365 DC Comics Heroes & Villains Paper Cut-Outs
Three different villains have operated under the mantel of The Cheetah. The first was Priscilla Rich, a wealthy debutante who was an accomplished athlete, escape artists and socialite. She felt very overshadowed by the attention received by Wonder Woman and reinvented herself as The Cheetah as part of an effort to dispose of her rival. She ended up a founding member of the anti-Wonder Woman group, Villainy Incorporated.
In the modern era, Rich’s niece, Deborah Domaine, took up her aunt’s role as the Cheetah, empowered with enhanced physical attributes provided by scientists of the terrorist group, Kobra. As the new Cheetah, Domaine battled Wonder Woman on numerous occasions and was recruited into the Secret Society of Super Villains and The Injustice League.
Domaine was later retconned out of continuity with much of her past incorporated into the third and most definitive iteration of the Chetah: Doctor Barbara Minerva.
Dr. Minerva is an archeologist and anthropologist who discovered a secretive society somewhere in Africa that dedicated itself to a powerful Cheetah God. This society was killed by a group of marauders under the employ of a local warlord. Minerva and the tribe’s high priest were the only survivors. Hoping for justice, the priest performed a ritual on Minerva that imbued her with the power of their cheetah god. This bestowed the young woman a type of lycanthropy were she became a part human/part cheetah.
After gaining vengeance on the warlord who had killed the tribe, Minerva set out as The Cheetah and used her new powers to take whatever she wanted. This ultimately led to many battles with Wonder Woman as well as confrontations with Batman, Green Arrow and Catwoman. She joined The Legion of Doom and additionally served for a brief tenure among The Suicide Squad.
The Barbara Minerva version of The Cheetah features in the movie Wonder Woman: 1984, portrayed by actress Kristina Wiig. Actresses Marlene Aragon, Sheryl Lee, Morena Baccarin. and Tara Strong have each voiced the villainess in various DC animated projects.
The Pricilla Rich version of the Cheetah first appeared in the pages of Wonder Woman Vol. 1 #6 (1943); Deborah Domaine first appeared in Wonder Woman Vol. 1 #247 (1980); and Barbara Minerva first appeared in Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #7 (1987).
