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A Creator/DCComics series from 2004 to 2009 created by writer Marc Andreyko artist Jesus Saiz and tying into the ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' crossover event. Kate Spencer is a Los Angeles Federal Prosecutor by day, but after the supervillain Copperhead [[KarmaHoudini gets a lesser sentence and escapes, killing his guards]] she takes equipment from an evidence locker and [[PayEvilUntoEvil blows Copperhead's brains out]], leaving a message on the wall with the name "Manhunter".
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A Creator/DCComics series from 2004 to 2009 created by writer Marc Andreyko artist Jesus Saiz and tying into the ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'' crossover event. Kate Spencer is a Los Angeles Federal Prosecutor by day, but after the supervillain Copperhead [[KarmaHoudini gets a lesser sentence and escapes, killing his guards]] she takes equipment from an evidence locker and [[PayEvilUntoEvil blows Copperhead's brains out]], leaving a message on the wall with the name "Manhunter".
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* LongLostRelative: During the series Kate meets [[spoiler:her birth father, Walter Pratt,]] but the circumstances are not good at all. Later, she learns that her real grandparents are [[spoiler:Sandra Knight, aka the original [[Comicbook/FreedomFightersDC Phantom Lady]], and Iron Munro]].
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* LongLostRelative: During the series Kate meets [[spoiler:her birth father, Walter Pratt,]] but the circumstances are not good at all. Later, she learns that her real grandparents are [[spoiler:Sandra Knight, aka the original [[Comicbook/FreedomFightersDC Phantom Lady]], Comicbook/PhantomLady, and Iron Munro]].
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* AmbiguousSituation: While it seems she didn't get the [[LightningBruiser bulk of the benefits]] from her great-great grandfather's serum, she does at one point survive a fatal dose of poison and recovers completely, as well as seeming stronger and tougher than the norm.
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* IAmWho: She didn't learn that she was descended from the World War 2-era JSA member Iron Munro until after she became a hero.
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* NamesTheSame: Someone is killing off all the surviving heroes named Manhunter. [[spoiler: It's Mark Shaw, the third Manhunter, having a multiple personality breakdown brought on by his repeated brainwashing and experimentation]]
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* SignificantNameOverlap: Someone is killing off all the surviving heroes named Manhunter. [[spoiler: It's Mark Shaw, the third Manhunter, having a multiple personality breakdown brought on by his repeated brainwashing and experimentation]]
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-->I was like, she's no more unlikable than {{Wolverine}}. Is it because she's a woman you find that unlikable? My biggest inspiration for creating Kate was Helen Mirren in "Series/PrimeSuspect." If you haven't seen it it's amazing stuff, Helen Mirren plays a homicide investigator who is a drinker and a smoker and is bad at relationships and is this deeply flawed character. But because she was a woman we hadn't seen that before.
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-->I was like, she's no more unlikable than {{Wolverine}}.ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}. Is it because she's a woman you find that unlikable? My biggest inspiration for creating Kate was Helen Mirren in "Series/PrimeSuspect." If you haven't seen it it's amazing stuff, Helen Mirren plays a homicide investigator who is a drinker and a smoker and is bad at relationships and is this deeply flawed character. But because she was a woman we hadn't seen that before.
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* AdultFear: In an early issue Ramsey winds up in the hospital after finding her staff and shocking himself with it, and the incident takes its emotional toll on Kate.
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* EthnicityObscuringMutation: Mr. Bones has translucent skin, which makes him resemble a skeleton in a suit. When he puts on makeup in order to talk with Kate Spencer in public, she's shocked to discover that he's actually a black man.
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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Manhunter_KateSpencer_9967.jpg]]
A Creator/DCComics series from 2004 to 2009 created by writer Marc Andreyko artist Jesus Saiz and tying into the ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' crossover event. Kate Spencer is a Los Angeles Federal Prosecutor by day, but after the supervillain Copperhead [[KarmaHoudini gets a lesser sentence and escapes, killing his guards]] she takes equipment from an evidence locker and [[PayEvilUntoEvil blows Copperhead's brains out]], leaving a message on the wall with the name "Manhunter".
