Woman Woman was never wondrous to being with. And I'm very grateful for the opportunity to teach you how to hurt her... 
- — Cheetah to the Bludhaven orphans src
Barbara Ann Minerva is the Cheetah, a feline-powered foe of Wonder Woman.[1]
History
During the global Anti-Life Virus outbreak, Cheetah joined forces with Vandal Savage among other notorious surviving super-villains, forming a league (dubbed by The Creeper as "Tree Lobsters") of their own amidst the techno-organic viral pandemic within Savage's base of operations, the volcanic terrain of Ball's Pyramid, in pursuit of outliving the apocalypse and inherit whatever's left on Earth.[1]
However, when an infected Wonder Woman had discovered and breached their headquarters, Cheetah and the rest of the Tree Lobsters were forced to escape the infiltrated Ball's Pyramid, fleeing through Mirror World into safety and arriving at a survivor-settled orphanage in Bludhaven, wherein the daughter of his teammate Lady Shiva, who is Cassandra Cain, was currently at the time with other survivors led by Commissioner Gordon. In dealing with the situation at hand, the surviving super-villains and the anti-heroes alike concurred to stay in the orphanage and band together against powered undead, like Wonder Woman, by training each and every orphan to both attack and defend themselves against the Anti-Living.
With their agreement to form the united Unkillables, Cheetah was responsibly tasked with teaching and training the orphans with her field in combat for over three months. One of her lessons even involved training the orphans on how to hurt Wonder Woman, her now infected archenemy. In the span of her time in the Bludhaven orphanage, Cheetah had developed a friendly bond and parent-like relationship with some of the surviving children, particularly an orphan by the name of Matilda, whom the latter even deemed Cheetah as a "good teacher," and a "good kitty," much to the former super-villain's annoyance yet amusement at the same time. However, on the night when the Anti-Living came to return within the orphanage in the form of an infected Mirror Master, who happened to be Cheetah's former teammate, the lives of every survivor at the orphanage was in jeopardy.[2]
When the orphanage itself was infiltrated by the Anti-Living through to the work of an infected Bane, the Unkillables went with their last resort of leaving Bludhaven and travelling to Gotham via the orphanage's school buses, seeking settlement in the safe Gotham Jungle. En route to the jungle, Cheetah was on a bus with Matilda when an infected Mirror Master returned to attack the passengers one by one, through the bus' mirrors and windows. Seeing Matilda almost get taken by her infected teammate, the agile and overprotective Cheetah sprang into the rescue as she punches her claws through his head, effectively killing him, thus saving the very orphan whom she took a liking at.
When the infected Woman Woman herself came to thwart the survivors from reaching the Gotham Jungle, a noble and determined Cheetah, along with Grundy and Creeper, engages in battle against the fallen superhero, in order to keep the survivors moving to their destination. While the three supervillains had proven themselves to be worthy combatants against the Anti-Living horde, not even their combined efforts were powerful enough to take down Wonder Woman for too long. In her last stand, the overwhelmed Cheetah had met her end when her own archenemy swiftly snapped her neck. Cheetah was the first one to fall, before Wonder Woman proceeds to clean off the remaining two.
Later on, a statue memorial of Minerva among the rest of the fallen Tree Lobsters were erected by the orphaned Bludhaven survivors themselves upon their arrival in the Gotham Jungle, as a way to honor their sacrifice. Despite living her life as a villain, Minerva was also fondly honored and remembered as a life savior, a family member, and a Tree Lobster, or in other simpler terms: a hero.[3]
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Abilities
Notes
- Barbara Minerva was created by Len Wein and George Perez, first appearing in Wonder Woman (Volume 2) #7 and Cheetah was created by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, first appearing in Wonder Woman #6. However, the DCeased version of Cheetah first appeared in DCeased: Unkillables #1 by by Tom Taylor and Karl Mostert.
Related
- 5 Appearances of Barbara Minerva (DCeased)
- 4 Images featuring Barbara Minerva (DCeased)
- 1 Quotations by or about Barbara Minerva (DCeased)
- Character Gallery: Barbara Minerva (DCeased)
Footnotes
  This character is or was primarily an enemy of Wonder Woman and the Amazons in any of her various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Wonder Woman Villains category." |