If you thought Scott Snyder and the architectural team behind DC’s Absolute Universe were going to keep the Batman family isolated in their own little bubbles, think again. While Bruce Wayne is busy fighting the system as a blue-collar tank in the pages of Absolute Batman, the dark, high-tech espionage corner of the universe is quietly assembling a familiar powerhouse team with its own, absolute twist.
With the arrival of Absolute Catwoman #2, the creative team of Che Grayson, Scott Snyder, and Bengal has blown the doors off expectations by officially introducing the Absolute Universe iterations of two iconic street-level vigilantes: The Question and The Huntress.
And if you read between the lines, the foundation isn’t just being laid for a regular team-up—we might be looking at the direct genesis of the Absolute Birds of Prey. Here is how the pieces are moving across the board.
Victoria Sage and Helena Bertinelli
In the traditional DC Universe, the Birds of Prey are defined by tactical brilliance and hard-hitting precision. In the Absolute Universe, where characters are stripped of their historical safety nets, the introduction of these characters comes with massive, exciting twists.
- Victoria Sage as The Question: The Absolute version of Vic Sage comes a major, brilliant shift right out of the gate: this iteration is a gender-flipped Victoria Sage. In issue #2, we learn that she’s a tech-savvy powerhouse operating alongside a crew known as the Calicos. While she still carries the relentless pursuit of truth that Steve Ditko originally injected into the character, her Absolute status updates her with an edge that perfectly aligns with Selina Kyle’s high-tech, global operations.
- Helena Bertinelli as Huntress: Entering a comic by crashing through a window while laying waste to a goon is the most Huntress entrance imaginable, and Absolute Catwoman #2 delivers it perfectly. Bertinelli remains the fierce, trauma-driven mobster’s daughter tracking down the corruption tearing the city apart. But by tying her directly to Selina Kyle’s current inner circle rather than Bruce Wayne’s orbit, her brutal methods feel right at home.
Fans inside the comic community have already pointed out that the dynamic between Selina Kyle, Victoria, and Helena feels remarkably familiar.
While they’re currently operating under the umbrella of “The Calicos” or “The Strays,” the group is functioning as a tightly knit, underground crew of highly specialized operators. However, the core thematic ingredients of the Birds of Prey are all sitting right on the table.
You have the rogue element (Catwoman), the brutal, uncompromising enforcer (Huntress), and the tactical, investigative mind supplying the strategy (The Question). With Cassandra Cain currently operating on the antagonist side of this title as a leader of the opposing Catwomen faction, the lines are being drawn for a massive, all-female tactical war.
In the mainstream universe, the Birds of Prey are traditionally anchored by Barbara Gordon’s Oracle and Dinah Lance’s Black Canary. But over in the Absolute Universe, Black Canary is already occupied playing the lead role in the urban-horror, slasher-style narrative of Absolute Green Arrow.
By swapping the leadership roles to Catwoman and utilizing a modernized, tech-forward Victoria Sage, Che Grayson is crafting an entirely separate espionage ecosystem. It allows Absolute Batman to stay focused on the gritty, localized war against the Party Animals and Jack Grimm, while Absolute Catwoman tackles the global, shadow-broker operations.
Absolute Catwoman is proving to be a much bigger world-building book than anyone initially anticipated. By dropping Victoria Sage and Helena Bertinelli directly into the mix by issue #2, the series is actively setting up a new generation of tactical, street-level heroics that could easily spin out into its own dedicated team book by the end of the year.
