Helena Bertinelli, better known as the Huntress, and as the Crossbow Killer by the media, is a vigilante, former assassin and the only surviving member of the Bertinelli family. After being orphaned, Bertinelli learned to fight and use a crossbow, seeking revenge on the murderers of her family. Upon returning to Gotham City, Bertinelli killed Stefano Galante, Carlo Rossi, Happy and Victor Zsasz.
Bertinelli then realized thanks to Harley Quinn that she was targeted by Roman Sionis, joining Quinn, Dinah Lance and Renee Montoya to combat Sionis and his organization, while also saving Cassandra Cain. Afterwards, Bertinelli recovered her family's fortune, using the money to create the vigilante team known as the Birds of Prey, along with Lance and Montoya, for the purpose of fighting crime in Gotham.
Helena Bertinelli was the daughter of Franco and Maria Bertinelli of the Bertinelli crime family, once the most powerful and richest crime family in Gotham City. One day after coming home from school, Helena met with her family in the living room of the mansion, where Stefano Galante, Carlo Rossi, Victor Zsasz and Happy were waiting. There, Helena received a pink toy car from her brother, before witnessing the slaughter of her entire family in a mob hit, with the purpose of taking over the fortune encrypted in the Bertinelli diamond.
Shielded by her mother and brother, she was the only one in her family to survive the massacre, and was discovered alive and secretly taken away by one of the mobsters, who, filled with guilt, decided to raise Helena by his father and brother in Sicily, Italy. Full of desire for revenge, Bertinelli was trained by the mobster's brother and father, and shortly after being adopted, Bertinelli made a drawing of the 4 murderers of her family, with the hope of one day being able to take revenge killing them.
Bertinelli training with the crossbow
Bertinelli endured years of arduous training, both in hand-to-hand combat and marksmanship with the crossbow, all with the intent of taking revenge on those who had massacred her family. 15 years later, she returned to Gotham City, taking up a crossbow and and a 2020 Triumph Street Triple RS motorcycle, taking out those responsible for her family's death before they even know what hit them.[1]
As the first victim, Bertinelli went against Stefano Galante, where he practiced in front of the mirror the question he would ask him if he knew who she was. Bertinelli infiltrated Galante's room, where she shot him with a crossbow bolt in the neck, before Galante died, Bertinelli asked him if he knew who she was, only for him to call her "the crossbow killer". As she left a trail of crossbow-inflected murders, she became known as the "Crossbow Killer" by the newspapers, much to her chagrin, as she thought of herself as "Huntress".
Bertinelli went to a nightclub where Carlo Rossi was, and upon entering, she appeared in front of Rossi along with three other men, shooting each of the men twice. Before Rossi shot her, Bertinelli threw a knife at her shoulder, and then asked her if he knew who she was. Rossi tried to insult her, but Bertinelli proceeded to shoot her with the crossbow in his neck. The murder was investigated by detective Renee Montoya, who was also investigating the crime lord Roman Sionis.[1]
The next day, Bertinelli set his target on Happy, who was about to kill Harley Quinn after she announced her separation from the Joker, in revenge for having disfigured her face with tattoos. When Quinn bent down to grab a coin, Bertinelli took the opportunity to shoot Happy in the neck. Surprised, Quinn noticed Bertinelli's presence, believing that she was after her for having wronged her. Bertinelli immediately fled, before a team of Roman Sionis arrived to capture Quinn.[1]
Having Victor Zsasz, Roman Sionis's right-hand man and personal executioner, as the only member on her kill list, Bertinelli entered Doc's Place to speak to Doc, an old man who knew all the criminals in Gotham City. After asking the 32nd dish in half, Bertinelli spoke in Mandarin to Doc, asking for help in locating Zsasz, and then introducing herself as "Huntress".
With the information provided by Doc, Bertinelli began to follow Zsasz's trail at the Black Mask Club, where she watched in horror as Sionis humiliated his client Erika and later hugged Dinah Lance. When Harley Quinn contacted Sionis to agree to give him the Bertinelli diamond along with Cassandra Cain in The Booby Trap in exchange for protection, he sent Zsasz along with Lance to the location, while Bertinelli followed them stealthily on her motorcycle.[1]
"Hey nice. What the hell's up with this bow and arrow shtick?" "I hate to be the one to break it to you, sweetheart, but you are not done. Who do you think funded Galante's little power grab, huh? Galante was working with Sionis. Roman killed your whole family looking for that rock."