Kate is the eighth DC character to bear the name Manhunter, but at first is unconnected to the previous holders of the title beyond bearing the weapon of Mark Shaw.
After the cancellation of her own book, Kate appeared in ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'', ''Streets of Gotham'' and more recently ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica''. She also appeared as her civilian identity in the ComicBook/GreenArrow TV show ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' (played by Creator/ChelahHorsdal), where she was Starling City's District Attorney (though she's never seen working as a vigilante).
Not to be confused with the ComicBook/MartianManhunter, or with the [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Guardians of the Universe's]] [[AIIsACrapshoot first failed attempt]] at a SpacePolice.
----
!!''Manhunter'' provides examples of:
%%* ABoyAndHisX: The story of Ramsey and his dog[[note]]who is more than he appears[[/note]] is integral in several portions of the series. %% Add more context to describe their relationship and what effect it has on them. %%
* AdultFear: In an early issue Ramsey winds up in the hospital after finding her staff and shocking himself with it, and the incident takes its emotional toll on Kate.
* AffirmativeActionLegacy: Though she is unconnected to the previous Manhunters, Kate is the first woman to bear the title, and the DistantFinale shows that [[spoiler: her son Ramsey, who is gay, will take the title as well.]] The same storyline also introduced a new version of Jade, who was an adopted Asian-American teen.
* AmoralAttorney: Copperhead's lawyer in the first story arc is portrayed as one, convincing the jury that Copperhead ''murdering and cannibalizing 48 people'' isnt his fault, but the fault of his unstable mutation. Kate herself is forced to become one as part of her deal with Mr Bones, defending Dr Psycho against charges for his part of the Battle Of Metropolis where he mind-controlled a group of civilians to brutally murder a group of uncooperative supervillains.
* AntiHero: Kate mostly seems to fall into a considerably dysfunctional Type III, though she gets perilously close to Type IV or V at times too.
* AtrociousAlias: "Dylan Battles" is pretty clearly not his birth name (it's apparently Rich), which Kate immediately points out.
* BadassNormal: Normal is stretching it, Kate likely has some low-key metahuman power, but not enough to make her more than unusually athletic baseline human.
* BastardBastard: [[spoiler:Kate's birth father, Walter Pratt, who killed her mother in front of her when she was a baby. He was the child of Iron Mundro and Sandra Knight, and while the two did get married later, Sandra hid the fact that she was pregnant from Munro and gave the child up for adoption]]
* BillyNeedsAnOrgan: Kate is reunited with her birth father when he [[spoiler:kidnaps Ramsey for an (involuntary) bone marrow transplant, since he is dying of blood cancer. He then finds out that Ramsey is not a match, so he tries to lure Kate in, who is. It does not end well for him.]]
* BoxedCrook: One of the first things Kate does is recruit Dylan Battles (real name Rich), a former {{Mook}} specializing in technology, by reminding him that she got him off on a plea deal for giving her information about his employers, and it would be all too easy for said former employers to find him if he does not cooperate.
* ByronicHero: As a character, Kate is a mess of contradictions and conflicting hypocrisies. Efficient, clever in applications of law, and reasonable enough as an attorney, but also prone to brutal, unthinking and cruel acts of violence; loves her family and cares for her son, but is a blatant workaholic who neglects her son and wrecked her marriage to her ex-husband; a self-proclaimed lover of the law and upholder of judiciary rules and the system and an unrepentant multiple murderess and blackmailer. Sees herself as a dispenser of justice and a "good guy", despite engaging in multiple criminal acts and acknowledging she'll be sent to prison or worse when caught.
* CategoryTraitor: When Director Bones refuses to send back-up to help Kate rescue a group of Mexican women from superhuman organ-thieves, she tries to guilt-trip him by insinuating that he has forgotten what color his skin would be, since despite the fact that his skin, muscles and organs are invisible and thus he literally looks like a skeleton, Bones is in fact a black man. He [[http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx6vfqUDqu1qeenqto1_500.jpg immediately tears into Kate]] and essentially tells her that a person of color ''never'' forgets that, even if their appearance changes.
* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: Kate wears a modified "exo-mantle" that formerly belonged to a member of the Darkstars, an intergalactic police force.
