Priscilla Rich, a debutante with a deep dark secret which even she is at times unaware of, namely of her alter ego. For underneath her socially proper exterior lies a split personality seething of evil hate. Hence, the Cheetah was born, the arch-nemesis of Wonder Woman for generations and on twin Earths. On Earth-Two, early in her career Cheetah realized the need to recruit others to assist her in her criminal crusades, so she forcibly recruited slaves to wear her hideous zebra outfits. One such slave, Sandra, graduated into the Cheetah identity if only temporarily to draw suspicion away of Priscilla resuming her career. Priscilla even had a twin relative (sister?) named Claudia which the femme fatale disguised herself as to fool her foe. Later, she joined Villany, Inc. joining fellow prisoners on the Amazon's Reformation Island and embarking on a major crime wave.
While she had a lengthy career, her Earth-One counterpart only fought the amazing amazon twice before joining the Super Foes as an opposite number to the Super Friends, of whom Wonder Woman was a principal member. Recruiting the Kitten as her sidekick, their partnership was short lived as the girl's heart wasn't really into villany. Soon afterwards, Priscilla succumbed to cancer and her identity was assumed by her niece Deborah Domaine after extensive brainwashing by master criminal Kobra. This gal proved far more psychotic than her predecessor and was later herself enlisted in the Secret Society of Super-Villains. Interestingly, in a Who's Who entry on Cheetah(s), Deborah is listed as a niece. However, she is shown to only existing on Earth-One so this was an error regarding the Earth-Two Cheetah, which that particular article was referring to given that only the original Feline Fatal was a member of Villany, Inc.. Hence Deborah and Sandra were dopplegangers as the heirs-apparent of the Cheetah.
Meanwhile, the zebra-clad henchwomen of the original Cheetah had counterparts in the "unbeatable team" of Catwoman henchwomen whom the Furious Feline recruited from prison, who were promptly defeated alongside their mistress by Earth-One's Batman. And like the Cheetah women, these Cat-women were never heard from again.
2 comments:
Hmm, I'm puzzled why you say Deborah is not the niece of the Earth-One Cheetah? This version only appeared in WW #s 160 and 166, but still (in WW #274) Deborah explicitly refers to her Aunt Priscilla. Even in the post-CoIE New Earth, where Priscilla has no history as the Cheetah, she still has a niece Deborah (see Flash91987 series) #219).
Thanks!
Actually it was an error in the orIgnal Cheetah entry in Who's Who as it lists Deborah as a niece although she was the nice of Earth-One's Priscilla Rich.
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