Warner Brothers’ ‘Birds of Prey’ seems to be inching closer and closer to reality. The latest news is that The Huntress is confirmed to be in the movie. The Huntress joined the Birds of Prey in 2003 and has been a fairly constant presence on the team since. We already know that Batgirl and Harley Quinn are also confirmed, while we also know that Catwoman isn’t in it. The final (?) piece of the puzzle will be Black Canary, who founded the team with Barbara Gordon, who at the time was called Oracle, but has now returned to her role as Batgirl. It’s possible that other characters, like Poison Ivy, could also appear.
It was recently rumored that The Penguin would be a major villain in upcoming movies and that he may make his debut in ‘Birds of Prey’.
Christina Hodson supplied the script, which impressed Warner Brothers so much that they asked her to write the script for a solo ‘Batgirl’ movie. Reportedly, Margot Robbie who stars as Harley Quinn, insisted that a female director handle ‘Birds of Prey’ and that honor has fallen to indie helmer Cathy Yan, making her only the second Asian American to direct a major superhero movie, after James Wan, who helmed ‘Aquaman’. That also means that Yan is the first Asian American woman to direct a comic book flick.
There have been multiple versions of The Huntress over the years, starting with Paula Brooks (later Crock), a super villain, in 1947. The second Huntress was Helena Wayne, the daughter of the Golden Age Batman and Catwoman, but after ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ those characters were deleted, so DC created a new Huntress, Helena Bertinelli, the daughter of a powerful mobster. It was this version that was originally part of the Birds of Prey. During the New 52 relaunch, The Huntress was once more the daughter of the Golden Age Batman and Catwoman, hailing from the parallel world Earth-2, but that version has once again been erased and replaced by another Helena Bertinelli. This Helena is usually colored with dark skin to differentiate her from prior versions. (In fact, depending on the artist, she at times appears to be African American.)
The first Helena Bertinelli was known for being a wild card, who was booted from the Justice League for being too aggressive, both in the comics and the animated series. She was also often ridiculed by critics for her costume which for no apparent reason exposed her bare belly.
The first Helena Bertinelli had a brief fling with Nightwing. The newest version was a spy and served as Dick Grayson’s partner in the espionage group Spyral. Both Helena and Dick were believed to be dead at this time.
Barbara Joyce was the first live action Huntress, appearing in two 1979 TV specials called ‘Legends of the Superheroes’. Ashley Scott played her on the short-lived ‘Birds of Prey’ TV series. On ‘Arrow’, Jessica De Gouw portrayed her, while Amy Acker provided her voice on ‘Justice League Unlimited’. Later, Tara Strong would voice her on ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold’. (This version was drawn in the style of the Helena Wayne Huntress, but she is shown heavily flirting with Batman which is just… icky.)
Are you excited to see The Huntress on the silver screen?
Source: Omega Underground
