Wonder Woman: Encyclopedia of Villains

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 2 (1942)
Creators: William Marston and H.G Peter Abilities: An astral figure specializing in provoking savagery and invasion, also able to possess sentient creatures.


Backstory: The Count, also known as Lord Conquest, is a lieutenant of the God of War, and would likewise seek to undermine Wonder Woman’s mission for peace with subjugation and annihilation. Debuting along side the Duke of Deception and the Earl of Greed, Conquest would complete the terrible trio, representing physical brutality—the epitome of a dreadful henchman.

Operating on the planet Mars with his counterparts, where they tortured or trained prisoners as future soldiers, he was sent to capture Wonder Woman, and was ultimately successful; But the timely interventions of Etta Candy allowed Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor to escape. The Count also helped to facilitate efforts to perpetuate an unending state of destruction on Earth by sending his astral form to inspire dreams of conquest, cruelty and martial law in the minds of military and government leaders - conquer and subdue!

Versions of the character have appeared since as the symbol for conquest and the violent side of human ambition, and so long as the God of War seeks to create conflict, The Count will no doubt aide him in his malicious efforts, unless truth and love (and a certain Amazon) stand in his way.

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 103 (1958)
Creators: Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru
Abilities: A mad scientist capable of… seemingly anything.


Backstory: Mad scientist of shocking skill and intelligence. The Gadget-Maker is a genius whose scientific skill and abilities are hard to rival. An inventor who creates out of whimsy, most of his creations look entirely harmless. More like toys and household items than tools of utter doom.

Rumored to be the creator of many a villains thematic gadgets and tools, Gadget-Maker has invented a plethora of things from time machines to size changing robots to traveling boxes.

On a whim deciding to try and kill Wonder Woman for no reason than to be able to say he did, Gadget-Maker would create a trio of finger sized figurines which were in truth robots in disguise that would grow to the size of kaijus

With little outside the realm of his scientific abilities, Gadget-Maker was a whimsical force of villainy who was basically just evil for fun.

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman #224 (1976)
Creators: Martin Pasko and Jose Delbo
Abilities: Amazonian super strength, Amazonian super scientist, Amazonian longevity, talented astronomer.


Backstory: One of the great Amazons of Paradise Island who has been alive for thousands of years, Panthea was an Amazonian scientist who dedicated her focus into the field of astronomy, the study of the stars and planets.

Paradise Island being hidden away within the Bermuda Triangle and then further hidden away with a field of invisibility which was layered with a force field followed by a perpetual fog, was impossible for outsiders to find unaided. This was most perfect for secrecy and security. However it made using a telescope to gaze off into the sky a headache for someone whose focus was on the study of the skies.

Panthea experimenting with the forces which protected Paradise Island, attempted to create a gap within it to allow her to poke a telescope through. However the resulting backlash from such an effort was so great that the mysterious energies involved somehow shattered the legendarily unbreakable bracelets of the Amazons!

All Amazons being so bound by their bracelets that it was a piece of their mental state, this shattering of them left Panthea mentally unbalanced. Driving her to a state of madness. Convincing herself that Hippolyta was an enemy to all Amazons in keeping her from gazing out into the stars, Panthea plotted a way to kill both Diana and Hippolyta. Intending to become the islands new queen.

Placing clay fascimiles of her bracelets on to avoid suspicion, Panthea in secret began moving within the Amazons to remove the bracelets of several among her number, leading to them aligning with and serving her. Thus, Panthea would track planes flying over the Bermuda Triangle and lure them to crash into the force field guarding Paradise Island, destroying them in the hopes that this would cause the Americans to put Wonder Woman to death. All as she worked to corrupt the Amazons from within by removing their bracelets until she could overthrow Hippolyta. All because in her fragmented mind she was convinced that this was the only possible way she could properly enjoy star gazing and become a rising star in the field of astronomy!

