Renee is initially a detective from the Gotham City Police Department, assigned to the Major Crimes Unit, who comes into frequent contact with Batman. After being outed and framed for murder, she resigns from the police force, and begins operating as the second Question out of a lighthouse that she shares with Aristotle Rodor on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Renee is a recurring character in the Batman-related comics after Batman #475 (March 1992).[4] After she is promoted to homicide detective by Commissioner Gordon, Renee is partnered with Harvey Bullock. After Bullock is promoted to Lieutenant, Crispus Allen becomes Renee's new partner.[5]
Gotham City is destroyed by an earthquake in the Cataclysmcrossover, and closed off from the rest of the United States in the No Man's Land story arc. Montoya and Bullock are two of the many Gotham police officers to stay behind with James Gordon to keep the peace among the people who remain.
Renee is the focus of an uneasy truce between Gordon's forces and the crime boss Two-Face. She reaches out to Two-Face's Harvey Dent persona in helping with aid and relief efforts, and he falls in love with her. In fact, he keeps her restrained in his headquarters against her will. She becomes involved when Two-Face puts James Gordon on trial for perceived wrongdoing. Renee persuades Two-Face to offer a more fair trial, giving Gordon a defense lawyer. Two-Face's Harvey Dent persona takes on this role, and ultimately convinces Two-Face to allow everyone to go free.
Gotham City is later re-opened thanks to humanitarian efforts spearheaded by Lex Luthor. Renee, Gordon, Bullock and the surviving officers are re-instated as a police official.
In "Officer Down", Renee is hit hard by a murder attempt on Gordon, and when the assassin walks free, goes to seek vengeance. However, Bullock catches her in the act and persuades her not to pull the trigger, telling her that revenge is not worth her career.
Montoya is one of the main characters of Gotham Central, a comic book series about the Gotham City police department. Believing that the only way to have Montoya is to take everything away from her, Two-Face outs her as a lesbian to the public and frames her for murder.[6] He then kidnaps her, making it look like Montoya has escaped. Two-Face becomes more unstable and the two fight for control of his gun until Batman arrives to save them. Montoya is cleared of all charges and Two-Face returns to Arkham, but Montoya's personal life becomes chaotic, especially with her family: while her younger brother knows about and, to a limited extent, accepts her sexuality, her religious parents disown her.[7]
In the 2004–2005 "War Games" storyline, Montoya and Crispus Allen are ambushed by the Black Spider, and Allen shoots the villain.[8] A corrupt crime scene investigator named Jim Corrigan steals and sells the bullet on the Internet, but the bullet is needed to prove that the shooting was self-defense. In her pursuit of the bullet, Montoya beats the name of the buyer out of Corrigan.[9] Although Allen is cleared, Montoya becomes obsessed with exposing Corrigan. Allen tries to persuade Montoya to let it go, but Montoya refuses, so Allen investigates Corrigan independently. During his investigation, one of Allen's informants is murdered shortly before Allen himself is shot and killed by Corrigan.[10] Montoya takes it upon herself to bring Corrigan to justice. Tracking him down, Montoya beats Corrigan's girlfriend unconscious and draws a gun on Corrigan. He begs for his life, and Montoya finds she cannot pull the trigger. Montoya quits the GCPD the next day, disgusted and broken.[11]
52
Renee Montoya as the Question in 52 #48 (April 2007), art by Darick Robertson.
In the 2006–2007 series 52, Montoya, having been fired from the GCPD, is now a depressed alcoholic obsessing about the loss of her job and girlfriend Daria who had walked out on her three months previously, unable to watch Renée "destroy herself". The Question shines a Bat-Signal (modified to throw a question mark) at her window, asking if she is ready.[volume&issueneeded]
The Question believes that Intergang is preparing to invade Gotham, and to that end, hires Montoya to surveil a warehouse in Gotham City, where they uncover futuristic weapons.[12]
During Week 14, Montoya and the Question fly to Kahndaq, and track down some leads on Intergang. Abbott, the wolf creature, tracks them. After they leave an empty warehouse, they are taken prisoner by members of Black Adam's army.[13]
Nightwing and Montoya find a strange device in a warehouse guarded by hybrid creatures. Nightwing hypothesizes that it is a bomb. Attacked by several Intergang henchmen, the pair are helped by a disillusioned Kyle Abbot. The device is activated, erupting in a pillar of flame. At the same time numerous other devices are also activated, as Intergang attempts to destroy Gotham by fire. A dying Charlie passes the Question identity to Montoya, who dons the faceless mask before going after Bruno Mannheim, finding him and Whisper A'Daire as they are about to use Kate as a sacrificial victim. Montoya sets Whisper A'Daire on fire but is about to be killed by Mannheim when Kate stabs him with the ceremonial knife before collapsing in Montoya's arms.[volume&issueneeded]
"One Year Later" and "Final Crisis"
Montoya appears in Countdown #40 when Oracle solicits her help in capturing the Trickster and the Pied Piper, suspected of the murder of Bart Allen. The two criminals escape the Suicide Squad only to be apprehended by Montoya and Batwoman. Montoya agrees to their release, concluding they are too stupid to be murderers. Montoya maintains that she will not become a member of the Birds of Prey, but Oracle calls upon her to accompany the Birds of Prey in Gotham Underground #2.
