Circe (comics)
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Circe is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe, centered in the Wonder Woman title. She is based on the Greek mythological character of the same name.
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[edit] History
[edit] Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths
In the original DC Comics continuity (prior to the Crisis on Infinite Earths), Circe is a centuries-old enchantress who is kept young by an elixir called vitae. It is made from a special combination of plants and herbs. While living on the island Aeaea, Circe gains magical powers. Circe is very skilled at turning men into any animal resembling their personality, and the only people who escaped her powers are Odysseus and Plastic Man. Circe hears from an oracle that the daughter of Hippolyta will be her undoing. Infuriated, Circe tries to destroy Wonder Woman, but fails. (Wonder Woman vol. 1 #37)
A woman claiming to be a descendant of the original Circe later appears and gives Superman an evolution serum, which temporarily transforms him into a partial lion. Realizing the serum contains Kryptonite, Superman theorizes the original Circe may have been from Krypton. (Action Comics #243)
In ancient times, Circe is responsible for changing Biron the centaur into a horse and later gives him super-powers as Comet the Super-Horse. She is depicted as more heroic during her appearances with Comet and Supergirl (Action Comics #293, 311, 323, 331) She also has encounters with Lois Lane and Lana Lang, and battles Rip Hunter, who meets her during his time travels. (Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #13, 39, 40; Showcase #21)
Later, Saturn Woman (a version of Saturn Girl from an alternate timeline) poses as Circe as part of Superman’s plan to defeat the Superman Revenge Squad. (Superman vol. 1 #165)
During one of Circe's last attacks, Wonder Woman destroys the herbs that make her immortal. Circe begins to age normally and is last seen aiding a group of sorcerers, who are trying to defeat the Anti-Monitor. (Wonder Woman vol. 1 #302, 305, 312-314; Crisis on Infinite Earths #9, 12)
[edit] Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman and Superman are rebooted. All of Circe's prior continuity is erased and she is reintroduced with a revamped history.
[edit] Greek mythology background
Circe is the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Perseis. Circe is a goddess-level witch and former princess of Colchis. A beautiful, violet-haired, red-eyed sorceress, she is known for turning people into animals (which are called Beastimorphs), as well as for powers of mind-control. Circe has been a devoted follower of the goddess Hecate for thousands of years. She has lived on the island of Aeaea where she became a powerful being in both magic and in influence over portions of man's world. During his adventure to her island, Circe fell in love with Odysseus and bore him three sons: Agrius, Latinus, and Telegonus.
Though Circe's patron goddess Hecate was an offspring of the Titans, she was not considered one of the main Twelve Olympians. Zeus gave her much respect, but she didn't hold much favor with others on Olympus. As such she married the god Hades, but their marriage didn't last and Hecate was demoted as handmaiden to her former husband's new wife. Because of this she left the realm of the gods and agreed to render her soul to her most devoted servant Circe. This caused Circe to attain her current massive level of power and immortality.
[edit] Beginning of her relationship with Wonder Woman
When Circe learned of Wonder Woman, she became fearful that her power could potentially end. This was because when Hecate transferred her soul she said the words: Upon the death of witch and the birth of witch, Hecate, by name and choice, shall repossess her soul. In Circe's mind, as Wonder Woman's name is Diana, this meant that she had the potential to take Hecate's power from her. This was because Hecate, in addition to being goddess of witchcraft, was also a goddess of the moon. As Diana's name is also a name of a moon goddess, Circe felt she must destroy her. Once Diana learned this fact as well, she felt opposite, not wanting to destroy Circe as she didn't want the soul of Hecate possessing her body. This began the long love/hate relationship between Diana and Circe over several years.
[edit] Amazon betrayal
After the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall lost their Egyptian city at the hands of Diana's gods, they turned to Circe for revenge. In exchange for their servitude, she promised to give them immortality and a new home. They aided Circe in the War of the Gods storyline, causing the world to look at Amazons in general in a bad light. Circe apparently perished in the climax of the war, and her later return has never been truly explained. True to her word though, Circe granted the Bana-Mighdallian Amazons immortality and teleported them to Themyscira in order for them to take over the island for themselves. Unfortunately for them though, after this was done Circe eventually showed her hatred for all Amazons by betraying the alliance she had with the desert Amazons and cast the island and all its inhabitants into a dimension of demons. Thus both tribes of Amazons spent several years battling demons for their own survival. When Diana discovered what the witch had done, she forced Circe to return the island back to its original location after losing a bet with the Amazon.
This is not the first time Circe has lost a bet to Wonder Woman and was forced to cancel a spell made against her. Circe previously caused Queen Hippolyta to forget who she was and instead embrace the false life of a domestic housewife. Circe told Diana that if she could get Hippolyta to drink the antidote she would call off her attack. Diana was successful and Circe showed herself honorable once more by reversing all magical effects as promised.
