Known Powers:

The Huntress' physical prowess is at the low end of the true super-human rankings with her heightened strength, speed, and agility. She is skilled in Karate and Boxing, and these are her main hand-to-hand modes of combat. These physical abilities are augmented by her gadgets, many inherited from her father. Among her gadgets is her hand crossbow that can launch a variety of bolts, and flash, thermite, and sleeping gas pellets. On top of this, the Huntress is an Olympic level gymnast, an amateur magician, and has the wealth of knowledge left by the Hunters before her.

Notes:

The Huntress can be classified as an augmented normal. Her grandfather, the original Hunter, was part of the Super Soldier Program during World War II. The experiment gave him greater strength, agility, and stamina than any normal man. This enhancement was passed on to his son, the second Hunter, and eventually into Helena. In addition, Helena has received a few gifts from her mother, who was a super-powered cat burglar during her day. Helena's mother, Felina, split from her father when she was a small child.

Helena was an exceptionally bright child that her father, Lane Kirby-- the 2nd Hunter, cultivated. They engaged in what appeared to be a series of games but were in actuality training exercises for the tasks Lane knew his daughter would one day begin. Helena graduated school early and was in Harvard Law School by age 14. She excelled in her studies and mastered many different fields.

By the age of 22, Helena was ready to embark on her career as the Huntress. Her father finally relented and would help her take the first steps on the road to becoming a superheroine. Unfortunately, Hunter was injured when the Avenger's Mansion exploded under mysterious circumstances. Hunter lay in a coma for nearly a month before he died of poison. Helena swore vengeance and became the Huntress.

Having inherited her father's estate, the Huntress added many of the Hunter's gadgets to her own. Tracking down a clue to the identity of her father's killer, the Huntress ran into VIPER forces on her first night out and was captured. She escaped with the aid of the Scarlet Sabre and Night Owl. Helena tends to react without thinking at times, often landing herself in trouble. But she is learning from her mistakes.

In an odd twist of fate, her father's killer came after Helena. Roxie Saietta killed Hunter in retaliation for his, and the Avengers, part in the death of her own family. Roxie perished in battle with the Huntress. Afterwards, the Huntress accepted a position as a Reserve Avenger.

Recently, Helena's mother returned from Europe upon learning of Hunter's death. Felina broke into the family estate to get her daughter's attention and a chance to plead her case. Against her better judgement Helena listened to her mother's tale. Felina had been sent away to prevent her from being a bad influence on Helena as a child. Finding that she had many things in common with her mother, Helena invited Felina to stay at the mansion to see if they can have a relationship. Felina has begun to help train the Huntress.

In spite of everything she has going for her, the Huntress is beginning to doubt her own abilities. While being able to dominate normal criminals, she is often overwhelmed by those who are truly superhuman. Her powers seem to be less than both her parents, which is a great concern to Helena.

These concerns came to a brutal head when the Huntress fell into a trap laid by the White Dragon. For many weeks she had been waging a war against the Dragon Lords. Finally, they decided to strike back. The heroine survived an attack by half a dozen of the Elite Dragons, only to be drugged by their master. The Huntress awoke bound and imprisoned inside a crate. The heroine escaped only to be brutally beaten by the White Dragon. Only the timely arrival of Felina, who had been looking for her missing daughter, saved Helena's life.

Faced with months of recuperating, Helena decided to hang up her cape and quit being the Huntress since she cannot trust her own abilities. This turned out to be only a temporary reaction to what the White Dragon did to her.

While recuperating, Helena started to become more and more depressed. Despondent over her daughter's well being, Felina finally told Helena that her own father had similar troubles when he was a young man. The Super Soldier Formula that transformed the original Hunter does not cleanly transfer from parent to child. A booster shot had been created to bring the second Hunter on par with the first.

Helena located this booster shot and injected herself with it. The process worked, but had the unexpected side effect of transforming the Huntress into a human/feline hybrid. Unknown to anyone, Felina had been changed by a cat formula when she was a little girl. The two formulas were inherited by Helena, but were mostly working against each other in Helena's body. The booster shot unleashed their potential and radically changed Helena into the Were-Huntress.

The transformed Huntress ran wild in the Westchester Area and eventually made her way to Central Park. The Avengers finally caught up with her and captured the beast. Helena was taken to Sanctuary in an attempt to cure her of this condition.

Aided by Lady Victory, who had also been transformed by the Super Soldier Formula at the same time as the original Hunter, they attempted to contact Dr. Sebastian Radcliffe who had created the formula and the booster shot. Instead, they reached his daughter, Dr. Sheila Radcliffe. She agreed to help and a few minutes later Lady Britannia arrived.

At one time, Dr. Sebastian Radcliffe had also been known as Dr. America, a cosmic power hero during World War II. He was a fellow Liberty League member with the original Hunter and Lady Victory. In recent years, Sebastian had fallen into senility and Sheila was forced to keep him sedated to prevent accidental use of his vast powers. These powers had been inherited by Sheila as well, and she took the name Lady Britannia.

Lady Britannia joined her mind with Nightingale to tap that heroine's medical expertise, and aided by Lady Victory and Felina used her cosmic powers to repair the damage done to Helena. They toned down the cat formula enough to change Helena back to human and altered the formulas work in conjunction with each other, boosting Helena's physical abilities.

Her time as the Were-Huntress had healed all of Helena's wounds, and she retained a small portion of this healing power in her present form. Armed with new powers, a new attitude and a new costume, the Huntress has become an active heroine once more.

The Huntress originally appeared in DC Comics. Slam together Batman and Captain America, and you'll have a rough idea what the Hunters were like, otherwise her background is similar to the DC (Pre-Crisis) one. Our version of the Huntress was adapted by Spectrum and was drawn by Muskateer.

Appearances:

Avengers # 0, 3, 4, 9-14, 23-28
Huntress # 1 - Present
Muskateer # 8-10, 13, 14, 19, 22
Scarlet Sabre # 4, 5, 8
Young Champions # 15

Terra Nova Notes:

On the alternate Earth of Terra Nova, Helena's counterpart is a girl named Elena. Elena's parents placed the young girl with foster parents while she was still a baby for her protection. It is unknown if Elena is even aware who her true parents (Hunter of Evil and Katrina) are.

Awards:

Voted Favorite Heroine for 1999, 2000, & 2001