Profile
- Full Name: Deborah Domaine
- Also Known As: Debbi
- Alignment: Evil (Formerly Good)
- Height: 5′ 7″
- Weight: 122 lbs (55 kg)
- Eyes: Green
- Hair: Auburn
- Citizenship: American
- Marital Status: Single
- Affiliation: Former member of the Organization For Ecological Sanity; former member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains (Secret Society of Super-Villains II)
- Relatives: Priscilla Rich (aunt, deceased); Claudia Rich (aunt)
- Universe: Earth-One
- Base Of Operations: Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
- Place of Birth: Chesapeake Bay, Maryland
- Creators: Gerry Conway, William Moulton Marston
- First Appearance: Wonder Woman #274 (December, 1980)
- Last appearance: Crisis on Infinite Earths #9 (December, 1985)
Character Evolution
Deoborah “Debbi” Domaine is the second Cheetah of the Silver Age era and niece to Priscilla Rich, the first Cheetah. She was a kind, gentle woman who cared for the environment and showed no signs of hostility until one day she underwent a grueling experiment against her will. Debbi was transformed into a super villain with the desire to kill and became hellbent on protecting the environment–even if it meant killing people in the process. Debbi saw Wonder Woman as a threat to her cause and developed an excruciating hatred towards the Amazon.
As the Cheetah, Debbi showed no signs of humanity in her, nor any love for humanity in general. She would hiss, snarl, scratch and pounce like a real cheetah. She was once incarcerated in Arkham Asylum and the doctors tried to release her from her insanity but Kobra‘s brainwashing experiment was so effective that it erased her past memory- making her believe that she was a real cheetah.
“Don’t say that name! Debbi Domaine was a child! She didn’t know about the world’s evil, she didn’t understand how vile mankind could be… but I understand. Someone has to fight for life on this planet! The fight is mine!”
– The Cheetah II
Since her transformation, Debbi was never seen without her Cheetah costume and ears. She was a superb athlete with cat-like grace and a great hand-to-hand combatant. When enraged, her strength became almost superhuman. This, combined with the razor-sharp fingernails she possessed, capable of cutting through solid steel, made Debbi a formidable foe.
Origin
Deborah “Debbi” Domaine was a wealthy young woman who felt guilty about her wealth and attempted to make amends by joining an ecological extremist group called the Organization for Ecological Sanity. Their mission was to film and record evidence of natural disasters caused by men and distribute it to TV stations in order to spread the message. One day, she was filming a burning ship that caused a significant oil leak to the ocean when suddenly Wonder Woman appeared and doused the flames away. Debbi invited Wonder Woman for a shower in her yacht to clear the oil away from her body.
That evening, Debbi found herself summoned to the deathbed of her egocentric and reclusive aunt, Priscilla Rich. But before the dying old woman could reveal her deepest secret to Debbi, Priscilla Rich breathed her last. Recoiling from the sight of the dead woman, Debbi staggered back against a closet and was knocked unconscious by a mannequin that fell from within, a mannequin clad in a bizarre cat-like costume. In the last instants before darkness overcame her, Debbi saw a weird figure in a reptilian costume enter the room.
Debbi awakened to find herself prisoner in a hidden headquarters of the would-be world conqueror known as Kobra, hanging spread eagled from the ceiling of a room filled only with sophisticated projectors. Kobra had originally come for Priscilla, who had secretly been the super villain called the Cheetah, wanting to employ her in his plans, but now she was dead, he would need a substitute. Despite Debbi’s protests, Kobra filled the room with holographic images, hundreds of scenes, each worse than the one before; factories polluting air and water, tankers spilling oil, hunters killing helpless seals. These images were calculated to fill Debbi with fury, and combined with a series of electrical shocks they drove her insane. Released from her constraints and given a costume similar to that of her aunt, Debbi was told by Kobra that she was now the avenger of wronged nature: the Cheetah.
At Kobra’s command, the new Cheetah sabotaged a nearby dam in order to preserve the natural stream of the river and to drown the people that polluted the environment. This created a flood in the town beneath it. Wonder Woman assisted the military to save the townspeople only to be confronted by the Cheetah, who Wonder Woman immediately recognized as the woman who helped her out in the oil spill incident. Wonder Woman tried reasoning with the Cheetah to stop the ruckus but her plea fell on deaf ears. The Cheetah escaped with a small boat along with Wonder Woman’s Magic Lasso.