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First Appearance: Sensation Comics 59 (1946)
Creators: Joye Hummel and H.G Peter
Abilities: Army of robot duplicates, mechanized suit of power armor with a plethora of built in abilities. Weather control, cryogenics, mastered the formula for ‘Blue Snow’, robotics engineer, teaching.


Backstory: Formerly a humble school teacher in the small southern town of ‘Fair Weather Valley’ Byrnas life would take a dramatic turn with the death of her father, the brilliant Doctor Brilliant. A scientist who had worked to develop ‘Blue Snow’ a chemically induced cryogenic for the purpose of bettering the world.

Anything which came in contact with the ‘Blue Snow’ compound would be in a state of frozen suspended animation with a permanently lowered temperature, Turning that which came in contact with it into a frozen statue. The uses of which had infinite possibilities from saving the climate, emergency medical response, cryogenics. So much good could be done with it.

However when her father perished, his lifes work buried by a world which wanted nothing to do with it, Byrna became disillusioned with the world and came to the conclusion that the only thing that truly mattered was money and wealth.

Thus taking on the moniker of ’ the Snowman’ Byrna Brilliant would use Doctor Brilliants invention of blue snow with her incredible talent with robotics engineering and scientific talents to create an army of robots and a machine for manipulating the weather. Seeding the clouds with the compound for blue snow. With the moniker of ‘the Blue Snowman’ sticking along the way.

Over time, Blue Snowman would continuously upgrade and improve upon her inventions. Making the weather machine mobile. Creating a mechanized suit to personally pilot. Improve the strength of the Blue Snowman robots until they could rival Wonder Woman in physical power. Turn the blue snow into a concentrated beam. Upgrading her suit continuously over time with new enhancments.

The Blue Snowman Byrna Brilliant was a burning brilliant mind that would not stop.

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 30 (1948)
Creators: Joye Hummel and H.G Peter
Abilities: Giant in size and physical form. Radium elemental whose presence is poisonous to all other life and can concentrate blasts of pure radiation from his body. Leads an entire population of radium giants.


Backstory: Deep underground beneath the lush wonderous land of Paradise Island well known for its peaceful population and lush life exists a terrible force whose very existence is pure poison to all the world.

King Brutall is ruler of the radium giants. A race of giant radium elementals who are toxic to all life and will bring an end to all life with the radiation naturally emitting from their bodies.

Seeking to escape to the realm above through their only means of escape which happens to be paradise island, only one force stands in the way of King Brutall and the Radium Giants from carrying out their efforts to claim the surface world and end all life.

The Limestone Girls which are all winged women who were carved to life instead of molded, were charged with guarding the world from that which would escape that which is sealed away below the surface of Paradise Island. Working to ensure that the giants have no means of escape.

However King Brutall realizing that his jailers themselves are the only ones capable of leaving from the underground prison to the surface world, would seek out and terrorize the Limestone Girls in an attempt to escape. Promising to doom the world should the Limestone Girls ever fail in their efforts…

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 29 (1948)
Creators: H.G Peter and Joye Hummel
Abilities: Political and administration skills, Paralysis ray gun, sword haver, access to a climate changing machine, and later the power of ice themed wizardry.


Backstory: In the frozen north beyond the lands ruled by humankind lay the secret kingdom of Iceburg Land. A nation of people made from ice and snow who made a technologically advanced civilization by realizing you can make Anything out of ice.

Ruling over this nation was Queen Snowina who was well aware that her nation was in dire straits. For being a people born from the cold, warmer temperatures were actually fatal to their kind. With global warming rearing its ugly head, the people of Iceburg land were facing a potential extinction thanks to humanities efforts.

Minister Blizzard was the prime minister of Iceburg land. Answering directly to Queen Snowina, Minister Blizzard handled all of the necessary errata that actually went into managing a country and its administration.

When the brilliant minds of Holliday College would seek to singly handedly bring an end to global warming, Minister Blizzard caught wind of it and reported to the queen about the climate changing machine. However he twisted the truth, claiming that the humans intended to use it to melt all of the ice in the north pole, exterminating them all!

