent a few years surrounded by gangs and criminals. If there ever was a street-wise hero who stayed on the straight and narrow it would be the Huntress.

• Driving: Huntress is an effective driver, able to pilot the Batmobile in high stress and combat situations as well as her own motorcycle at varying degrees of above-average driving situations (being shot at, accelerating to high speeds and over semi-separated bridges).

• Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): Huntress is very much a street fighter, before honing her skills in martial arts and kung fu she spent many years getting into intentional fights just to prove and test her mettle. She has since fine-tuned her skill after years of work with Black Canary.

• Investigation: Batman, himself, has mentioned Huntress's prowess during investigation situations. She is credited as the "Batman" of the Birds of Prey team and regularly spends her free-time solving cold cases especially when the Mafia is involved.

• Marksmanship: Over the years Huntress realized that firing and reloading bolts at armed individuals may not be the most effective even if they were the most non-lethal. She's adapted her arsenal over time to include various firearms.

• Martial Arts: One of the first steps on her adventuring career was to learn and enhance her fighting style. She learned various disciplines of martial arts, enough to challenge even Lady Shiva. She prefers to use a specific kind of Kung Fu learned from Richard Dragon.

• Kung Fu: One of the many disciplines she has learned is Dragon Style Kung Fu.

• Multilingualism: She can speak both English and Italian fluently.

• Pedagogy: Before and sometimes during her career she has taught at various schools and varying people the complicated language of English. She has cited her skill as a teacher on a few occasions but prefers to leave her civilian life out of sight.

• Stealth: Huntress can be very stealthy when she needs to. With her specially outfitted suit and various toys in her utility belt she can sneak into a facility and learn whatever information she desires although she sometimes prefers to fight her way in.

Stick Fighting: Although she prefers to use her martial arts and hand-to-hand combat when it comes to close quarters there has been many occasions where Huntress has used her Battle-Staff to taken on multiple enemies.