Helena Bertinelli...Huntress...Batgirl...Matron...Appreci ate 2024

**OBrianTallent** · 02-03-2024, 09:32 AM

I present to you Ms Helena Bertinelli...The Matron...The Huntress. All the talk has shifted towards the new Helena Wayne but there's still another Huntress out there. Helena Bertinelli debuted in her own series in April 1989 after the Crisis on Infinite Earth's wiped out the previous Huntress, Helena Wayne. No longer the daughter of the Dark Knight and the Catwoman, she is now the only survivor of a criminal mob boss of Gotham. Her history has changed slightly over the years being the daughter of Franco Bertinelli who was killed along with the rest of her family in a mob hit to the daughter of Santo Casamento who was having an affair with Bertinelli's wife. She's gone from hero to violent vigilante butting heads with Batman on multiple occasions to adopting the Batgirl codename briefly during No Man's Land.
Shortly after, she is brought in alongside the Birds of Prey and her character truly begins to shine alongside Black Canary, Oracle and Lady Blackhawk. The New 52 brought a new Huntress mini series in 2011 with the Helena Bertinelli name being used by a multiversally displaced Helena Wayne, the real Helena Bertinelli now being declared deceased. It wasn't until 2014 that Tim Seely and Mikel Janin introduced a new Helena Bertinelli in the series Grayson under the guise of Matron, a spy and headmistress for Spyral. She is depicted as a dark skinned Italian to "avoid confusion with the Helena Wayne Huntress appearing in Earth 2." When Grayson reverts back to a Nightwing title, Bertinelli next shows up during the Rebirth initiative as a member of the Birds of Prey with a new costume and calling herself the Huntress. It's here her new origin is expounded upon as she hunts her family's murderers. She discovers that it was her mother who is still alive who ordered the hit on her family.
Bertinelli has appeared sporadically throughout the Batman titles but never on a regular basis after the end of the Rebirth run of Batgirl and the Birds of Prey. In the Batman Secret Files: Huntress issue, it was revealed that she has developed the ability to see through the eyes of her targets.
While she hasn't appeared yet in the new Birds of Prey, Kelly Thompson in a post mentioned how surprised she was by the number of people asking for her to be in the title, so hopefully she will make an appearance soon. Should she retain the name Huntress with the new Helena Wayne from the future operating in the present time or could she return to using the moniker Matron? Huntress_Helena_Bertinelli.jpg hbm2.jpg HBH1.jpg