* ConvenientMiscarriage: The stress from [[spoiler:the SelfMadeOrphan situation below]] causes Kate to miscarry, and worse, she did not even know she was pregnant at the time.
* DoubleStandard: Writer Mark Andreyko remarked how people complained about Kate being "unlikable" when the book first came out, and this was his response in [[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32199 an interview]]:
-->I was like, she's no more unlikable than {{Wolverine}}. Is it because she's a woman you find that unlikable? My biggest inspiration for creating Kate was Helen Mirren in "Series/PrimeSuspect." If you haven't seen it it's amazing stuff, Helen Mirren plays a homicide investigator who is a drinker and a smoker and is bad at relationships and is this deeply flawed character. But because she was a woman we hadn't seen that before.
* DramaticDrop:
** When Kate sees that the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}} has shown up in her office her latte goes flying, but ComicBook/GreenLantern John Stewart catches it using his ring's powers and remarks that he knows how expensive those lattes can be.
** This occurs again with one of Kate's assistants when Wonder Woman is in her office for a case. She catches the drinks and ice just because she didn't want there to be a mess.
* EthnicityObscuringMutation: Mr. Bones has translucent skin, which makes him resemble a skeleton in a suit. When he puts on makeup in order to talk with Kate Spencer in public, she's shocked to discover that he's actually a black man.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: A major reason for Dylan's FaceHeelTurn. He has no problem building giant robot armor for people who want to rob banks and take over the world, but a 10 minute conversation with ComicBook/TheJoker has him ready to turn over a new leaf.
* {{Expy}}: Andreyko drew heavily on Creator/HelenMirren's character Jane Tennison in ''Series/PrimeSuspect'' for Kate's character.
* FagHag: Kate, which she [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]]. Her paralegal Damon Matthews, who she is probably closest to of anyone in the cast, is dating Todd Rice, aka Obsidian, of ''ComicBook/InfinityInc'' A FlashForward also shows that [[spoiler: her son Ramsey is gay and inherits her title]].
* FlyingBrick: The Darkstar suit is reinforced, and her staff allows her to fly.
* HairColorDissonance: Kate's hair color varies DependingOnTheArtist. In the series it is mostly shown as brown with some red highlights, but some cover artwork, including the page image, show it as black.
* HairTriggerTemper: Kate has this due to her cornucopia of issues. She often remarks that not having criminals to beat to a pulp makes her antsy and she smashes a stone statue to pieces simply because there is no-one around to pummel.
* HelloAttorney: Superhero escapades aside, Kate is a respected prosecuting attorney. This despite her repeated belief that [[ArtisticLicenseLaw courts can render a "verdict of death."]] Not to mention she's described as being quite attractive by many despite her aggressive features. [[spoiler: Some years in the future, she manages to hook up with a fit attorney fifteen years her minor despite showing visible wrinkles and graying hair.]]
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Kate is well aware of this trope, and in an early issue has a dream where she rescues Franchise/{{Batman}} by shooting the criminals holding him hostage, and after she frees him he [[WhatTheHellHero calls her out]] for being no better than the villains. [[spoiler: She later comes to terms with it and decides her actions, no matter how hypocritical and unlawful, have to be done and that she will not apologize for them and will not stop]].
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Averted. When she started killing criminals in Los Angeles, she gained quite the fan following and public support, with press immediately trying to interview her and people cheering support. Wonder Woman even tried to get Kate as her defense attorney after being indicted for killing Maxwell Lord because she had experience killing criminals and would be able to sympathize with the murder. Only Batman had voiced a clear dislike of her from the superhero end.
* HumiliationConga: Dylan, when recounting his backstory, shows a [[http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkijpyFF4u1qf71nmo1_500.jpg montage of such moments]] during his day as tech-support henchman for supervillains, including getting sucker punched by a dolphin when he worked for Black Manta.
* HypocriticalHumor: When she first takes Dylan to a restaurant he is about to light a cigarette and she asks him "You think it's wise to break the law in front of an officer of the court?" but when he asks her a second later if she wants a cigarette she accepts. Also counts as a HypocrisyNod.