Thus Queen Snowina giving Minister Blizzard command of her nations military for the sake of stealing the machine and using it to maintain the cold temperatures they need for their survival.

However Minister Blizzard being far less alturistic than he may appear, had a seconary goal. He saw this machine capable of creating an everlasting winter and saw an opportunity…For conquest!

Thus cooking up false orders in his queens name, Minister Blizzard led the army of Iceburg land with the intention of bringing about a world wide ice age in which the people of ice and snow would flourish while humanity perished. Allowing him to conquer the world with massive iceburgs that devastated cityscapes.


In the modern era Minister Blizzard would be tweaked, becoming a human wizard who kept the title of minister despite lacking an authoritative position. All of his magic being based around the ice and snow, he had no connection to Iceburg land in this iteration and simply sought world domination with an ice theme for its own sake.

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 222 (1976)
Creators: Martin Pasko and Jose Delbo
Abilities: One of the wealthiest men in the world, and beloved by millions, as the owner of Dazzleland. Writer, animator, producer, voice actor. Who can also drink of the life force of his victims, and controls a seemingly endless number of clones to do his bidding.


Backstory: World renowned figure in the realm of entertainment. Wade Dazzle is famed for a plethora of things. The home of ideas. The domain of tommorow. His series of ‘Dazzleland’ theme parks. The world recognized rodent mascot for his massive multimedia empire.

In order to perfect his entertainment business, Wade Dazzle had invented a device known as the ‘duplicate manufacturer’ which could make duplicates of ANYONE so long as there was a basis. Regardless of whether or not they were real. An invention so great that he would fool people into thinking his creations were animatronics or paid actors in suits. Not realizing that the Jerry Gerbil they were speaking to was the actual Jerry Gerbil. Cloned to life with all the memories he should have if he was flesh and blood!

Unfortunately, things would take a dire turn for Wade Dazzle who would discover that he had a rare and incurable disease. Deciding the answer to this was cryogenic suspension until a cure could be found, Wade realized that the costs of maintaining such a system would bleed him dry.

Thus Wade Dazzle concieved of an elaborate plot to convert his theme parks into power plants by inventing a machine which would drain the essence from theme park goers, using them as living batteries to maintain his life. With a portion of that energy being used to power the duplicate manufacturer. Allowing him to create perfect copies of his victims who would go out into the world behaving as if they were entirely normal. Not even themselves aware that they were but copies whose every sense was being monitored by Dazzleland computers, and that they could freely be controlled with the flick of a switch.

With his preperations complete, Wade Dazzle would make copies of himself and go into cryogenic suspension. Safe in the knowledge that while he slumbered, his ever expanding empire would grow and consume. Striving to dominate the planet itself under the steely gaze of his army of clones which each ran one of his franchise theme parks.

With hundreds of thousands of people visiting a Dazzleland somewhere in the world and countless lives being sacrificed in order to maintain Wade Dazzles terrifying immortality, there seemed no limit to Wade Dazzles reach. Theater troops, superheroes, even space empires. None were safe from becoming victims of the Wade Dazzle Company.

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 25 (1947)
Creators: Joye Hummel and H.G Peter
Abilities: Ruler of planet Rykornia and its people, the Rykornians. Uses deadly corn cob based technology. Can propagate and spread, consuming the nutrients and life of others to spread infinitely.


Backstory: Existing upon a planetoid which lay hidden away within Earths atmosphere ruled King Tassel, the ruler of his alien species, the Rykornians. A race of geometric corn peope, the Rykornians were born from giant stalks of rykorn which could grow was big as redwoods overnight and in the process sap decades of nutrients from the surrounding soil to accomplish this. The Rykorn itself utterly lacking in any nutritional value, this made the Rykorn and its associated Rykornian people a vile paraside which sought to steal the life of planets, giving nothing back in turn.

