The Cheetah (July 23, 1943) This Day In Comics

The Cheetah is often considered to be the archenemy of Wonder Woman. The first woman to become the Cheetah, in Wonder Woman #6 (July 23, 1943), is Priscilla Rich, a 1940s-era blonde Washington, D.C. debutante of aristocratic upbringing who also has an overwhelming inferiority complex and suffers from a split personality.

After being eclipsed by Wonder Woman at a charity event and failing to kill her during an escapology act, Priscilla retreats to her room and collapses before her makeup mirror. There she sees an image of a woman dressed like a cheetah. “Horrors!” she cries, as she gazes at her evil inner-self for the first time. “Don’t you know me?” replies the reflection. “I am the REAL you—the Cheetah—a treacherous, relentless huntress!” The image commands her to fashion a Cheetah costume from a cheetah-skin rug. “From now on,” intones the reflection, “when I command you, you shall go forth dressed like your TRUE self and do as I command you…” The Cheetah frames Wonder Woman for a robbery by hiding the money in her apartment and tipping off the police, then sets fire to a warehouse Wonder Woman is in, although Wonder Woman escapes. Cheetah survives and goes on to menace Wonder Woman in subsequent stories.