First Appearance: Wonder Woman 2 (1942)
Creators: William Marston and H.G Peter
Abilities: An immortal master of manipulation, deceit and disguise, his powers range from illusions and possession, to necromancy and astral projection.
Backstory: When a hero has long served as the embodiment of truth, it only makes sense that one of her oldest and most menacing villains has been the personification of deceit and manipulation: the Duke of Deception. Thought to be modeled after Dolos, the diety of trickery, there have been several alternate versions with subtle revisions to his outward appearance, but he always remains a devious immortal who rules over lies with the power to possess anyone he chooses, and creates illusions which cause his enemies to question reality itself driving them insane.
A demigod within the Greek pantheon, the Duke is a trusted operative for the God of War, Diana’s greatest foe. In service to his master, the Duke, acting from his base on the planet Mars, helped spread falsehoods and confusion (even built a Lie Factory at one point) in an effort to cause conflict in humanity—conflict that would ultimately result in the wars Ares so desperately craved.
The Duke often travels in his astral form to “whispers” rumors and duplicitous thoughts, all in an effort to stoke the fires of discontent. He can delude the minds of ordinary humans, ultimately driving them to madness, and can also create illusions, often changing his physical appearance so as to manifest as anyone he desires.
After Crisis on Infinite Earths he is seen as a more independent villain, and also a crusader for Hades, and in one account manipulated a young man named Thomas Byde to kill himself, and then possessed his body, and using his illusions and necromancy, he became famous. While the Duke himself has gone unseen for many years and was presumed dead, a deity bearing ancient armor reemerged using his name and teaming up with several of Wonder Woman’s supervillains under the leadership of the sorceress, Circe.