* KarmaHoudini: It was seeing Copperhead become one of these that first inspired Kate to don the costume. Kate herself is one to an extent considering she's shown getting away with multiple accounts of murder and brutality while being fated to continue the behavior for years with her son. She's only been mildly admonished by heroes like Batman and supported by those like Huntress and Wonder Woman in the story.
* {{Ladette}}: Even before donning the Manhunter armor, Kate smokes, drinks and has more balls than many of her male coworkers.
* LeftHanging: Given the series' cancellation, this is to be expected. Even though Kate Spencer's continued in backups in ''Streets of Gotham'', Kate herself also appeared in ''Comicbook/BirdsOfPrey'', and the last two issues were a FlashForward into the future, hinting that the problems were resolved, it still left several threads hanging.
** The last plot hinted at, a serial murderer of Abortion Doctors, was only started, but cut off abruptly.
** Dylan Battle's ties with the Joker.
* KilledOffForReal: Previous Manhunters Chase Lawler and the Paul Kirk clone from ''ComicBook/PowerCompany'' are slain, making Kate the only active Manhunter in the DC Universe.
* LegacyCharacter: Though Kate is one of many heroes to call herself "Manhunter," she does not have any connection to the previous incarnations except for her staff, which was used by a previous Manhunter, Mark Shaw. Shaw later becomes a supporting character.
* LongLostRelative: During the series Kate meets [[spoiler:her birth father, Walter Pratt,]] but the circumstances are not good at all. Later, she learns that her real grandparents are [[spoiler:Sandra Knight, aka the original [[Comicbook/FreedomFightersDC Phantom Lady]], and Iron Munro]].
* UsefulNotes/LosAngeles: In the original series, Kate is based out of LA.
* MadeOfIron: Even without the reinforced suit, Kate's noted as being tougher than average. This is probably because [[spoiler:her grandfather is Iron Munro, who was also notoriously MadeOfIron, and was in fact created as a stand in for Superman]].
* MamaBear: Do not hurt Ramsey. If you do, you are in for a world of hurt. Despite this, she is...
* MaternallyChallenged: With her son Ramsey. It is one of the things that led to her divorce.
* MistakenForCheating: When Kate first shows up at Dylan's place his girlfriend sees her and immediately assumes Dylan is fooling around with her. While it seems Dylan ''has'' in fact been cheating on her this time he was innocent, but one of his supposed lovers showing up at home is too much for her and she leaves with their baby.
* NamesTheSame: Someone is killing off all the surviving heroes named Manhunter. [[spoiler: It's Mark Shaw, the third Manhunter, having a multiple personality breakdown brought on by his repeated brainwashing and experimentation]]
* NoSmoking: Averted. She smokes like a chimney, and at one point lights a cigarette with her gas burner because she cannot find her lighter.
* ParentalIssues: In an early issue Dylan makes a crack about "daddy not taking you to the circus" and Kate angrily says that he should never talk about her personal life like that again. We later find out that [[spoiler:Kate's father murdered her mother in front of her when she was a baby, and though she did not know this for years the trauma of seeing it is implied to have affected her deeply]].
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Kate is a firm believer that the supervillains of the world, if they cannot be convicted by the law, should be eliminated and enforces that belief with fervor. This has lead to some friction between her and other members of the hero community.
* [[RetCon Retcon]]/ArcWelding: ''Every'' post-1940s incarnation of Manhunter is retconned as part of [[spoiler: Mark Shaw]]'s new backstory, mostly in order to reduce the involvement of the [[Comicbook/GreenLantern alien Manhunter robots]] and make Kate the only person actively using the codename.
** Iron Munro is added to the history of the Justice Society. In reality, Munro was created in 1987 as a Superman expy when the Earth 2 Superman was removed from history after the first Crisis. Munro himself is also an expy of Hugo Danner from {{Gladiator}}.
* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Kate winds up killing her own birth father after he kidnaps Ramsey]]
* SexWithTheEx: Kate gets back together with her ex for a one night affair. [[spoiler: This gets her pregnant, although she later miscarries the baby without ever knowing she was pregnant. She doesn't stay together with her Ex (Ramsey's father) beyond the one night stand.]]
