Dark Angel (DC Comics)
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Dark Angel is a DC Comics villain who battled Wonder Woman. She is a wandering spirit who inhabited the body of Baroness Paula von Gunther during World War II. Recently it was revealed that Dark Angel, was in fact the Donna Troy of Earth-Seven, saved from certain death by the Anti-Monitor.
Baroness Paula von Gunther originally debuted in Sensation Comics #4. Dark Angel debuted in Wonder Woman #131 (Vol. 2).
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[edit] Character History
[edit] Pre-Crisis
Baroness Paula von Gunther first appeared as a foe of Wonder Woman. She battled the Amazon numerous times as an agent of the Gestapo. She murdered many individuals, kept a small group of women as personal slaves, tortured them routinely, was for a time the leader of all Gestapo operations in the United States, forced American citizens into becoming Nazi spies, and once tried to monopolize America's milk supply so that its people would have weak bones and fall before the stronger-boned Nazis.
Von Gunther went to trial, but Wonder Woman acted as her defense and got her off on a technicality. The Baroness had already been tried once and found guilty and even executed (Sensation Comics #7) and double jeopardy prevented her from being tried for those crimes again.
Eventually, she was rehabilitated by Wonder Woman and became the Amazon's chief scientist on Paradise Island. Her biggest contribution was the creation of the Purple Ray.
[edit] Post-Crisis
Following the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, it is revealed that Baroness Paula von Gunther was the human host for the evil wandering spirit, Dark Angel.
The bringer of doom known as Dark Angel has long bedevilled humans foolish enough to summon her. During World War II, Nazi occult mistress Baroness Paula von Gunther called forth this wandering evil spirit, who then took over Von Gunther's body and attacked Wonder Woman and the Justice Society with her mythical might.
Hippolyta battled Dark Angel on many occasions, and eventually Dark Angel appeared on Themyscira. She intended to kidnap Princess Diana, but instead kidnapped her magical double. She forced the double (whom she thought was Diana) to live thousands of lifetimes, each one ending in tragedy. She hoped the cumulative effect would drive Hippolyta insane. Instead, the double was able to grow stronger, and finally became an independent entity now known as Donna Troy.
Donna Troy was able to defeat Dark Angel, and at some point Dark Angel separated herself from von Gunther. The Baroness was last seen living among the Amazons.
[edit] Return of Donna Troy
In the Return of Donna Troy mini-series, Donna Troy discovered that her sworn enemy of the past, Dark Angel, was in fact the Donna Troy of Earth-Seven, saved from certain death by the Anti-Monitor, as the Monitor had saved Harbinger, who was yet another alternate counterpart. When the Multiverse was reconfigured in one single Universe, Dark Angel, who had somehow escaped the compression of every Donna Troy into one single person in the new Earth, sought to kill her (every life she forced her to relive was in fact an aspect of an alternate Donna) as a way to avoid the merging and remain the last one standing. When she was defeated, Donna became the real sum of every Donna Troy that existed on every Earth, a living key to the lost Multiverse.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
Pre-Crisis, Paula von Gunther had no super powers but was a skilled hand-to-hand combatant.
Post-Crisis, Dark Angel has vast powers and is able to perform a variety of feats including mind control, altering her size, teleportation and altering the time stream.
[edit] Appearances in Other Media
Baroness Paula von Gunther appeared on Wonder Woman. She was played by Christine Belford.