She later stars in Greg Rucka's 2007 limited series, Crime Bible: Five Lessons of Blood, in which she pursues the Crime Bible and withstands its adherents' efforts to convert her to their cause. In Grant Morrison's Final Crisis (2008), Montoya informs Dan Turpin that she is investigating the Dark Side Club. She later battles Frankenstein and the agents of S.H.A.D.E. during her investigation of an apocalyptic conspiracy related to the Crime Bible (now in possession of Libra) and Darkseid. She is accosted by S.H.A.D.E. agents in her civilian identity when she assists a dying German Supergirl from a parallel world.
Montoya appears in the Final Crisis: Revelations miniseries by Greg Rucka. While trying to stop members of the Religion of Crime from obtaining a mystic weapon, she is confronted by the Spectre (whose current host is Crispus Allen, Montoya's former partner). The Spectre states that she is about to receive judgment. He is stopped by Radiant, the Spirit of Mercy, who embodies the ideal of Christian love as introduced by Jesus.
Maggie Sawyer, corrupted by the Anti-Life Equation, emerges from Gotham Central along with the rest of the brainwashed police force. They attempt to unleash the Equation on Montoya, but are stopped by the intervention of the Spectre and Radiant. The Spectre is not able to hold them off for long, because they are protected by the same force that protects Libra. Radiant makes sure that Montoya cannot be brainwashed, and teleports her away. Observing the surroundings, she finds Batwoman lying in the streets. Batwoman reveals that she now obeys Darkseid as well, and starts to recite the Equation. It appears, however, that Montoya is completely immune to the Equation; in the following issue, she is seen in complete control of her own mind.
Montoya appears in Final Crisis #5, recruited by the underground resistance movement organized by Checkmate. She is told that she must travel the DC Multiverse and gather help for New Earth. In Final Crisis #7 she is seen accompanied by Captain Marvel (of Earth 5) where she gathers a group of alternative versions of Superman that help end the Final Crisis and defeat Mandrakk the Dark Monitor. She identifies herself as a "Global Peace agent" in Final Crisis #7, an allusion to the faceless agents of the GPA from the original OMAC series.
Starting in Detective Comics #854, Montoya appeared in an ongoing backup feature written by Greg Rucka, with art by Cully Hamner.
Montoya takes the case of a missing illegal immigrant — the young sister of the man named Hector Soliz seeking her detective services. She follows some leads to their hideout and discovers pornographic pictures of the girl, indicating she may have become involved in a child pornography or sexual slavery ring.[14] While investigating a businessman whom she believes is involved with the slavery, Montoya is kidnapped and left to die after being tied up in the trunk of a car that is driven into a river. She easily escapes and eventually tracks the slaves to a boat owned by the businessman. After a brief fight with several henchmen, the police arrive and rescue the women, reuniting Hector with his sister.