* SimpleYetAwesome: The suit, which not only has tech built in to protect her from psi-powers, but covers her body completely ''and'' avoids CombatStilettos.
* SociopathicHero: At least a borderline sociopath. By DC superhero standards (also by normal-person standards), she has killed a fair number of people, [[spoiler: including her own father]], and never seemed to feel bad about it, instead believing other superheroes should follow her lead. It's no wonder she gets along so well with ComicBook/{{Huntress}} of all people.
* StraightGay: Damon Matthews, who at one point blatantly hits on ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}. Todd Rice (aka. Obsidian), which had been teased in other books for years and finally made canon in this one. [[spoiler: In the future, Kate's son Ramsey and his boyfriend Justin, also the son of superhero parents]].
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Kate comes from a long line of metahumans. Her great grandfather Hugo Danner, grandfather Arnold "Iron" Munroe and father Walter Pratt were all superhuman. While Kate herself is not fully-superhuman, she is unusually strong and tough and it is implied that she is a borderline metahuman. Her son Ramsey inherits powers that easily exceed any of his ancestors. He is also an extremely rare fifth generation metahuman.
* TakingTheKids: After their divorce Kate's ex-husband Peter got custody of Ramsey, though Kate still sees him some weekends. Early in the series after Ramsey's accident with her staff Peter gets a court order keeping her away from Ramsey and threatens to sue for full custody. [[BerserkButton She takes this as well as you would expect]].
* ThouShaltNotKill: Averted. Kate does ''not'' follow the standard superhero rules of not killing her villains and criminals.
* TrickedOutGloves: Kate's gauntlet's, which once belonged to ComicBook/{{Azrael}}.
* VigilanteMan: Her character apart from being a lawyer in a nutshell. Her goal in life is to kill criminals who end up getting free from punishment by the law. She sees her acts of murder as justice and actively is opposed to being referred to as a murderer.
----
A Creator/DCComics series from 2004 to 2009 created by writer Marc Andreyko artist Jesus Saiz and tying into the ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' crossover event. Kate Spencer is a Los Angeles Federal Prosecutor by day, but after the supervillain Copperhead [[KarmaHoudini gets a lesser sentence and escapes, killing his guards]] she takes equipment from an evidence locker and [[PayEvilUntoEvil blows Copperhead's brains out]], leaving a message on the wall with the name "Manhunter".
Kate is the eighth DC character to bear the name Manhunter, but at first is unconnected to the previous holders of the title beyond bearing the weapon of Mark Shaw.
After the cancellation of her own book, Kate appeared in ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'', ''Streets of Gotham'' and more recently ''ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica''. She also appeared as her civilian identity in the ComicBook/GreenArrow TV show ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' (played by Creator/ChelahHorsdal), where she was Starling City's District Attorney (though she's never seen working as a vigilante).
Not to be confused with the ComicBook/MartianManhunter, or with the [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Guardians of the Universe's]] [[AIIsACrapshoot first failed attempt]] at a SpacePolice.
----
!!''Manhunter'' provides examples of:
%%* ABoyAndHisX: The story of Ramsey and his dog[[note]]who is more than he appears[[/note]] is integral in several portions of the series. %% Add more context to describe their relationship and what effect it has on them. %%
* AdultFear: In an early issue Ramsey winds up in the hospital after finding her staff and shocking himself with it, and the incident takes its emotional toll on Kate.
* AffirmativeActionLegacy: Though she is unconnected to the previous Manhunters, Kate is the first woman to bear the title, and the DistantFinale shows that [[spoiler: her son Ramsey, who is gay, will take the title as well.]] The same storyline also introduced a new version of Jade, who was an adopted Asian-American teen.
* AmoralAttorney: Copperhead's lawyer in the first story arc is portrayed as one, convincing the jury that Copperhead ''murdering and cannibalizing 48 people'' isnt his fault, but the fault of his unstable mutation. Kate herself is forced to become one as part of her deal with Mr Bones, defending Dr Psycho against charges for his part of the Battle Of Metropolis where he mind-controlled a group of civilians to brutally murder a group of uncooperative supervillains.
* AntiHero: Kate mostly seems to fall into a considerably dysfunctional Type III, though she gets perilously close to Type IV or V at times too.