The planet Rykornia from which the Rykornians dwelled was at one point a rich and fertile world with a wide and diverse ecosystem. However the Rykorn and its progeny the Rykornians quickly spread and consumed. Leeching all other life until the world was nothing but pure Rykorn and the Rykornians.

King Tassel the ruler of the Rykornians saw their world which was covered in vast forests of rykorn and wept for there was nothing more to conquer. With no more space for his people to grow and consume, King Tassel set his sights on Earth and its bountiful resources. Dreaming of the Earth with every living thing on it reduced to feed for the giant stalks of Rykorn. Every other plant choked to death by the invasive species.

Thus King Tassel plotted and schemed to invade the Earth! Enslaving humanity to aid in their planets inevitable demise at the hands of their new Rykornian overlords!

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 52 (1952)
Creators: Robert Kanigher and H.G. Peter
Abilities: Master of black magic capable of seemingly anything. Leads an army of fairy tale villains.


Backstory: Deep in astral space which is the outer space of the astral plane which is so thin that it connects to outer space, lay the planet of thought. A world that was the origin for all fairy tales such as Cinderella.

The nature of the planet of Thought was such that any events which occured there would send out thought waves, beaming directly into the brains of creatives who would produce creative works based on those events.
This would work in reverse as well, with writers on the planet of Thought chronicling stories that they received in dreams about Wonder Woman and other real life figures which the denizens of the Planet of Thought simply assumed were fictional themselves.

Upon this world lived Strogo. Wielder of dark magic which he stored within his wand, he was considered the mightiest practioner of dark magic on the World of Thought. Ruling a nation of witches, giants, goblins, and changlings.

However Strogo was suffering a great crisis. For the magic which Strogo and his people harnessed was powered by a rare mineral known as ‘Xium’ which was not only the source of all of their powers, but literally what made them the villains they were.

The worlds Xium supply nearly drained, Strogo and his people would do anything they could to get their hands on more. For should their supply run out, no one knew what could occur. Perhaps even death.

Thus Strogo and his army wielding what limited power they had to spare, began to wage war upon the other fairytale kingsoms of the Planet of Thought. Desperate to grasp the last vestiges of evil magic for the sake of their very survival.

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First Appearance: Sensation Comics #64 (1947)
Creators: H.G Peter and Joye Hummel
Abilities: Ruler of the Cloud People and leader of its cloud armies.

Backstory: Ruler of the Cloud People, King Blotto ruled over a nation which existed within the stratosphere. A people who lived upon clouds which filled with stardust, remained solid to stand upon. Carving out a civilization that relies on falling space debris to survive, the Cloud People lived meager lives, rationing to live from year to year and carve out lives from what has been their way for thousands of years.

However the march of progress and continuous advancement of human civilization would spell dire trouble for King Blotto and his people. As humans began developing jet engines and using planes which traveled the stratosphere, King Blottos people would go unnoticed by fast moving aviation which tore through, dispersing the ground which they walked upon and destroying the precious crops which they needed to live.

Thus King Blotto would order war upon aviation itself! For the sake of their survival they would blast those offending planes out of the sky as they approached the hidden kingdom of the clouds using newly created weaponry for this very purpose.

The planes would crash in the cloud kingdom and their occupants enslaved to work the fields which were destroyed by the aviators. With King Blotto certain that his peoples fate rested on an iron fist for showing any mercy could spell extinction for the Cloud People.

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 28 (2017)
Creators: Shea Fontana and David Messina
Abilities: Proportionate speed and strength of a five foot tall woman who was into acrobats, LASER EYES


Backstory: Self proclaimed reincarnation of the Egyptian Goddess Bastet, the goddess of protection, defense, sun warrior-ing, and childbirth. Who among other things was known for NOT having laser eyes.

Claiming to be Wonder Womans guide to the underworld who declared Diana would get lost in the Duat, Cat-Eye for all her claims of divinity was also a hired mercenary who for the right price would go after any target to bring about their end.

