Cheetah (character): History and Key Facts

Cheetah is the codename for several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Among the most prominent of Wonder Woman's adversaries, the first version of the character debuted in Wonder Woman #6 (1943), created by William Moulton Marston and H. G. Peter, while the most popular incarnation debuted in Wonder Woman #7 (vol. 2; August 1987) following Crisis on Infinite Earths.

The original Cheetah is Priscilla Rich, a socialite with mental complications who gained a strong disdain for Wonder Woman. Within the Golden and Silver Age, she battled Diana and eventually was sentenced to Arkham Asylum. Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, her history is instead attributed to Hipployta's tenure as Wonder Woman until being murdered by successor Minerva, whom she had previously condemned.

The most well-known version is Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva, famed archaeologist whose interests in Greek mythology and reputation for gathering artifacts regardless of the risks leads to an encounter with Urzkartaga, a plant god who transforms her by imbuing her with the spirit of the Cheetah, making her a demigod, the plant god's bride, and the third woman to take the Cheetah codename. Once an ally and close friend of Wonder Woman when she first left Themyscira, the pair's adversarial relationship originates from Minerva's fierce blame for Diana's inability to save her while the latter seeks to save her from Urzkartaga's curse.

The Cheetah character has been adapted in various forms of media outside of comics, including animated series, films, and video games. Kristen Wiig portrayed the Barbara Minerva version of the character in the 2020 DC Extended Universe film Wonder Woman 1984, marking the character's live-action debut.

Source and attribution

Text excerpted from Cheetah (character) by Wikipedia contributors, available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. The extract is abridged and formatting has been adjusted; the adapted text on this page is shared under the same licence. Revision history.