* AtrociousAlias: "Dylan Battles" is pretty clearly not his birth name (it's apparently Rich), which Kate immediately points out.
* BadassNormal: Normal is stretching it, Kate likely has some low-key metahuman power, but not enough to make her more than unusually athletic baseline human.
* BastardBastard: [[spoiler:Kate's birth father, Walter Pratt, who killed her mother in front of her when she was a baby. He was the child of Iron Mundro and Sandra Knight, and while the two did get married later, Sandra hid the fact that she was pregnant from Munro and gave the child up for adoption]]
* BillyNeedsAnOrgan: Kate is reunited with her birth father when he [[spoiler:kidnaps Ramsey for an (involuntary) bone marrow transplant, since he is dying of blood cancer. He then finds out that Ramsey is not a match, so he tries to lure Kate in, who is. It does not end well for him.]]
* BoxedCrook: One of the first things Kate does is recruit Dylan Battles (real name Rich), a former {{Mook}} specializing in technology, by reminding him that she got him off on a plea deal for giving her information about his employers, and it would be all too easy for said former employers to find him if he does not cooperate.
* ByronicHero: As a character, Kate is a mess of contradictions and conflicting hypocrisies. Efficient, clever in applications of law, and reasonable enough as an attorney, but also prone to brutal, unthinking and cruel acts of violence; loves her family and cares for her son, but is a blatant workaholic who neglects her son and wrecked her marriage to her ex-husband; a self-proclaimed lover of the law and upholder of judiciary rules and the system and an unrepentant multiple murderess and blackmailer. Sees herself as a dispenser of justice and a "good guy", despite engaging in multiple criminal acts and acknowledging she'll be sent to prison or worse when caught.
* CategoryTraitor: When Director Bones refuses to send back-up to help Kate rescue a group of Mexican women from superhuman organ-thieves, she tries to guilt-trip him by insinuating that he has forgotten what color his skin would be, since despite the fact that his skin, muscles and organs are invisible and thus he literally looks like a skeleton, Bones is in fact a black man. He [[http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx6vfqUDqu1qeenqto1_500.jpg immediately tears into Kate]] and essentially tells her that a person of color ''never'' forgets that, even if their appearance changes.
* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: Kate wears a modified "exo-mantle" that formerly belonged to a member of the Darkstars, an intergalactic police force.
* ConvenientMiscarriage: The stress from [[spoiler:the SelfMadeOrphan situation below]] causes Kate to miscarry, and worse, she did not even know she was pregnant at the time.
* DoubleStandard: Writer Mark Andreyko remarked how people complained about Kate being "unlikable" when the book first came out, and this was his response in [[http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32199 an interview]]:
-->I was like, she's no more unlikable than {{Wolverine}}. Is it because she's a woman you find that unlikable? My biggest inspiration for creating Kate was Helen Mirren in "Series/PrimeSuspect." If you haven't seen it it's amazing stuff, Helen Mirren plays a homicide investigator who is a drinker and a smoker and is bad at relationships and is this deeply flawed character. But because she was a woman we hadn't seen that before.
* DramaticDrop:
** When Kate sees that the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}} has shown up in her office her latte goes flying, but ComicBook/GreenLantern John Stewart catches it using his ring's powers and remarks that he knows how expensive those lattes can be.
** This occurs again with one of Kate's assistants when Wonder Woman is in her office for a case. She catches the drinks and ice just because she didn't want there to be a mess.
* EthnicityObscuringMutation: Mr. Bones has translucent skin, which makes him resemble a skeleton in a suit. When he puts on makeup in order to talk with Kate Spencer in public, she's shocked to discover that he's actually a black man.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: A major reason for Dylan's FaceHeelTurn. He has no problem building giant robot armor for people who want to rob banks and take over the world, but a 10 minute conversation with ComicBook/TheJoker has him ready to turn over a new leaf.
* {{Expy}}: Andreyko drew heavily on Creator/HelenMirren's character Jane Tennison in ''Series/PrimeSuspect'' for Kate's character.