Exhibiting no god-like strength, speed or warrior prowess, Cat-Eye might be dismissed as inconsequential…Were it not for the fact that she combined those mortal enemies cats and laser pointers to become…A cat with Laser eyes!

Firing a pair of continuous laser beam that was the size of and directed by the direction of her irsis’s, she was capable of carving an inch deep line in cement just from running her Laser eye gaze upon it. Creating an effect which looked like a laser pointer running across a surface, but leaving a smoldering trail in its wake.

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 141 (1963)
Creators: Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru
Abilities: A seemingly endless number of fancy gold trophies to give away every year. The proportionate respectability of a big name rewards show.


Backstory: Once a year every year the criminal underworld will get together to celebrate feats of daring criminality and the amazing examples of criminals going above and beyond to prove themselves the number one supervillain.

Be it awards going out to villains for impressive bank robberies or most impressive murders, the criminal underworlds academy of arch villains will review the nominees and giving recognition to their achievement, award them a shiny gold trophy and the prestige of knowing that they made the big time.

The identity of those individuals on the Academy board are forever shrouded in mystery. Their instructions filtered through the host of the yearly show to dedicate their awards to.

However on top of such moments of recognition, the Academy of Arch Villains would also put out bounties of a sort. Such as creating special one of a kind awards like the ‘Golden WW’ to be given to whoever successfully murders Wonder Woman. A reward that is only one of its kind and would grant a promising villain a promising gold star in their career of evil.

So great is the prestige of the Academy of Arch villains that their award ceremonies are covered by all major news outlets. With many a criminal turning to a life of crime not for revenge or wealth, but purely for the recognition that comes from walking the red carpet and standing on that stage with a golden trophy at hand.

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 72 (1993)
Creators: William Messner-Loebs and Lee Moder
Abilities Moot: Ten foot tall beefy hulk with a three foot long ‘knife’
Abilities Geoff: Biomechanical android armed to the teeth with various guns and firearms


Backstory: Originally little more than a small time gangster, Moot was a criminal who got her name from knifing people and calling out the pun about her knife being ‘a Moot point’.

That is until one day she was harassing a Star Labs janitor who was late on his debt payments who offered her a state of the art super robot that was to be tossed in the trash because it was to willing to murder people in order to cover his debt.

Moot would go along with it and the android taking on the name of Geoff, the two of them would form a close relationship of genuine care and concern when they were not breaking knee caps and robbing the helpless.

Having no higher motivation than making money doing what they love which is hurting people, Moot and Geoff were proffessional goons who would bust heads for a paycheck and cared not one iota who they worked for. The kingpin of the Massachusetts crime scene. The avatar of the god of war. A magician who gives people demonic cyber forms in exchange for their souls.

So long as someone is paying them, Moot and Geoff could care less what their doing or who their working for. Villains who are all about the paycheck and having fun along the way.

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 150 (1964)
Creators: Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru
Abilities: Kaiju-like proportions, expert in the use of butterfly net and fishing pole, can turn invisible like a phantom.


Backstory: The multiverse is a vast and endless thing. Home to infinite worlds, realms, and dimensions. Some with perfect facsimiles of everyday human life, while others deviate more and more from Earths notion of the norm!

In one such dimension dwells a species known as the ‘Phantom Fisher-birds’ A race of kaiju which can differ from being a mere 20 feet tall to a good 50 feet in height.

Existing in a hunting culture, the Phantom Fisher-birds prize above all else the hunt. With not even their own kind being safe from becoming prey. In such a hostile realm, he who proves himself to be the greatest hunter by catching the mightiest of prey is made the King of the Phantom Fisher-birds.

King Fisher-bird was an apex example of his species. A fifty foot tall kaiju birdman possessing incredible strength, and an adept use of various tools of the hunt. His size and strength hiding a cunning mind that relies on traps and trickery to catch his prey. Relying on his peoples powers of invisibility to avoid detection until it was to late.