After Victor Zsasz exposed Dinah Lance's betrayal, he attempted to kill both Lance and Harley Quinn, only for Bertinelli to appear and shoot Zsasz, with Lance grabbing a razor to cut Zsasz's throat, killing him. However, Renee Montoya returned after being thrown by Quinn previously, causing her, Bertinelli, and Lance to target each other. Before Bertinelli decided to retire, Montoya claimed to believe she worked for Roman Sionis, causing Bertinelli to become enraged exclaiming the opposite.
Huntress accepts to work together
Montoya discovered that the "Crossbow Killer" was Bertinelli, and Huntress explained that since all her targets had been killed she could retreat. However, Montoya explained that the real person responsible for the death of her family was Sionis, who had just arrived with a small army, with Harley Quinn explaining that Sionis would go after her for killing her right-hand man. Bertinelli reluctantly agreed to team up with Quinn, Lance, and Montoya to escape The Booby Trap and protect Cassandra Cain from Sionis.
Huntress and the girls prepare for the fight
Needing weapons to confront Sionis' men, Harley Quinn discovered that the warehouse where she kept the weapons was completely empty because of the Joker, and Dinah Lance then found a drawer with basic weapons that could help them. As they prepared, Bertinelli yelled angrily when Lance asked about her crossbow, which she mistook for a bow. Lance mocked her for not controlling her anger, and Quinm stated that, psychologically, her revenge did not always give him the catharsis ahe wanted. While the girls left to fight, Roman Sionis' men entered the room, so they quickly went down a slide towards the circus.
Huntress stabs a thug
Before going down, Bertinelli threw a gas grenade, causing one of the thugs to go down the slide, and Bertinelli climbed on top of him to stab him with her blade, with her companions impressed by her coldness, confusing Bertinelli. The group was then intercepted by thugs, causing everyone to prepare to fight them, starting a battle. When Cassandra Cain was about to be kidnapped, Bertinelli shot the thug, stopping to hand Cain her toy car, ordering her to close her eyes so as not to observe the fight.
Huntress and the girls reunite after winning the fight
Bertinelli prepared to continue fighting, just as another group of Sionis's thugs appeared to confront her, so Bertinelli quickly loaded her crossbow to confront the criminals, using her skills and techniques to take them down, and even using her fists when her crossbow was snatched. After defeating the thugs, Bertinelli met up with the team, and together, they made victory pose before leaving happily as they planned to celebrate.[1]
As the girls left The Booby Trap, Sionis showed up to shoot Montoya in the chest, just before a henchman tried to take Cain away. In his defense, Bertinelli continued shooting at the thugs until eventually running out of ammunition, discovering that Sionis' shot was fortunately stopped by a bulletproof vest that Montoya was wearing. Dinah Lance was forced to use her sonic scream super power to take down the thugs guarding them, giving Harley Quinn the opportunity to go rescue Cassandra Cain.
Bertinelli then came on her motorcycle to help Quinn, throwing him a rope so he could follow her on her skates, while near Sionis' vehicle, Quinn was helped by Bertinelli to push herself to the back of the car, resulting in Bertinelli falling to the ground. Quinn then confronted Sionis at Founders Pier, where Cain activated a grenade to kill Sionis by trowing him into the water, while Bertinelli, Montoya, and Lance arrived to watch.
The next day, the girls went to the Taco Dirty to Me restaurant to celebrate their victory, where they discussed the nickname Huntress, since it seemed cool to them, and Cain returned the toy car she lent him to Bertinelli, joking when Cain went to the bathroom to expel the Bertinelli diamond. When Montoya told Lance and Bertinelli that they should form a team, as someone worse than Sionis could arrive, they accepted. Bertinelli started laughing when Lance found out that Quinn escaped by stealing her car.[1]
Despite Harley Quinn's escape, Bertinelli recovered money from her family's fortune hidden in the diamond to finance and form the team known as the Birds of Prey, a group of vigilantes made up of Dinah Lance and Renee Montoya, who fought organized crime in Gotham City, using the fortune to buy combat suits. The Birds of Prey detained a group of thieves in an abandoned warehouse, where after defeating them, they gathered to leave the place.[1]
Personality[]
"Hey nice. What the hell's up with this bow and arrow shtick?" "It's not a FUCKING bow and arrow, it's a crossbow, I'm not 12." "I love this chick, she's got rage issues." "I DON'T HAVE RAGE ISSUES!"
Many aspects of Helena's personality seem to stem from the drive to get revenge on the murder of her family and being trained to become an assassin for the majority of her life. She has some anger issues, as shown when she aggressively denied that she even has any to Black Canary. This is shown early on when a stranger taunts her and she violently incapacitates him and his friends.
