Renee Montoya

Renee Montoya
Affiliation	Major Crimes Unit GCPD
Occupation	Detective
Status	Alive
First	"Pilot"
Appeared in	7 episodes (see below)
Portrayed by	Victoria Cartagena

"Anyhow, I-I'm sorry for misjudging you, and I'm very glad that we're on the same side now."

—Renee Montoya to Jim Gordon^[src]

Renee Montoya is a detective with the Major Crimes Unit of the Gotham City Police Department. Her partner is Crispus Allen. She is also an alcoholic, a former drug addict and she used to have an affair with Barbara Kean.

Biography

Renee and her partner, Crispus Allen, approached Harvey Bullock and offered to take over the case of the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne due to its high media profile. Although Bullock might have been inclined to accept their offer at first, he was offended by their arrogance and refused them.

After Bullock and Gordon's investigation named Mario Pepper as the murderer of the Wayne's, Montoya received information from Oswald Cobblepot that Pepper was framed. Montoya met with Barbara Kean, knowing that she was in a relationship with James Gordon, to warn her that Gordon was, in Renee's opinion, involved in a frame-up. Renee flies solo on this issue and appears to imply a previous romantic relationship between herself and Barbara. She does not trust James Gordon, although this may be due in large part to her "past" with Barbara.

Montoya and Allen questioned Gertrud Kapelput about her son's disappearance, as he was their source inside Mooney's organization. She's not in a great frame of mind, and when she leaves for a moment, the two of them theorize that Oswald was taken out by Mooney and the cops. Montoya says they won't get away with it so easily, while Allen cautions her not to take things too personally.

Montoya and Allen arrived at Fish Mooney's nightclub. The two Major Crimes Unit Detectives then questioned Mooney concerning Cobblepot, and Mooney told the two that the rumor on the street was that Jim Gordon pulled the trigger against Cobblepot, turning their investigation to Don Carmine Falcone as the one who had ordered Gordon to kill Cobblepot. Montoya and Allen visit Gordon and accuse him of having eliminated Cobblepot on behalf of Falcone on the night of September 17. Montoya later visited Barbara at her penthouse, having kept her key from the time when the two were still together. Montoya tries to turn Barbara against Jim, telling her that Gordon killed Oswald Cobblepot, but Barbara doesn't believe her. Barbara thinks she's just jealous, and after Montoya attempts to kiss her, Barbara asks her to leave.

At the Gotham port, Montoya and Allen manage to get a witness who saw Gordon shoot Oswald Cobblepot and throw his body into the river. With that testimony, they had enough evidence to arrest Gordon. Montoya is later confronted by Barbara who offered to tell her anything that she might find out in exchange for her leaving Jim alone. However, Montoya refuses because she already had a witness and a warrant for Gordon. Later, Montoya and Allen arrive to put Gordon in a cell. The MCU officers accuse Gordon of killing Oswald Cobblepot, though Bullock gives his testimony to try to defend his partner, but this results in Bullock's arrest as well. Despite Jim's objections that he hadn't killed Cobblepot, he isn't believed until Oswald Cobblepot arrives, announcing himself, to Montoya and Allen's surprise.

Renee and Crispus rush to the GCPD Headquarters to save a wounded James Gordon from the hitman Victor Zsasz. They immediately take the wounded detective to a low-profile dissection lab inside of a University, where he is treated by Dr. Thawson. After Jim repeatedly insists on heading out again, they take him to the Wayne Manor to see Bruce Wayne. While waiting for Crispus to fetch Alfred, Renee apologizes to Gordon for doubting him, admitting that her feelings for Barbara influenced her judgment. A slight misunderstanding between Crispus and Alfred is patched up, and the police officers are both introduced to Bruce. Gordon tells Bruce that should anything happen to him, Renee and Crispus will take over his parents' case.

After Barbara left Jim she moved in with Renee and slept with her, unbeknownst to him. Some time into their affair, Renee admitted that it was a mistake and that she shouldn't have let it go on and said she didn't want to fall back into drinking and drug taking. Renee then left in order to give Barbara time to sort things out.

Appearances

Season 1

• "Pilot"
• "Selina Kyle"
• "The Balloonman"
• "Spirit of the Goat"
• "Penguin's Umbrella"
• "Harvey Dent"
• "Lovecraft" (mentioned)
• "Rogues' Gallery"

Trivia

• Montoya admits to being an alcoholic, but claims to have been sober for over a year.
• Later Montoya admits that she had a drug abuse (substance abuse) problem too and she strongly believed that being together with Barbara would cause serious addiction problems for both of them. [7]

Behind the scenes

• Renee Montoya was an original character, initially created exclusively for the Batman: The Animated Series. The character was preemptively adapted into mainstream comics before the airing of her animated debut in 1992, with her first comic book appearance being in Batman #475. In DC Comics continuity, Montoya eventually inherited the vigilante role of "the Question". The subsequent comic initiatives like The New 52 and DC Rebirth had Montoya to have a dual roles (her return to GCPD and as Question), only to have Montoya made as a commissioner of GCPD in Infinite Frontier relaunch after she gave up as a Question for unknown reasons, replacing James Gordon who has retired.
• This is the first live-action incarnation of the character Renee Montoya.
  • In 2021, Victoria Cartagena went on to portray another version of Renee Montoya on Batwoman.
• Renee Montoya is one of the few LGBT characters in the show.