That night, Wonder Woman snuck into the Cheetah’s yacht, retrieved her lasso and battled the Cheetah once again. During the fight, Wonder Woman elbowed the thrusters by accident and caused the yacht to throttle into reverse. The yacht then collided with a big ferry and exploded on contact. Wonder Woman survived the accident and the Cheetah was nowhere to be found. Thinking she had died from the explosion, Kobra went on to pursue other evil schemes and no longer cared for her fallen agent. Because of this, the Cheetah was no longer under Kobra’s spell and was free to be an independent villain. That was the last time she and Kobra met.
Crisis on Infinite Earths event and Her Untimely Death
The Cheetah survived the explosion and sought refuge by the sea shore where the yacht incident took place. In the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, she was contacted by Killer Frost and Signalman who asked her to join the Secret Society of Super-Villains, which she agreed. The group soon increased by number with members like Ultra-Humanite, Floronic Man, Psycho-Pirate, the Monocle, Mist, Rag Doll and Brainwave. Their mission was to gather all the members of the Justice League of America of Earth-1 and members of the Justice Society of Earth-2, put them in a hibernation chamber called the Cosmic Centrifuge and place them inside a portal where they will be trapped in Limbo – which is the space between the two worlds, causing the superheroes to be trapped in time for eternity.
Convinced that the Amazon left her to die in the yacht, the Cheetah took on the mission of capturing Wonder Woman with delight. Her mission was a success and Wonder Woman was placed inside the chamber along with the other superheroes and was cast into the portal. Their plan was a success when suddenly, Ultra-Humanite revealed to the Secret Society that in order to conquer both worlds, they would need to eliminate the supervillains from Earth-1 as well, which consisted of the Cheetah, Killer Frost, Signalman and Floronic Man. Before the Earth-1 villains could retaliate, Ultra-Humanite zapped the four villains back to Earth-1. Furious, Killer Frost came up with the idea of locating the Cosmic Centrifuge inside the portal and destroy it so they may finally be free from good once and for all. Cheetah volunteered to destroy the chamber, but instead of killing the superheroes, she accidentally set them free. The superheroes re-entered the portal and sent Debbi and the rest of the Earth-1 and Earth-2 villains into Limbo, fading them out of existence.
Other Appearances
In Wonder Woman issue #323, the Cheetah kidnapped Etta Candy thinking she was Wonder Woman in disguise. The Cheetah brought Etta to meet Dr. Psycho, Silver Swan and Angle Man and convinced them that Etta Candy was Wonder Woman. With her hands tied, Etta noticed a machine that granted Dr. Psycho the ability to transform into his alter ego Captain Wonder. She quickly used the machine, transformed herself to Wonder Etta, attacked the four villains and knocked them out cold. Wonder Woman and the police arrived soon after and arrested the four villains.
The Cheetah made an appearance in Wonder Woman’s Secret Origins DC Mini Comics issue but only in the front cover and not the storyline. The Cheetah also made an appearance in a children’s storybook called Wonder Woman in Prowl of the Cheetah as the main antagonist.
Continuation
After being stuck in Limbo, Debbi was never heard from again. Rather than bringing her back in later issues, DC Comics instead replaced her with a new Cheetah called Barbara Ann Minerva. Being trapped in time for eternity, Debbi’s fate remains unknown although it is speculated that she is living in a different world, still alive and presumably has retired from her evil persona. There is a photo in Priscilla Rich’s mansion inscribed “Aunt Priscilla, Love Debbie,” indicating that Debbi is still alive but in a different world. Appearing in less than ten issues (including the Who’s Who Directory), Debbi is the least popular Cheetah and has a smaller number of appearances than both Priscilla and Minerva. DC Comics rarely acknowledged her existence and as a result, she was not included or even mentioned in Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to The Amazon Princess book nor any of the DC Comics Encyclopedias (The 2004 print and the 2008’s updated print), but she was mentioned in the Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia.
Debbi is, however, used in merchandise ranging from coloring books, magnets, T-shirts, handbags, toys, etc., far more than the other Cheetahs.
New 52
Barbara Ann Minerva is the only Cheetah. She has gone by the alias of Deborah Domaine and has the same hair color.