The Phantom Fisher-birds possessed the means of traveling between realities. Allowing them to travel to worlds of dinosaurs or the human realm of Earth. Making all of their number and their king especially, a dangerous predator who could arrive without warning and begin plotting to add another trophy on their wall…

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 259 (1979)
Creators: Gerry Conway and Jose Delbo
Abilities: The dark twisted art of advertising, The diabolical practice of public relations, The twisted trick of knowing the wants and desires of your target audience and using those to get what you want.


Backstory: Agent of the Greek god of War. Martin Markham was a mild mannered publicist. Scheming and plotting in order to build up the reputation of anything he was paid to, so long as the price was right.

Summoned by Mars/Ares from his office at the Markham, Menditz & Monroe building in New York Citys Madison Avenue, Martin would agree to serve the god of war and accomplish the most difficult of feats, make the world worship Mars/Ares as their god. Make the world willingly bow before him.

Promised great power and fortune should he succeed in his goal, Martin leaped at the chance and quickly developed a multi staged plan which would ensure his success in this very thing which he was certain could not fail.

For the the United States, the most powerful nation in the world by all rights should worship Ares already.
They revere war with thousands of statues, songs, holidays, and memorials celebrating it.
They possess the largest army the world has ever seen several times over and invest more money into their military than anything else.
Their culture is one that champions war and viewing themselves the the winners of every conflict and every conflict they create or join to be justified because they are always in the right.
And they venerate violence to the point that every citizen is encouraged to have a gun and make war at the slightest provocation.
Convincing them to turn their worship to the god of war would be simplicity itself.

He simply had to also do a smear campaign against Wonder Woman in order to ensure his victory. Which would not exactly be difficult in a nation which was allergic to the message of peace, discriminatory against women, and wary of people from other countries. Especially with Martin guiding the gods efforts in tarnishing Wonder Womans reputation to build up that of Mars/Ares, the new ruler of Olympus.

What force could possibly stand in the way of the power of publicity?

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 116 (1960)
Creators: Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru
Abilities: Controls an army of giant stone sphinx which possess invulnerability and eye beams of various properties.


Backstory: Ruler of the desert kingdom of Mikra seven thousand years prior, Queen Mikra was a powerful sorceress who using her power would go on to create an army of stone sphinx which thus enchanted, would be given life and sapience. The whole of their beings dedicated to serving her will and never doing her harm.

Her creations were enchanted to be invulnerable to all mundane weapons. Swords, arrows, even modern weapons such as gunfire and crashing planes. None would leave a scratch for the sphinx were enchanted thus that the only thing which could damage a sphinx, was another sphinx itself.

Her sphinx all possessed powerful eye beams with varying properties. From paralyzing a target, destroying what it gaze upon with exploding lasers, to healing the injured.

Thanks to this army of sphinx, Queen Mikras kingdom which was named after her would remain independent millenia after her sleep. Guarding the borders of the kingdom and awaiting her eventual return. To carry out Mikras oath to one day send out her army of sphinx to conquer the world and claim it as her own.

Though in a most curious of coincidences, despite the millennia separating them and the different regions of the world from which they hailed, Queen Mikra happened to look exactly like Wonder Woman herself.

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First Appearance: (Priscilla Rich) Wonder Woman 6 (1943)
Creators: William Marston and H.G Peter
Abilities: Multiple personalities, with agility of a cat, grace of a dancer, and the power to bring out a persons fury and control it subliminally. Command over animals, a ‘cheetah claw’ wrist gun, and magic false nails.


Backstory: Priscilla Rich has the distinction of the being first of 3 women to bear the title The Cheetah. Born in the lap of luxury with a silver spoon in her mouth, but with a fondness for philanthropy, her fear of failure would begin a theme of struggling with self-confidence and conflicting dual natures.