When Montoya briefly returned to Gotham City, she worked with the new Batman and quickly realized that he was Nightwing. Her old partner Bullock also discovered that Renee is the new Question, pointing out that he worked with her long enough to be able to recognize her butt anywhere.[15]
"Blackest Night"
During the events of the 2009–2010 "Blackest Night" storyline, Montoya is tracked down by Lady Shiva, who claims that she wishes to test her in combat to see if she is a worthy successor to Victor. The two women engage in a brutal fist fight, only to be interrupted when Victor, now reanimated as a Black Lantern, arrives on the scene and attacks them. After a drawn out battle, Renee discovers that Black Lanterns feed on emotions, and that if she is able to cut herself off from her feelings, she will become invisible. She does so, and angered, Victor stalks off into the night, searching for easier prey. Shiva reveals that she never intended to actually fight Montoya, but felt that attacking her would draw Victor out into the open so she could face him again.[16]
Some time after this, Montoya teams up with the Huntress to bring down the criminal network that Renee had earlier encountered. Eventually, the hitman known as Zeiss attacks the women, having been ordered by an unknown client to kill them. Renee appeals to the hitman's greed, offering him more money if he simply fakes their deaths and leaves them be. After this, Huntress takes Renee to Oracle for help in tracking down the client who put out the hit, and is flabbergasted upon discovering that Oracle is in fact "Commissioner Gordon's daughter". The two women eventually make their way to Oolong Island (home of the Doom Patrol), where they are arrested.[17] After escaping from police custody, Huntress and the Question discovered that Vandal Savage is behind the human trafficking network they had been trying to shut down. Savage offers to shut down his criminal network in exchange for one of them taking the Mark of Cain, which had been branded onto his face by the Spectre during the events of Final Crisis. Renee ultimately chooses to accept the Mark of Cain, ending Savage's reign of terror but leaving her face disfigured.[18]
Following this, the Question appears alongside Batwoman as part of Wonder Woman's team of superheroines when a group of aliens attack Washington D.C.[19]Rose Wilson jokingly asks her if she intends to seek an autograph from Wonder Woman, only for Renee to nervously remark that she is trying to work her way up to asking for one.[20]
Batman Inc.
Montoya seeks out Richard Dragon, who helps her learn to suppress the Mark through her mental willpower.[21] Following Bruce Wayne's return to the 21st century, he establishes Batman, Inc., a global network of Batmen from various nations. Batman sends Renee to Paris, France, to infiltrate the Golden Portal, a violent cult responsible for a number of deaths. Renee allows herself to be captured and brainwashed by the cult's leader, Korrigan, and ultimately uses mental techniques taught to her by Richard and Victor to overcome Korrigan. With help from Batman and the French vigilante Nightrunner, the members of the Golden Portal are defeated and Korrigan is arrested.[22]
The New 52
As part of The New 52, a 2011 line-wide revision of DC superhero comics, including their fictional histories, Montoya appears in an image viewed by Batwoman on the GCPD's wall of honor. James Tynion IV, a writer on Batman Eternal, revealed that the creative team almost included Montoya, but they decided against it: "We cut her out because we didn't want her to just be in the background of the GCPD. We want to bring her back for her own big story".[23]
Montoya appears in Detective Comics (vol. 2) #41, as Harvey Bullock's new partner.[24]
DC Rebirth
DC included Renee Montoya in a line-wide revision of DC superhero comic books, stories and characters they dubbed "DC Rebirth". Montoya appeared sporadically in Detective Comics, still working for the GCPD and slowly rebuilding her relationship with Kate Kane. The two eventually became a couple again in the final issue of the Rebirth Batwoman series.[25]
In July 2019, Montoya debuted as the Question in Lois Lane (vol. 2) #1 as a supporting character.[26] As the Question, she also plays a minor role in Event Leviathan, also from 2019.
Infinite Frontier
Renee rejoins the GCPD around the time of "A-Day", a massive attack on Arkham Asylum by the Joker that results in the deaths of dozens of inmates and staff;[27] the circumstances of why she gave up being the Question have yet to be depicted. In The Next Batman: Second Son #1, Gotham City Mayor Christopher Nakano asks Renee to become the Commissioner of the GCPD to replace Jim Gordon, who has retired.[28] The evening before she plans to accept the position, Renee has a run-in with two GCPD officers who are harassing a man Renee had arrested years earlier and who had received a relatively harsh sentence for a low-level drug offense. Conflicted after hearing the man's explanation, Renee begins reconsidering her choice to accept the Commissioner position. Batwoman meets Renee, and the two discuss the issue; Kate helps clarify Renee's thoughts on the matter, and Renee concludes that she has the chance to help clean up the GCPD and amend for the sorts of abuses of power she saw as both a patrol cop and a detective that she couldn't otherwise prevent, as well as ones she herself took part in, in the name of meeting monthly citation quotas.[29] Renee accepts the role of GCPD Commissioner.[28]
In the Batman: Urban Legends story "Disinformation Campaign", she and Kate Kane are revealed to have broken up sometime prior to the start of the story for unknown reasons.[30]
Watchtower era
Following the events of Absolute Power (2024) and the start of DC All In, the Justice League massively expands its roster and moves its activities to a new Justice League Watchtower. Renee, once again serving as the Question, is hired to serve as head of security for the "station". She will serve as the lead character in the forthcoming murder mystery series, The Question: All along the Watchtower.[31]
Equipment
Montoya uses an advanced energy pistol she found while fighting with Intergang, as well as her police sidearm.
