Annika Kosolov was an employee of the 44 Below and the roommate of Selina Kyle. She was involved with a variety of associates of the Falcone Crime Syndicate, including Mayor Don Mitchell Jr.. Annika murdered by mobster Carmine Falcone due to her knowing he was an informant in the Maroni Drug Bust. Her disappearance motivated Kyle to work with Batman and avenge her murder.
Biography[]
Annika's life prior to arriving in Gotham is unknown, though she'd immigrated to the city from Estonia. Despite her age, she was hired at the underground nightclub 44 Below as a waitress. However, her activities also included "entertaining" members and associates of the Falcone Crime Syndicate, who ran the club. During her time working there, she befriended Selina Kyle, who worked in the front business Iceberg Lounge. The two shared an apartment together in the Tricorner area.
Annika also frequently met with Mayor Don Mitchell Jr, who appeared to frequent her on multiple occasions. Due to her time with him, she learned about a secret deal between Carmine Falcone and other Gotham politicians to take down rival Sal Maroni. At some point, Mitchell stole Annika's passport to prevent her from fleeing Gotham. Photos taken by Edward Nashton seemed to indicate that he often abused her.
The Riddler: Year One[]
During Batman's first year, Annika had begun working at the 44 Below. Though a former Maroni associate named Higgins, she was able to gain access to the club, though managed to slip in without his involvement one night. In response, the thug and an associate ambushed her one night, threatening her with a knife. However, Annika was saved by the Batman, who knocked out both men. After the vigilante left the scene, Annika fled and cursed him for his comments about getting "a new line of work". Unknown to all parties, the encounter was witnessed by Edward Nashton.
Several nights later, Annika was assigned to meet with Mr. Stone. She met with him outside the Iceberg Lounge, who introduced him to KTMJ employee Zach Morely, who she "looked after" for that night.[1]
The Batman[]
Kidnapping and Murder[]
On the night after Mitchell's murder, photos of him with Annika became public after the Riddler sent them to various news outlets through the city. Distraught, she remained at the apartment and was comforted by Selina. Whilst Selina broke into Mitchell's house to steal back her passports, Annika was kidnapped by William Kenzie and brought to see Carmine Falcone in person.
Possibly knowing she'd be murdered, Annika phoned Selina to make a recording of the conversation. Though panicked, she was calmed down by Falcone, who asked her about what Mitchell had told her. Annika complied by giving him details about what Mitchell had told her about their bust operation and association with the crime lord, though promised to keep her silence. Apparently satisfied, Falcone strangled her to death to ensure her claims weren't made public. Presumably during or after her murder, Falcone's thugs broke into their apartment and stole Selina's phone, possibly discovering what she'd done.
Postmortem[]
Annika's body was given to Kenzie to be disposed of, along with Selina's phone. Batman and Catwoman would eventually discover it whilst the latter stole from the corrupt cop and the Penguin outside the Eastside Depot. Eventually, Kyle uncovered the message after taking back her phone from the Kenzie, later attempting murders on both him and Falcone in revenge for Annika's murder. Her message also proved a vital part of Batman's defeat of Falcone, using Lt. Jim Gordon to leak it to the press and authorize an arrest of the mobster.
Appearances[]
Notes[]
- Annika shares several similarities with comic character Holly Robinson.
- It is heavily speculated that Annika and Selina's relationship was romantic, mainly due to Kyle being confirmed as bisexual in promotional material and her affectionate references to Annika as "baby" (later referring to Batman in the same way later). Despite this, she is still referred to as her "friend", even after her murder.
- Annika's murder committed personally by Carmine Falcone was inspired by the murder of Deborah Hussey who were both strangled personally by Whitey Bulger at an abandoned house in South Boston, Massachusetts on the 14th January 1985. Like in the film, Deborah Hussey was a 26-year-old prostitute and heroin addict who was also the daughter of Bulger's associate Stephen "Rifleman" Flemmi's girlfriend, Marion Hussy. According to Flemmi, the circumstances surrounding Hussey's murder was that she was going to tell her mother about the sexual abuse that Hussey and her sister had endured as teenagers at the hands of Flemmi. On the day of her murder, Hussey was lured to the abandoned house by Bulger where he strangled her with a rope. To ensure Hussey was dead, Flemmi himself then took over strangling Hussey. After killing Hussey, both Bulger and Flemmi took her body and buried her in a grave in Dorchester. Her body was later recovered from the grave in 2000, after receiving information from former Bulger's associate and government witness, Kevin Weeks.
- Falcone's motive of keeping his status as an informer hidden as a reason for killing Annika was also inspired by the early murder of Debra Davis who was also strangled by Bulger at the house on the night of the 16th September 1981. Like the later murder of Hussey, Davis was a jewellery store clerk who was a previous girlfriend of Flemmi. According to Flemmi, Bulger had found out that Davis had become aware of Bulger and Flemmi's statuses as FBI informants. According to Flemmi, after killing Davis, both he and Bulger took Davis' body from the house to the bank of Neponsit River where they buried her in a grave.