As if any more evidence was needed to prove how awesome Huntress can be, the heroine once showed off how adaptive her crime-fighting skills were to Birds of Prey leader Barbara Gordon by recreating the mistakes of other superheroes while still successfully pulling off her mission. In Tony Berdard’s run on Birds of Prey in 2007, Black Canary had taken a leave of absence, leaving Barbara Gordon’s Oracle and Huntress to find new members for the team.
In Birds of Prey #110, while Huntress was foiling a hijacking of a children’s school bus, Oracle called Huntress to help her with a bomb threat. A group of teens had gotten possession of a bomb that once belonged to the original Atomic Skull, Albert Micheals. Huntress reluctantly agreed to pursue the bomb, but not before she dealt with her school bus crisis first. Quickly subduing the hijackers, Huntress was on her way to defuse the bomb situation. During the trip, Oracle regaled Huntress with several stories about past superheroines trying out for the Birds of Prey team. Catwoman sank a ship with stolen jewels in her attempt, Black Orchid recklessly tried to take out a militia which lead to a bomb going off, and Phantom Lady hesitated taking down a group of thieves, leading to the would-be Bird of Prey needing a rescue mission.
Finally arriving at the scene of the bomb threat, Huntress intentionally made the same mistakes that each aforementioned vigilante made while trying out for the Birds of Prey. She did not attack at first like Phantom Lady hadn’t, she rushed in early and without a solid plan like Black Orchid did, and she ended up destroying the site just like Catwoman ruined her crime scene. But despite replicating each of her potential teammates’ mistakes, Huntress still saved Gotham from a chemical attack, proving she’s deserving of her spot on the team. Even using demonstrably bad tactics, Huntress still came out on top.
With the recent loss of Black Canary at the time, Tony Bernard explored what a Birds of Prey team without her might even look like, considering Black Canary been a staple since the very beginning. It was a new dawn for the Birds of Prey, and Oracle tried a new format for the team, bringing on additional members instead of having just two to three agents at a time. This lead to new heroines being introduced into the mix, like Manhunter, Big Barda, Judomaster, and more.
Helena Bertinelli’s Huntress became an important part of the Birds of Prey team, and as time went on, became more and more skilled. Not many heroes would take a chance like Huntress did when it came to a bomb made by the Atomic Skull. Instead of taking the most direct route, she was able to take the mistakes of others – which lead to one failed mission after another – and turn them into a success. This display of skill shows why Huntress is one of the top members of the Birds of Prey.
