Spoilers for Detective Comics #1035 ahead!
The Huntress’ best joke from the Birds of Prey film has come to the comics. In the second story in Detective Comics #1035, the Huntress sets a mugger straight and invokes one of her best gimmicks from the 2020 movie, all of which also sheds a deeper light on the new role she must take on in Gotham City.
Birds of Prey, or the Fantabalous Emancipation of a One Harley Quinn, directed by Cathy Yan, was a modest box office and critical success. Based on Birds of Prey comics, it starred Margot Robie as Harley Quinn, Rosie Perez as Rene Montoya, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the Huntress. The Huntress is Helena Bertenelli, the daughter of a notorious mob boss, who, when her family was ruthlessly gunned down, swore vengeance and became the vigilante known as the Huntress. The film featured a darkly comic tone, and part of it was a running gimmick involving the Huntress’ code name, and it finally comes to the DC Universe in Detective Comics #1035.
The second story, titled “Mary Knox,” written by Mariko Tamaki, with art by Clayton Henry, colors by Jordie Bellaire and letterer Aditya Bidikar, sees the Huntress attempting to foil a mugging. As she swings into action, the mugger calls her that “Arrow #*@$%” to which she replies, “It’s Huntress!” She is able to foil the mugging attempt and becomes friends with the woman she saves. Fans who saw Birds of Prey may recognize this as a shout-out to a running joke involving the Huntress throughout the movie. Set at the beginning of her crime-fighting career, she finds herself quickly caught up with Harley and the other Birds of Prey, including Black Canary and Cassandra Cain. Her codename has not been revealed to the public at large; when she attacks her victims, they call her a variety of names, including a variation on what the mugger this issue called her. Every time, she would become frustrated and reply “It’s Huntress.”
The exact scene plays out here, but in a slightly different context: The Huntress is an established vigilante here but is transitioning to a more community-oriented approach to her tactics, including getting to know the locals. People in this neighborhood may not know exactly who she is, but they will come to in time. The trick for the Huntress will be to balance her anti-social tendencies with her desire to do more for her community. She learns how difficult this balance may be when the mugging victim later turns up dead in an unrelated case, the victim of domestic violence. Huntress blames herself for not knowing the victim better.
Birds of Prey is an underrated movie in the DC Extended Universe, and now the Huntress’ best gimmick from that film comes to the comics in Detective Comics #1035, on sale now in print and digital.