In Batman #409 she claims she's an Australian widow that has deceased sons. (*2) Under Lobdell she's stated she's known Roman Sionis since he was in diapers and knew his father well. (*3) She has some medical knowledge from her time as a surgeon in Korea but how she went from that profession to crime is currently unknown. In RHATO #21 Vol. 2 we were introduced to her granddaughter Faye who's named after her but no other living relative has been named.
What's as of yet unexplored is her relationship with Jason. Despite her role in his origin story the two have barely interacted one on one. He got her arrested by helping Batman before he was Robin and she recognizes him when he saves her life years later. For some reason she pretends she doesn't know Jason is Red Hood but she clearly does know after the Outlaws stay at her home. I'm not sure if we're intentionally missing that story due to it coming up later or it was cut earlier in the series. But Jason's actions (saving her, the kindness he shows and bringing Roman into her care) seem to have caused a change in her.
Jason was different than her other students as he's the only one that rebelled against her teachings (*4) in his origin. He didn't believe in what she was doing and only stole for survival. They didn't really interact but they provided an interesting foil for each other. She was seen as a respectable, trustworthy woman while Jason was written off for being a street kid that's word wasn't believed. Bruce put his faith in Gunn because of her image and the praise she got. He didn't initially think Jason was being truthful. Maybe it's also classism since Gunn supposedly was a rich widow while Jason was a poor homeless kid.
Under Lobdell Gunn admitted she was planning on going back to her old ways before Jason returned to her life. Yet she doesn't go back to training students like she used to, instead she runs a rehabilitation center. Which is incredibly meta on it's own since it can also be related to Jason's journey as misguided youth to an Outlaw trying to make things right. But Gunn seems to feel genuinely remorseful for what she did in the past. One could wave off Gunn giving the Outlaws a place to stay and tending to Bizarro as paying Jason back. He did save her life and deliver Roman Sionis into her custody. But she hasn't treated the trio like a burden. When the letters from Willis Todd were found she felt guilt for keeping them from Jason. For manipulating her charges in the past and felt compelled to deliver them to him.
When Bizarro turns her away she gets nosey and reads what Willis wrote for herself. It's hard to tell if she'd just read it out of curiosity or she thought it was too important to ignore. Whatever the reason she knows something wasn't right and takes measures to ensure Jason discovers the truth himself. Is it just out of guilt and possible obligation? There may be a chance that she didn't know Bizarro was the one who wanted to stop her from sharing this information to the point he'd make her disappear. Maybe something in the letters spooked her. Gunn just knew something was wrong and she needed to find a way to give the letters to Jason. There were tons of ways someone with as much experience and as crafty as Ma Gunn could achieve this.
Yet Gunn chose to get family involved, someone she probably knew she could trust who would be able to deliver the package. Her granddaughter could be a civilian, she could be someone that was trained by her, the bottom line is that Gunn was willing to get her involved. To endanger her relative for this task. I don't know if Gunn honestly cares for Jason as a person but she's apparently committed to making amends.
Jason seems to have a more complex view on Ma Gunn. When her place blew up Jason was ver
y protective of her. Yelling for her not to die on him, giving her mouth to mouth and even lending his jacket. He spoke to her with respect when they talked. He allowed her have a measure of revenge by letting her tend to Roman Sionis. He recalls her being a domineering headmistress although he has something of a soft spot for her place even though he was there for a short time as a kid. There seems to be some kind of unspoken trust as he let his team stay with her and had her look after Bizarro.
Yet when she goes missing his thoughts about her aren't exactly warm. Jason doesn't want to bring trouble on her yet he doesn't seem to have a problem with her being in danger because of her past actions. This suggests he does care on some level but still harbors some resentment for what she did. Her harshness to her charges is implied under Lobdell but how far it goes in this canon? We'll have to wait and see. In old canon Gunn hit her students, had them gang up to take out one kid (Jason), encouraged them to drink and ordered them around as her own personal army. Lobdell has her admit to hiding contact from her students families to control them. Batman points out how she mistreated the students and used them as weapons. Which makes her a good foil for Batman too.
Jason does say he's glad that Gunn is alright when he believes that's what her granddaughter came to tell him. He probably will be angry when he discovers what's in the letters his father left since something so important was kept from him. In a way I see Gunn possibly being another example of Jason's good influence and showing that it's never too late for redemption. Jason often thinks he ruined things because of his past actions including personal relationships with his adoptive family. Gunn might also show Jason's difficulty letting go of the past--mostly his hurt--and his willingness to forgive. Whatever her path I'm excited to see the role Ma Gunn plays and happy Scott Lobdell decided to use her.
*1 It's unknown how long she's been a criminal or how many years she has been molding students. Since she's in her seventies she could technically have the most experience beating out all the villains in Gotham.
*2 I assume she's somewhat honest about her husband but how much isn't certain as she was talking to Bruce Wayne in her school marm persona. The mention to her sons is made in passing to her students during her questionable lessons but it seems more sincere.
*3 While the mention of the Sionis being a crime family is new to this canon this is interesting as the Sionis were known for being two faced in public. Not only is this a nod to Gunn also putting on an act but it suggests they were truly close if they knew what the other was really like.
*4 In the flashback she blames Batman and a "brat" for ruining her plans yet she oddly claims she doesn't know how her operation fell apart after Jason saves her as Red Hood. Since it seems like Dick shouldn't be Robin at this point it seems like she knows Jason helped. Was she feigning ignorance since she knew it was Jason?
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