HUNTRESS II (Helena Janice Bertinelli)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Joey Cavalieri and Joe Staton

Huntress (Helena Bertinelli)

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Helena Janice Bertinelli
Occupation: Vigilante; High school teacher
Citizenship: American
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Guido Bertinelli (father; deceased), Carmela Bertinelli (mother; deceased), Freddy Caldone (cousin; deceased)
Base of Operation: Gotham City; formerly New York City
Group Affiliation(s): JLA, Birds of Prey
Gender: Female
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 130 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
First Appearance: Huntress Vol. 1 #1 (April 1989)
Creators: Joey Cavalieri and Joe Staton

I'll never need to be the Huntress again. But I may want to, and that makes all the difference in the world to me. - Helena Bertinelli Quote taken from Huntress Vol. 2 #4

HISTORY

Helena Bertinelli is the daughter of Guido Bertinelli, head of the Bertinelli crime family, one of the largest Mafia families in America. She grew up in the East Town of Gotham City. At age six Helena was abducted by a person known as Vince on behalf of a rival crime family. When she was returned by the police later that evening it was quite evident that the experience had taken its toll on the young girl. Where she was once an outgoing, optimistic, naive child she quickly became more serious, surreptitious and distrustful.

After the incident Helena's father decided that she was to be sent of to school far from the family. Though in order to secure her safety he assigned her a bodyguard much to Helena's dismay. At age 19 Helena left College for the spring break to attend her cousin Freddy's wedding leaving her bodyguard behind. Shortly after she arrived, an assassin known as Omerta the Silencer broke in and murdered her entire family. Helena only survived the attack by playing dead herself.

Once it became known that she had survived a number of hitmen were sent to stalk her. Fortunately her bodyguard, only known as Sal, found her first and brought her to safety. He then taught her to protect herself, training her in the martial arts as well as the use of all kinds of weapons. Despite she was now able to protect herself she still felt small and vulnerable, so in order to be able to bring her family's killers to justice she decided that she had to create another identity for herself. She then designed a costume and under the identity of the Huntress she began seeking out her family's killers. Eventually she found out that Omerta was actually her family's consiglieri, a lawyer who had been employed both by Guido Bertinelli and a Mafioso known as Mandragora. Mandragora had wanted the Bertinelli fortune for himself and had ordered the hit on the family so that he could establish a major American empire himself.

Having defeated Omerta and Mandragora, Helena decided to move to New York and keep on fighting crime as the Huntress. Following an encounter with the Justice League America she was invited to join but declined. When Maxwell Lord looked her up in her secret identity a short time later he used his mind-bending abilities to make her accept the offer. She left the group again a few months later as she learned that she had been manipulated by Lord.

About two years ago she returned to Gotham City where she continued her crimefighting career. Early on she met Robin III who quickly discovered her secret identity, much to her dismay. Since their first encounter she and Robin have teamed up a number of times, and Robin has honored their friendship by not telling his mentor of her secret. Batman himself does not approve of the Huntress as he believes her methods to be to violent, and because her reckless behavior reminds him of Batgirl and her final fate. By not accepting her as one of the family he hopes to discourage her from continuing her career as Huntress, but instead it has made more determined than ever. Though Huntress has been called in to help out on rare occasions such as during the Gotham Plague, she mostly keeps to her own.

Seeing that the Huntress was becoming even more violent than before in her battle against crime the Batman recently invited her to join the JLA in an attempt to soothe her aggressive side. However, after the recent destruction of Gotham City caused by the big quake has left the city in the midst of the biggest crime wave the city has ever seen Huntress has once again become more bitter and though she has not yet killed anyone she is prone to use deadly force on her enemies.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

The Huntress is an ace gymnast and a master hand-to-hand combatant skilled in a number of martial arts. She is also a master of disguise. Her marksmanship is excellent, no matter how strange the weapon. The weapons in her arsenal include a variety of edged weapons, including a crossbow, throwing knives and darts. On her current costume she has a wrist-launcher attached to her right arm that fires small CO2-propelled bolts. For longer distance transportation she drives a standard issue Lamborghini.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Huntress in chronological order click here

PROFILE REFERENCES

Who's Who in the DC Universe #6 (January 1991)

Batman: Gotham City Secret Files #1 (April 2001)