The CHEETAH (Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva) Appreciation Thread!!!

[Project Initiative Cascada]

With all the talk regarding Cheetah in the DC media outlets, I just noticed we don't have an appreciation thread for one of the greatest female villains in DC comics! No offence to fans of Priscilla Rich and Debra Domaine, but Barbara Minerva imo is the very best Cheetah of all of them.

To give a brief overview, Dr. Barbara Minerva, alias Cheetah is a British archaeologist who had garnered a reputation to go to any lengths to secure an artifact. Ambitious, selfish, and severely neurotic, Barbara develops a passion for archaeology that eventually led her to search out a tribe in Africa who utilizes a female guardian with the powers of a cheetah. A band of marauders kill the guardian and most of what remained of her original expedition party. Barbara, with the aid of the priest, Chuma, the caretaker of the ancient plant god Urtzkartaga, takes her place after being told that she would gain immortality. Her powers are conferred to her by ingesting a combination of human blood and the berries or leaves of Urtzkartaga. Unfortunately for Minerva, the host of the Cheetah persona is intended to be a virgin. Minerva is not, so her transformations were part curse and part blessing, as she experiences severe pain and physical disability while in her human form and blood-thirsty euphoria while in her cat form.







(I think the best media portrayal of Minerva to date)


Let's discuss and appreciate!

[SiegePerilous02]

I really like Priscilla Rich, especially the Justice version, but Barbara Minerva has always beeen my favorite. Barring the Gotham City Sirens, she's probably my favorite female villain in DC Comics, and deserves better treatment than she's gotten in the past.

Her best stories (sadly a small amount):
Wonder Woman #9
Wonder Woman #28-31
Wonder Woman #186-187
Wonder Woman Annual #5
Adventures in the DC Universe #3
Secret Six #3
I guess we can toss Justice League #13-14 and #23.1 in there as well, though they're only impressive compared to the sea of crap she's appeared in from Rucka onward.

[Project Initiative Cascada]

I really like Priscilla Rich, especially the Justice version, but Barbara Minerva has always beeen my favorite. Barring the Gotham City Sirens, she's probably my favorite female villain in DC Comics, and deserves better treatment than she's gotten in the past.

Her best stories (sadly a small amount):
Wonder Woman #9
Wonder Woman #28-31
Wonder Woman #186-187
Wonder Woman Annual #5
Adventures in the DC Universe #3
Secret Six #3
I guess we can toss Justice League #13-14 and #23.1 in there as well, though they're only impressive compared to the sea of crap she's appeared in from Rucka onward.

Thanks for posting. I'll have to check out those issues. What do you think of New 52 Cheetah? Also despite never really being given proper justice, what's your favorite media portrayal of Barbara?

[SiegePerilous02]

Thanks for posting. I'll have to check out those issues. What do you think of New 52 Cheetah? Also despite never really being given proper justice, what's your favorite media portrayal of Barbara?

I think New 52 Cheetah is a lot of cool ideas on paper that weren't really executed properly. Not getting to see her friendship with Diana or her transformation and just getting dropped in after the fact was really annoying. I keep hoping Johns will revisit it and give us some flashbacks, especially now that he's finally gotten his head out of his ass when it comes to Diana herself. The Cult of Hippolyta stuff has some potential, but it kind of lays on the paralells between them a bit thick. Still, I like how her power level was respected in the JL story, and it was leaps and bounds ahead of what we were getting immediately pre-Flashpoint.

My favorite media portrayal is JL: Doom, mostly because Claudia Black is the perfect voice for her. Whenever we get the full cast list for the Wonder Woman movie, I'm hoping to see her on there too.