As one of the wealthy and privileged, Rich could have wiled away her days in extravagant wealth without ever having to work a day in her life; However, desiring to make something of herself, Priscilla took up dancing, becoming one of the most talented ballet dancers in the world. Joining the Junior League Committee and becoming its leader, Priscilla would use her wealth and connections to organize fundraisers to encourage people to donate their money to a good cause; But, alas, Priscilla was always someone driven by a need to boost her ego and prove her self-worth.

When one of her events leads to the crowds denouncing her as a fraud, calling for her head, and declaring that she was worthless and would never be as good as Wonder Woman, Priscilla Rich is sent into a self destructive spiral, leading to her second personality, her inner fury, to take control: The Cheetah.

A separate ego, the Cheetah knew everything Priscilla knew but not the reverse. She was driven by the burning need to tear others down in order to build herself up—believing herself incapable of any triumphs otherwise. The Cheetah’s hold growing more powerful the more she doubted herself, she would become an even greater menace by summoning the inner rage within others and take command of their animal within. Creating an army of unconscious minions who would go about their daily lives until activated, carrying out Cheetahs nefarious schemes before the second personality subsided, leaving the original unaware of their own actions.

Priscilla Rich, a victim of her own darkness, might one day be free if she could regain a positive view of herself; But that would be difficult to accomplish when her own family, fearing the embarrassment of the association with villainy, publicly disowned her, ceased her fortunes, and adopted a new daughter to replace her…

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 2 (1942 )
Creators: William Marston and H.G Peter
Abilities: Based on the Greek mythological figure (and the Roman counterpart, Mars), he is the Olympian God of War: immortal and virtually indestructible with all the supreme powers one can expect from a god.


Backstory: Ares has been Diana’s constant antithetical foe throughout the eras, and as a master of discord, who provokes fury and slaughter with his very presence, he is determined to thwart her mission of peace and understanding, but during the Gold, Silver and Bronze Ages, he was first known by his Roman mythological name: Mars.

His debut sees Mars seeking to realize his vision of eternal war and conflict in the world of man, but he is opposed by Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who seeks to realize a loving civilization. The men who worship Mars lie, cheat, steal, kill their weaker brothers, and sell women as slaves. When Ares taunts Aphrodite with his success, she answers by creating a new race of women to contend: the Amazons, stronger and more fearless than Mars’s men and fully upholding “Aphrodite’s Law”.

Mars retreats to the planet Mars with his chief deputies, the Duke of Deception, the Count of Conquest, and the Earl of Greed, where he enslaves Martians and the spirits of dead alike, by ferrying souls to the planet and implanting them into Martian bodies. He then tortures, humiliates or trains them as soldiers to fight in future wars. Mars then continued to tangle w/ Diana and the Amazons during the Gold, Silver and Bronzes Ages to start conflict and subdue the Gods of Olympus.

Post-Crisis, he was re-established as Ares, son of Zeus, worshipped by many on Earth as a god of Olympus (who never quite fit in). Eventually, faith waned and the gods stepped back from regularly interfering with humanity; But centuries later, the God of War returned to renew his crusade to provoke confrontation. And once again, Aphrodite and the Amazons stood in his way.

Throughout history, he has worn many faces and borne many names all possessing a never-ending hunger for destruction, growing stronger on malevolent psychic energy, and (often with the help of The Children of Ares), consistently encouraging war through his manipulation of mortals—which, of course, always brings him into conflict with the Amazons and their champion, Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman

Gods and Mortals

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First Appearance: Wonder Woman 153 (1965)
Creators: Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru
Abilities: A divinely empowered gorgon with the infamous ability to turn a living creature to stone, she is also a fierce combatant with a hypnotic voice, genesistic blood, and the power of possession.


Backstory: Based on the tragic Greek mythological figure, destined for torment and death, Medusa is a child of the Goddess Ceto, one of the three daughters of the sea, and mother to Pegasus. Prized for her beauty, she is assaulted by Poseidon and then ultimately cursed by Athena out of spite, transforming her into a deadly, macabre creature…and we all know how that story ends: a beheading.