[edit] Donna Milton
One attempt Circe made in trying to destroy Diana involved a disguise as a mortal lawyer Donna Milton. In this persona she could get close enough to Diana in order to kill her when her defenses were low. Afraid Diana would see through her disguise with her power of truth, Circe cast a spell on herself. The spell made Circe believe that she actually was Donna Milton and her true persona would only return when Donna could strike. As Donna Milton she was hired by the mobster Ares Buchanan, who was really the god Ares in disguise himself. During their time together they formed a romantic relationship and Donna became pregnant. As Donna, Circe actually became a good friend of Diana and ended up saving her life from Ares. He was sucked into a mini-blackhole while Donna went into labor. No longer working for Ares, Donna gave birth to her daughter Lyta and became Diana's lawyer at her and Micah Rains' new detective agency. When the Amazon Artemis single-handedly battled the White Magician, Diana realized that Donna was actually Circe and begged her to help transport her to Artemis' side. Not believing Diana and hurt that her friend would think her to be a villain, Donna yelled at Diana to leave and subconsciously teleported Diana to Artemis. Shocked, Circe's memories slowly began coming back to her. Still possessing some of Donna's false memories, she teleported herself to Diana in order to help her in her battle. Unfortunately she was not on top of her game as she still had ties to her Donna Milton body, and the White Magician wasn't affected by her magical attacks. She used the remainder of her power to save Diana by teleporting herself, a demonically altered Cheetah and Cassandra Arnold, a television reporter and the White Magicican's lover, away from the battle, leaving her last words to Diana be "You're my only friend Diana". This is the last we see of Diana's friend Donna Milton.
[edit] New York takeover
Circe at one time also tried to take over New York City. Her scheme involved the transformation of all male superheroes into her beastimorphs. As the only persons who weren't affected by the spell were women, many female superheroes entered the city in an attempt to save their friends and stop the witch's plan. However Circe had planned for such a rescue and convinced the female members of various supervillain communities to join forces and stop the heroes by any means necessary. She was joined in this endeavor by the male Cheetah Sebastian Ballesteros (who remained unaffected by Circe's spell and had become Circe's temporary lover) and the newly transformed Silver Swan Vanessa Kapatelis. Leading the pack against Circe was Wonder Woman, who Circe also expected, sending a Doomsday altered Superman to battle her. Ultimately Circe was unsuccessful in her plan as a majority of the female heroes were able to change back their male super-powered friends with the use of the herb Moly, which has a tendency of disrupting Circe's magic.
[edit] Expanded horizons
Circe formed part of the Injustice Gang gathered by Lex Luthor, alongside with the Joker, Dr. Light and the Ocean Master. She previously proposed both a business and romantic relationship with Luthor, which he immediately shot down.
Recently Circe's daughter Lyta was kidnapped by her father Ares while under the protection of the Amazons on Themyscira. Confronting Ares, she soon discovered that the time of the gods was at a crossroads and joined Ares as his consort as the new ruler of Tartarus. Thus, Lyta is currently being cared for by both of her parents, reunited.
[edit] One Year Later
Circe was revealed to be the source behind the new upgrades to Wonder Woman's rogue gallery, increasing their power "beyond their wildest imaginings." Diana was captured by Circe after she transformed Hercules into a Minotaur-esque beast. Speaking of how Diana gave up her mantle to be human instead of saving the REAL victims, it is assumed that she took Diana's powers. On the last page of Issue 3, she has an altered Wonder Woman styled costume, and Diana is bleeding from the mouth.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Circe is a goddess-level sorceress and as such is immortal. She is able to transform reality and matter through spells. Among other things, she can alter minds, fire destructive magical energy blasts, create illusions, disappear or transform objects and beings. Her "signature move" is transforming men into various animals.
[edit] Appearances in other media
- Circe appears in the animated series Justice League Unlimited, appearing in the episode "This Little Piggy". In the show, she liberally displays her powers of transforming humans and other objects into animals, most notably turning Wonder Woman into a pig, and transforming Batman's batarangs into doves. The storyline here is that she was an old enemy of Wonder Woman's mother. Upon being released from imprisonment in Hades decided to get her revenge against Hippolyta by turning Diana into a pig (one of the terms of her release was that she could not attack Hippolyta directly). She agrees to turn Wonder Woman back after Batman sings "Am I Blue?" in front of an audience. Circe was voiced by actress Rachel York. Her appearance also included a minor allusion to the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz.
- A variation of Circe appeared in the 1988 Superman animated series, in the episode "Superman and Wonder Woman versus the Sorceress of Time." In the episode a similar sorceress named Cyrene attacked Themyscira in the hopes of gaining The Globe of Darkness, which they protected. Cyrene, like Circe, was also tied to ancient Greece and transformed beings into mythological creatures as well as conjour them.