After the death of Vic Sage, Montoya inherited his costume, mask, fedora and trench coat, all of which have been treated to react to the binary gas created by Aristotle Rodor. In addition, Rodor provided Montoya with a shampoo that causes her hair to change color when exposed to the gas. According to the Question: Secret Origin backup in 52, this substance was developed using technology lifted from an old Batman foe named Bart Magan (Dr. No Face) and Gingold Extract, a fruit derivative associated with the Elongated Man. The Question's series by Dennis O'Neil presented Pseudoderm as Rodor's attempt to build an artificial skin for humanitarian purposes.
The mask adheres to her face and renders it as a featureless blank when exposed to the binary gas. The binary gas is expelled from a special belt buckle worn by Montoya. The gas also causes her chemically treated costume, fedora, and trench coat to change color, typically to dark blue.
Other versions
An alternate timeline variant of Renee Montoya who became the commissioner of the GCPD appears in the "Titans Tomorrow" storyline.[32]
An alternate timeline variant of Renee Montoya appears in the "Flashpoint" storyline.[33]
An alternate universe variant of Renee Montoya from Earth-3 who works for Owlman appears in the "Forever Evil" storyline.[34]
Renee Montoya was ranked as the 80th-greatest comic book character of all time by the Wizard magazine.[35]IGN also listed Montoya as the 87th-greatest comic book hero of all time: a character representing ethnic diversity, who has undergone a tremendous personal transformation from humble beginnings.[36]
Renee Montoya appears in Batwoman, portrayed again by Victoria Cartagena.[40] This version is a former member of the Gotham City Police Department who left due to corrupt members and has a secret romantic past with Poison Ivy.
Renee Montoya appears in DC Super Hero Girls, voiced by Roxana Ortega.[41] This version is a security guard at Metropolis High School.
Renee Montoya makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Young Justice episode "Triptych".[42]
A character with similar traits to Renee Montoya named Anna Ramírez appears in The Dark Knight,[45][46][47] portrayed by Monique Gabriela Curnen. This version is a rookie Gotham City Police Department detective who is reluctantly corrupted by the mafia, who are implied to be helping with her mother's medical costs in exchange for her cooperation.[48] In the film, she and fellow corrupt officer Wertz secretly tip off the mafia about James Gordon and Harvey Dent's raids on their money locations, and later sell both Dent and Rachel Dawes out to the mafia after the Joker is captured. Rachel is subsequently killed, but Dent survives with half his face burned. Going by the name Two-Face, Dent confronts Ramirez and threatens her into calling Gordon's family to help him set a trap for them and Gordon as part of a revenge plan. Ramirez pleads with Dent but he decides her fate with a coin toss. As the coin lands on its good side, Dent spares Ramirez but knocks her out. Her fate afterwards is unrevealed.
Renee Montoya appears in Birds of Prey, portrayed by Rosie Perez.[49][50] This version is a Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) Detective whose career has stalled due to her former partner and current captain Patrick Erickson taking credit for solving a past case sometime prior. In the present, she develops a fixation towards Roman Sionis while investigating his criminal activities, but is suspended for failing to provide evidence. After Montoya joins forces with Harley Quinn, Dinah Lance, and Helena Bertinelli to rescue Cassandra Cain from Sionis, Erickson takes credit for doing so, leading her to resign from the GCPD and join Lance and Bertinelli in forming the Birds of Prey.[citation needed]
Renee Montoya appears in the Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel comic. This version is a member of Batman's Insurgency and the wife of Batwoman who eventually dies from overusing performance-enhancing drugs in an attempt to kill High Councilor Superman.
Two-Face is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bob Kane, and first appeared in Detective Comics #66. He has become one of the superhero Batman's most enduring enemies belonging to the collective of adversaries that make up his rogues gallery.
Gotham Central is a police procedural comic-book series that was published by DC Comics. It was written by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, with pencils initially by Michael Lark. The story focused on the Gotham City Police Department and the difficulties of its officers living and working in Gotham City, home of Batman.