* FagHag: Kate, which she [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]]. Her paralegal Damon Matthews, who she is probably closest to of anyone in the cast, is dating Todd Rice, aka Obsidian, of ''ComicBook/InfinityInc'' A FlashForward also shows that [[spoiler: her son Ramsey is gay and inherits her title]].
* FlyingBrick: The Darkstar suit is reinforced, and her staff allows her to fly.
* HairColorDissonance: Kate's hair color varies DependingOnTheArtist. In the series it is mostly shown as brown with some red highlights, but some cover artwork, including the page image, show it as black.
* HairTriggerTemper: Kate has this due to her cornucopia of issues. She often remarks that not having criminals to beat to a pulp makes her antsy and she smashes a stone statue to pieces simply because there is no-one around to pummel.
* HelloAttorney: Superhero escapades aside, Kate is a respected prosecuting attorney. This despite her repeated belief that [[ArtisticLicenseLaw courts can render a "verdict of death."]] Not to mention she's described as being quite attractive by many despite her aggressive features. [[spoiler: Some years in the future, she manages to hook up with a fit attorney fifteen years her minor despite showing visible wrinkles and graying hair.]]
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Kate is well aware of this trope, and in an early issue has a dream where she rescues Franchise/{{Batman}} by shooting the criminals holding him hostage, and after she frees him he [[WhatTheHellHero calls her out]] for being no better than the villains. [[spoiler: She later comes to terms with it and decides her actions, no matter how hypocritical and unlawful, have to be done and that she will not apologize for them and will not stop]].
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Averted. When she started killing criminals in Los Angeles, she gained quite the fan following and public support, with press immediately trying to interview her and people cheering support. Wonder Woman even tried to get Kate as her defense attorney after being indicted for killing Maxwell Lord because she had experience killing criminals and would be able to sympathize with the murder. Only Batman had voiced a clear dislike of her from the superhero end.
* HumiliationConga: Dylan, when recounting his backstory, shows a [[http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkijpyFF4u1qf71nmo1_500.jpg montage of such moments]] during his day as tech-support henchman for supervillains, including getting sucker punched by a dolphin when he worked for Black Manta.
* HypocriticalHumor: When she first takes Dylan to a restaurant he is about to light a cigarette and she asks him "You think it's wise to break the law in front of an officer of the court?" but when he asks her a second later if she wants a cigarette she accepts. Also counts as a HypocrisyNod.
* KarmaHoudini: It was seeing Copperhead become one of these that first inspired Kate to don the costume. Kate herself is one to an extent considering she's shown getting away with multiple accounts of murder and brutality while being fated to continue the behavior for years with her son. She's only been mildly admonished by heroes like Batman and supported by those like Huntress and Wonder Woman in the story.
* {{Ladette}}: Even before donning the Manhunter armor, Kate smokes, drinks and has more balls than many of her male coworkers.
* LeftHanging: Given the series' cancellation, this is to be expected. Even though Kate Spencer's continued in backups in ''Streets of Gotham'', Kate herself also appeared in ''Comicbook/BirdsOfPrey'', and the last two issues were a FlashForward into the future, hinting that the problems were resolved, it still left several threads hanging.
** The last plot hinted at, a serial murderer of Abortion Doctors, was only started, but cut off abruptly.
** Dylan Battle's ties with the Joker.
* KilledOffForReal: Previous Manhunters Chase Lawler and the Paul Kirk clone from ''ComicBook/PowerCompany'' are slain, making Kate the only active Manhunter in the DC Universe.
* LegacyCharacter: Though Kate is one of many heroes to call herself "Manhunter," she does not have any connection to the previous incarnations except for her staff, which was used by a previous Manhunter, Mark Shaw. Shaw later becomes a supporting character.
* LongLostRelative: During the series Kate meets [[spoiler:her birth father, Walter Pratt,]] but the circumstances are not good at all. Later, she learns that her real grandparents are [[spoiler:Sandra Knight, aka the original [[Comicbook/FreedomFightersDC Phantom Lady]], and Iron Munro]].
* UsefulNotes/LosAngeles: In the original series, Kate is based out of LA.
* MadeOfIron: Even without the reinforced suit, Kate's noted as being tougher than average. This is probably because [[spoiler:her grandfather is Iron Munro, who was also notoriously MadeOfIron, and was in fact created as a stand in for Superman]].
