What makes a supervillain or supervillainess a classic? It can be analyzed and dissected of course, but what makes one timeless probably can’t be proven. One can only make an educated guess. When the Cheetah made her first appearance in Wonder Woman #6 a very strong foreshadowing of her future as one of the greatest enemies of the Amazonian princess came into view. This was because of the fact that the cat-like femme fatale died in the very first story in which she appeared but didn’t stay dead for very long.
Bringing a character back to life is a practice in comics on occasion so the fact that they brought the Cheetah back is not that shocking. What makes her return so unique and what assured the looming shadow of her threat to Wonder Woman over the decades is that she was resurrected in the same issue in a later story! Certainly she was a criminal who would not be put down for long.
Cheetah’s real name was Priscilla Rich. It was jealousy of the most powerful woman in the world which motivated her criminal behavior. After meeting Diana Prince at a charity event, she immediately disliked her and even attempted to frame her for a criminal act, unsuccessfully of course. The Cheetah was an unusual choice to be an enemy for Wonder Woman because she possessed no super powers. Like her namesake, however she was skillful with something sharp, but her bite came in the form of a dagger, one which made her a quite formidable opponent.
Perhaps her lack of powers contributed to marking her as an opposite to the Amazon warrior, a device explored in evil characters that they might be a distorted reflection of their enemies. Because of this concept, villains are often far less powerful in abilities than the heroes they threaten but still prove quite deadly. Lex Luthor has made a career out of it.
Writer Gerry Conway was the one who revived her and it is a good thing that he did. A classic character like the Cheetah could have been simply filed away with some lesser-known Golden Age creations and that would have been a shame for despite her simple design she was alluring to many readers. Wonder Woman’s rogues gallery features her prominently because those comic readers sank their teeth into her stories and they never minded the Cheetah’s habit of biting back.
[James Parducci]James Parducci is the creator of the comic series Nighthunter. He has been published in multiple periodicals and runs his own freelance writing business in San Diego.
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