James W. "Jim" Gordon Sr. is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, most commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane as an ally of Batman, the character debuted in the first panel of Detective Comics #27, Batman's first appearance, making him the first Batman supporting character ever to be introduced.
Barbara Gordon is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. The character was created by television producer William Dozier, editor Julius Schwartz, writer Gardner Fox, and artist Carmine Infantino. Dozier, the producer of the 1960s Batman television series, requested Schwartz to call for a new female counterpart to the superhero Batman that could be introduced into publication and the third season of the show simultaneously. The character subsequently made her first comic-book appearance as Batgirl in Detective Comics #359, titled "The Million Dollar Debut of Batgirl!" in January 1967, by Fox and Infantino, allowing her to be introduced into the television series, portrayed by actress Yvonne Craig, in the season 3 premiere "Enter Batgirl, Exit Penguin", in September that same year.
Margaret Ellen Sawyer is a fictional character that appears in stories published by DC Comics, and has been a supporting character in Superman comic books.
Victoria Vale is a fictional journalist appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Her character often serves as a potential love interest, character in peril, and source for information about crimes being committed, often drawing parallels to Lois Lane from the Superman comics.
The Bat-Signal is a distress signal device appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, as a means to summon the superhero, Batman. It is a specially modified searchlight with a stylized emblem of a bat affixed to the light, allowing it to project a large bat symbol onto cloudy night skies over Gotham City.
Harvey Bullock is a fictional detective appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #441 and was created by Archie Goodwin and Howard Chaykin. In animation, he appeared throughout the DC Animated Universe, voiced by Robert Costanzo. He debuted in live-action in 2014 on Fox's television series Gotham, portrayed by Donal Logue.
Gillian B. Loeb is a fictional character in the DC Universe who serves as an enemy to Batman's ally James "Jim" Gordon in DC Comics publications.
"Batman: No Man's Land" is an American comic book crossover storyline that ran for almost all of 1999 through the Batman comic book titles published by DC Comics. The story architecture for "No Man's Land" and the outline of all the Batman continuity titles for 1999 were written by cartoonist Jordan B. Gorfinkel.
Gotham Girls is an American animated web series focusing on several of the female characters of Gotham City, produced jointly by Warner Bros. Animation and Noodle Soup Productions. The series, which ran from 2000 to 2002, starred Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Batgirl, Catwoman, Renee Montoya and Zatanna in short stories of varying length about the daily lives of the characters. It takes place in the DC Animated Universe, with Arleen Sorkin, Diane Pershing, Adrienne Barbeau, Tara Strong, and Bob Hastings reprising their roles from Batman the Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures.
Cataclysm is an 18-chapter DC Comics crossover story arc that ran through the various Batman family comics from March to May 1998. The plot of the storyline centers on Gotham City being hit by a massive earthquake, the epicenter of which is less than a mile from Wayne Manor. In the wake of the destruction, Batman and his allies join the frantic rescue efforts around the devastated city, which soon spirals into chaos. This story arc would act as a catalyst for the Batman comics and its spin-off titles, signaling the beginning of nearly two years of storylines that would spring forth in the earthquake's aftermath, culminating in the year-long Batman: No Man's Land saga. Cataclysm itself takes place a short time after the events of Batman: Contagion and Batman: Legacy, two previous crises which also nearly resulted in Gotham City's destruction.
Crispus Allen is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe, mostly commonly depicted in association with Batman.
Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim is a supervillain appearing American comic books published by DC Comics. He is an Intergang crime boss who is the son of Moxie Mannheim and one of Superman's enemies.
Originally created in 1967, the fictional comic book character Barbara Gordon has been adapted into various other forms of media. The character has appeared in both live action and animated television series and films, as well as in video games in her alter-egos as both Batgirl and Oracle.
Batwoman is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writers Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, and artist Alex Ross, Kane is a wealthy heiress who becomes inspired by the superhero Batman and chooses, like him, to put her wealth and resources toward a campaign to fight crime as a masked vigilante in her home of Gotham City as Batwoman.
Batwoman is a name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies of Batman similarly to Batgirl. The original version of the character, Kathy Kane, was first created by writer Edmond Hamilton and artist Sheldon Moldoff under the direction of editor Jack Schiff as a love interest in an attempt to combat allegations of Batman's homosexuality arising from the controversial book, Seduction of the Innocent.
↑ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p.210. ISBN978-1-4654-5357-0.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Renee Montoya Voices (Batman)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved December 12, 2017. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
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