and The New Batman Adventures''. Montoya was created for
Batman: The Animated Series by
Bruce Timm,
Paul Dini, and
Mitch Brian, as described in the
series bible. She first appears as a uniformed officer partnered with
Harvey Bullock. In the follow-up series
The New Batman Adventures, Montoya is promoted from police officer to detective. She also makes a cameo appearance in
Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero. The comic series
Gotham Central describes Montoya as the daughter of immigrants from the
Dominican Republic, making her
Dominican-American. Renee is a recurring character in the Batman-related comics after
Batman #475 (March 1992). 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.
Gotham City is destroyed by an
earthquake in
Cataclysm 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. Dent takes on this role and convinces Two-Face to free everyone. 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 police officials. 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.
Gotham Central . 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 publicly
outs her as a
lesbian and frames her for murder. 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 her parents disown her. In the 2004–2005 "
War Games" storyline, Montoya and
Crispus Allen are ambushed by
Black Spider, and Allen shoots the villain. Corrupt police officer
Jim Corrigan steals and sells the bullet, which is needed to prove that the shooting was in self-defense. In her pursuit of the bullet, Montoya beats the name of the buyer out of Corrigan. 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. 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.
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 (Vic Sage) shines a
Bat-Signal (modified to throw a question mark) at her window, asking if she is ready. 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. During Week 14, Montoya and the Question fly to
Kahndaq, and track down some leads on Intergang.
Kyle Abbot, a werewolf-like member of Intergang, tracks them. After they leave an empty warehouse, they are taken prisoner by members of
Black Adam's army.
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 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 Sage passes the Question identity to Montoya, who dons his 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.
"One Year Later" and "Final Crisis" Montoya appears in
Countdown #40 when
Oracle solicits her help in capturing the
Trickster and the
Pied Piper, who are suspected to have killed
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
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
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 an alternate universe version of Supergirl. 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 Crispus Allen's spirit, who has become the
Spectre. 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.
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. Later, Montoya discovers that Batwoman has fallen under the Equation's influence. Montoya appears in
Final Crisis #5, recruited by the underground resistance movement organized by
Checkmate. She is told that she must travel the
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
Global Peace Agency. Starting in
Detective Comics #854, Montoya appeared in an ongoing backup feature written by
Greg Rucka, with art by
Cully Hamner.
Batwoman: Detective Comics 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. 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.
"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 Vic Sage, 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. 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. 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. 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.
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.
Batman Inc. Montoya seeks out
Richard Dragon, who helps her learn to suppress the Mark through her mental willpower. 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.
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". Montoya appears in
Detective Comics (vol. 2) #41, as
Harvey Bullock's new partner.
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. In July 2019, Montoya debuted as the Question in
Lois Lane (vol. 2) #1 as a supporting character. 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; 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. 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. Renee accepts the role of GCPD Commissioner.
Watchtower era Following the events of
Absolute Power (2024) and the start of
DC All In, the Justice League expands its roster and moves to a new
Justice League Watchtower. Renee, once again serving as the Question, joins the League and becomes the head of security at the Watchtower. She serves as the lead character in the
murder mystery miniseries
The Question: All Along the Watchtower. ==Equipment==