Her training has made her a ruthless and efficient assassin, but she has trouble when it comes to certain social situations, oftentimes behaving unsure in casual settings, or laughing at the fact that Quinn stole Dinah Lance's car. This extended to introducing and establishing herself as the Huntress, which she also found difficult. As a result of this, she came to known by the much less glamorous alias of the "Crossbow Killer," which also greatly annoyed her.
Despite her rage and awkwardness, Helena does occasionally show a softer side, as when comforting Cain during the attack at the Booby Trap by sharing her prized toy car.
Abilities[]
"She spends the next 15 years thinking only of revenge. So, she starts training. When she was ready, and by "ready," I mean a badass motherfucking killing machine, she moves back to Gotham. Starts working on that kill list. She has the murder stuff down, but the rest? Still a work in progress."
Peak human condition: Helena was trained by ruthless assassins for 15 years, and as such, her body is in prime physical condition. Her reflexes are faster than most, able to gun down four men sitting at a table while dodging shots fired at her. Her strength, speed, agility, and endurance are all exceptional, allowing her to easily face down most opponents she encounters.
Expert acrobat: Helena is an agile individual who can scale over obstacles with little issue. While in the abandoned amusement park she was able to jump onto props to evade attack as well as jump from a slide and attach herself to the top while shifting from front to back easily.
Huntress aiming at her targets
Master markswoman: Her crossbow arrows always find their target. She is lethal with this weapon and can fire from various ranges. When fighting off Black Mask's thugs she was able to kill many of them with one shot. When tracking down the men who killed her family, she would aim for the neck so they would die slower. In addition to her crossbow, Helena is very skilled at using guns. In her introduction, she pulls and fires a gun with incredible speed and perfect accuracy, taking out four armed men within seconds.
Master martial artist: Since she was a little girl, she was trained by two ruthless assassins who taught her how to fight. Helena was able to hold her own against several Black Mask’s thugs when fighting them off. Her fighting style consists of Aikido, Jujitsu, Judo, Karate, Muay Thai and Taekwondo.
Knife mastery: Helena was able to hurl a knife into the shoulder of a mob boss from a distance. She was even able to use a knife to kill a henchman while going down a slide. She can throw knives with lethal force and perfect accuracy.
Master assassin: Being trained to kill since childhood, Helena is an extremely skilled killer. Helena was able to successfully track down all the men responsible for her family's death and kill them all without being caught. She was also able to kill four men within thirty seconds using her handgun, a throwing knife, and her signature crossbow.
Stealth expertise: In seeking revenge, she sneaks up upon her enemies, such that she can strike without them ever being aware they are in danger. Helena can break into homes, such as the mansion of one of the men responsible for her family's death, and escape without leaving any trace.
Bilingualism: Helena speaks English and Mandarin Chinese, allowing her to communicate with Doc on a native level. It's also likely she speaks and understands Italian and/or Sicilian due to her Italian heritage as well as spending much of her life in Italy.
Expert cyclist: Helena is very skilled at driving a motorcycle.
Equipment[]
Weapons[]
"It's not a FUCKING bow and arrow! It's a crossbow, I'm not 12."
Crossbow pistol: Helena uses this handled version of a crossbow as her main weapon of choice. She also carries extra bolts for it on her left thigh. She mainly uses it in long-range combat but can use the bolt in the crossbow as a close-quarters weapon.
Glock 19: Helena uses this handgun which she carries on her right thigh.
Tactical knife: Helena carries this tactical knife holstered on her right leg, using it in close quarters combat.
Throwing knife: Helena used this throwing knife during an attack on some mobsters.
Other equipment[]
Huntress suit: When on her mission of revenge, Helana originally wore a dark purple leather outfit when operating as Huntress. However, after creating the Birds of Prey, she wore a more stylized version of her purple outfit. It has a black vest with a white pattern on it and googles with lenses that can be retracted sideways.
Motorcycle: Helena uses this motorcycle to travel around the city.
Bertinelli diamond: The heirloom of the Bertinelli crime family, it becomes hers by right following the massacre of her family. She uses it to unlock her family's fortune and uses it to fund her team, the Birds of Prey.
Toy purple car: Just before the firing squad shot her family, Helena's younger brother handed her a toy purple car, which she has appeared to keep on her person ever since. The car appears to be a sort of calming token for her, as she hands it to Cassandra Cain to calm her down during the attack on the Booby Trap.
Huntress in the DC Extended Universe is the second live-action incarnation of the Helena Bertinelli version of the character, following the incarnation portrayed by Jessica De Gouw.
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