Her comic debut would replace her mythic victimizers with Wonder Woman’s longstanding foe, the Duke of Deception.
Medusa was targeted by the Duke, and using his Martian technology to mar Medusa’s beauty, he transformed her into a frightening snake-haired entity with a fatal gaze. Forsaken, Medusa traveled the streets of Greece to exact her rage, with her subsequent ghost returning to menace others.

Her origin is later updated to include her sisters, along with Poseidon and Athena. Still beheaded by Perseus, Medusa’s heart was later used by Phobos, the god of fear, to create the villain Decay who would attack young Vanessa Kapatelis and battle Wonder Woman. Eventually, at the request of her sisters, Euryale and Stheno, Medusa is brought back to life by the immortal sorceress, Circe, resulting in one of Wonder Woman’s most iconic storylines.

The wrathful gorgon, wronged and vilified until she became the monster society had cast her to be, she had Diana’s sympathy; But Medusa’s rage had taken a personal toll on Diana, leaving the Amazon champion no choice but to meet her opponent in combat, where Diana would prove once and for all the depth of her convictions.

After New 52, Medusa would go on to become the Queen of Monsters, and even take up residence in Gotham. More recently, as a prisoner in her immortal life, Medusa attempted to escape through Doom’s Doorway, seeking revenge against the Amazons for the years of captivity and torment she suffered in Tartarus, an infernal realm of Hades.

Eyes of the Gorgon

Doom’s Doorway

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First Appearance: Sensation Comics 2 (1942)
Creators: William Marston and H.G Peter
Abilities: Doctor Poison is an expert in the use of poisons, toxins, and plagues, and in addition to her scientific expertise, is now a trained soldier.


Backstory: One of Wonder Woman’s oldest villains, Dr. Poison’s origin has a wartime theme, like many of the era: a dark and devious scientist with a knack for creating destructive state-of-the-art toxins. Her identity has seen alterations over time (4 so far), but she continues to be a dangerous threat to the world—her specific skill set and consistent military ties allowing her to remain disturbingly relevant in modern times.

Originally the Chief of the Nazi Poison Division in league with German spies, Dr. Poison wore a mask and a bodysuit that hid her identity and made her gender ambiguous, but at the end of her debut story, she was revealed to be a Japanese princess appropriatly enough named Maru, the Japanese word for poison. Her debut toxin was a drug called ‘Reverso’, which altered a victims brain to do the opposite of what they were told- particularly troublesome when used against military troops reliant on orders to advance, retreat or stand down. Dr. Poison is ultimately captured and forced to give up the antidote, but would go on to other comic appearances and villainous team-ups with several of Diana’s most notable adversaries.

Other inventions concocted by Princess Maru included anesthetic gas grenades, stadium quantity amounts of paralyzing gas, and a projectile toxin which could ‘poison planes’ causing them to abruptly drop from the sky to their destruction.


Post-Crisis, Doctor Poison was reintroduced to the pages of Wonder Woman as scientist Marina Maru, granddaughter of the original Doctor Poison. Marina would also wear a full bodysuit and beneath her mask was the same psychotic grin. We then learn of her grandmother’s fate: infected by Reverso, her growth patterns are disrupted causing her to grow younger, eventually regressing into a fetus and disappearing! As Marina puts it, “Horrible end…wonderful poison.” She was then updated during New 52 as a vengeful Russian scientist known only as Dr. Maru, whose parents were wrongfully imprisoned. She planned to take revenge against the government through chemical attacks, but Diana is able to stop her.

More recently, she has become Colonel Marina Maru, a soldier with physical scarring, who still deals in chemicals. Her family helps create a bio-agent that causes its victims to fly into a rage, killing anything in sight. While notably different than previous incarnations, Colonel Maru still looks the part—she even wore her version of the suit and cowl worn by the second Doctor Poison, complete with the caduceus over her eye, and would battle Diana once more.

The Pandora Virus

Year One

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