* MamaBear: Do not hurt Ramsey. If you do, you are in for a world of hurt. Despite this, she is...
* MaternallyChallenged: With her son Ramsey. It is one of the things that led to her divorce.
* MistakenForCheating: When Kate first shows up at Dylan's place his girlfriend sees her and immediately assumes Dylan is fooling around with her. While it seems Dylan ''has'' in fact been cheating on her this time he was innocent, but one of his supposed lovers showing up at home is too much for her and she leaves with their baby.
* NamesTheSame: Someone is killing off all the surviving heroes named Manhunter. [[spoiler: It's Mark Shaw, the third Manhunter, having a multiple personality breakdown brought on by his repeated brainwashing and experimentation]]
* NoSmoking: Averted. She smokes like a chimney, and at one point lights a cigarette with her gas burner because she cannot find her lighter.
* ParentalIssues: In an early issue Dylan makes a crack about "daddy not taking you to the circus" and Kate angrily says that he should never talk about her personal life like that again. We later find out that [[spoiler:Kate's father murdered her mother in front of her when she was a baby, and though she did not know this for years the trauma of seeing it is implied to have affected her deeply]].
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Kate is a firm believer that the supervillains of the world, if they cannot be convicted by the law, should be eliminated and enforces that belief with fervor. This has lead to some friction between her and other members of the hero community.
* [[RetCon Retcon]]/ArcWelding: ''Every'' post-1940s incarnation of Manhunter is retconned as part of [[spoiler: Mark Shaw]]'s new backstory, mostly in order to reduce the involvement of the [[Comicbook/GreenLantern alien Manhunter robots]] and make Kate the only person actively using the codename.
** Iron Munro is added to the history of the Justice Society. In reality, Munro was created in 1987 as a Superman expy when the Earth 2 Superman was removed from history after the first Crisis. Munro himself is also an expy of Hugo Danner from {{Gladiator}}.
* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Kate winds up killing her own birth father after he kidnaps Ramsey]]
* SexWithTheEx: Kate gets back together with her ex for a one night affair. [[spoiler: This gets her pregnant, although she later miscarries the baby without ever knowing she was pregnant. She doesn't stay together with her Ex (Ramsey's father) beyond the one night stand.]]
* SimpleYetAwesome: The suit, which not only has tech built in to protect her from psi-powers, but covers her body completely ''and'' avoids CombatStilettos.
* SociopathicHero: At least a borderline sociopath. By DC superhero standards (also by normal-person standards), she has killed a fair number of people, [[spoiler: including her own father]], and never seemed to feel bad about it, instead believing other superheroes should follow her lead. It's no wonder she gets along so well with ComicBook/{{Huntress}} of all people.
* StraightGay: Damon Matthews, who at one point blatantly hits on ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}. Todd Rice (aka. Obsidian), which had been teased in other books for years and finally made canon in this one. [[spoiler: In the future, Kate's son Ramsey and his boyfriend Justin, also the son of superhero parents]].
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Kate comes from a long line of metahumans. Her great grandfather Hugo Danner, grandfather Arnold "Iron" Munroe and father Walter Pratt were all superhuman. While Kate herself is not fully-superhuman, she is unusually strong and tough and it is implied that she is a borderline metahuman. Her son Ramsey inherits powers that easily exceed any of his ancestors. He is also an extremely rare fifth generation metahuman.
* TakingTheKids: After their divorce Kate's ex-husband Peter got custody of Ramsey, though Kate still sees him some weekends. Early in the series after Ramsey's accident with her staff Peter gets a court order keeping her away from Ramsey and threatens to sue for full custody. [[BerserkButton She takes this as well as you would expect]].
* ThouShaltNotKill: Averted. Kate does ''not'' follow the standard superhero rules of not killing her villains and criminals.
* TrickedOutGloves: Kate's gauntlet's, which once belonged to ComicBook/{{Azrael}}.
* VigilanteMan: Her character apart from being a lawyer in a nutshell. Her goal in life is to kill criminals who end up getting free from punishment by the law. She sees her acts of murder as justice and actively is opposed to being referred to as a murderer.
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