The Cheetah

Cheetah
Barbara Ann Minerva as the Cheetah as seen on the cover of Wonder Woman #28. Art by Aaron Lopresti.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	(Rich) Wonder Woman #6 (October 1943) (Domaine) Wonder Woman #274 (December 1980) (Minerva) Wonder Woman #7 (August 1987) (Ballesteros) Wonder Woman #170 (July 2001)
Created by	(Rich) William Moulton Marston H. G. Peter (Domaine) Gerry Conway Jose Delbo (Minerva) Len Wein George Pérez (Ballesteros) Phil Jimenez Joe Kelly
In-story information
Alter ego	- Priscilla Rich - Deborah Domaine - Barbara Ann Minerva - Sebastian Ballesteros
Team affiliations	(Rich) Villainy Inc. (Domaine, Minerva) Secret Society of Super Villains Injustice League Super Foes
Abilities	(Rich, Domaine) None inherent (Minerva, Ballesteros) Powers and appearance of a cheetah, granted by the plant-god Urzkartaga (Minerva) Superhuman speed and strength

The Cheetah is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a major adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. She first appeared in 1943 in Wonder Woman #6 (volume 1), written by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston. There have been four different incarnations of the Cheetah since the character's debut: Priscilla Rich (the Golden and Silver Age Cheetah), Deborah Domaine (the Bronze Age Cheetah), Barbara Ann Minerva (the Post-Crisis and current Cheetah), and Sebastian Ballesteros (a male usurper who briefly assumed the role in 2001). In 2009, the Cheetah was ranked as IGN's 69th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.

Prior to the 12-issue DC Comics series Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985 (which is regarded as the starting point for DC's continuity prior to the 2011 New 52 reboot), there were two women who donned spotted cat costumes to fight Wonder Woman as the Cheetah: socialite Priscilla Rich and her niece Deborah Domaine. While modern incarnations of the Cheetah possess superhuman powers, Rich and Domaine do not.

There are two post-Crisis Cheetahs: Barbara Ann Minerva and Sebastian Ballesteros, Minerva being the more prominent of the two. While the pre-Crisis Cheetahs are simply women in costumes, the post-Crisis Cheetahs have taken on a more mystical note, being champions of a god much as Wonder Woman is to her patrons; actually morphing into powerfully ferocious humanoid were-cheetahs with great strength, agility, and deadly claws and fangs which make them challenging opponents to Wonder Woman and other powerful heroes in battle.

The first woman to become the Cheetah, in Wonder Woman #6 (October 1943), is Priscilla Rich, a 1940s-era blonde Washington, D.C. debutante of aristocratic upbringing who also has an overwhelming inferiority complex and suffers from a split personality. After being eclipsed by Wonder Woman at a charity event and failing to kill her during an escapology act, Priscilla retreats to her room and collapses before her makeup mirror. There she sees an image of a woman dressed like a cheetah. "Horrors!" she cries, as she gazes at her evil inner-self for the first time. "Don't you know me?" replies the reflection. "I am the REAL you—the Cheetah—a treacherous, relentless huntress!" The image commands her to fashion a Cheetah costume from a cheetah-skin rug. "From now on," intones the reflection, "when I command you, you shall go forth dressed like your TRUE self and do as I command you..." The Cheetah frames Wonder Woman for a robbery by hiding the money in her apartment and tipping off the police, then sets fire to a warehouse Wonder Woman is in, although Wonder Woman escapes. She is presumed dead, but survives thanks to her fireproof costume.