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As a result of the New 52 in 2011, the entire line of DC characters was relaunched, incorporating properties belonging to the company's imprints: Wildstorm, Milestone, and Vertigo. As such, elements of this character's history have been altered in some way from the previous incarnation. For a complete list of all versions of this character, see our disambiguation page. |
- With men I know what to expect. An initial spurt of bravura teamed in the end with cowardice. Even the best of men are driven by--at most--two or three desires. Easily manipulated. Like putty, but with too much hair. But women... women are as baffling and as dangerous to each other as we are to man. You can make no predictions on what we will do next, who we might crush... Who we might love.
- — Circe src
Circe the Weaver is a powerful immortal witch and long-time enemy of Wonder Woman and the Amazons of Paradise Island. Among her numerous magical powers, the best known since mythological times is to transform people into animal hybrids, her Ani-Men.
History
Origin
Circe was a princess of Colchis in the Caucasus region. It was said that she was the daughter of the Sun himself and that her radiance was a gift to man. That her beauty had no parallel. She was wedded to the heir to one of the wealthiest kingdoms in the Caucasus, but he was a brute, drunk, and liar man, so she saw him as an animal, and finally killed him. Then, chased by the prince's family, Circe fled Colchis, and after sailing alone for days and nights, surviving hunger and thirst, she landed on an island where she met the goddess Hecate, who revealed that she had come to her answering her prayers full of spite.[2]
Hecate bestowed upon Circe the witchmark, one-fifth of her immortal soul, granting her mastery of magic by which she could fulfill her desire to impose her will and her power, taking revenge on all who had wronged her. And so began the legend of the witch Circe.[2]
It is said in legend that Circe is the most beautiful woman who has ever lived. She, powered by immeasurable magic, influenced the world of men from afar. She was mighty, indeed, but somewhere along the way, Circe lost her very soul (long ago, she traded her soul to a dimension of Hell). And no matter how many spells she cast thereafter, how hard she searched, she could not regain it.[5]
She achieved the pinnacle this world could offer in the 2nd Century BCE, over two thousand years ago. The planet's colors would fade gradually ever after. She was empty, no matter what new beauty was offered. And she swore to regain that which she had lost. She used her magic to open portal after portal, searching. For decades... centuries, even. She knew that somewhere out there, a portal existed that would offer her soul back to her. She just had to find it. No matter how she has tried over millenia, she has never been able to break through the barrier to regain it. And the Pandora Pits are that barrier, and she was willing to sacrifice the world to breach it. She wanted what she could not have via corporeal means. But magic can break any barrier eventually, if the sacrifice is large enough.[5]
Feud with Wonder Woman
Circe's search for her soul was interrupted by the arrival of the Amazon Diana into the world which motivated the twin sons of Ares, Deimos and Phobos, to kidnap the child of the influential multi-millionaire Veronica Cale so that they could coercer her into their service. In response Cale and her ally Doctor Cyber summoned Circe and made a deal with the sorceress to trap Deimos and Phobos in an attempt to rescue Cale's daughter. To enact the plan, Circe met Diana for the first time, greeting her in the Amazon tongue but also murdering several nearby soldiers before her. Baffled and offended by Circe's knowledge and disregard for the Amazons' ways, Diana ensnared Circe with her Lasso in response to the witch's goading. Circe was not compelled by the Lasso to tell the truth however, and instead used its powers to cast a spell on Deimos and Phobos who were meeting Cale at the time, binding the twin gods to the bodies of two dogs prepared nearby. While her plan had so far been successful Circe discovered that Cale's daughter was not in the twin's Soulstone as she had believed and instead deduced that she was held prisoner with Ares on Themyscira. Refusing to risk freeing the God of War, Circe apologised to Cale and ended their partnership to find her daughter.
Now once more able to return to the Pandora Pits, Circe devised a plan to breach the pits by offering the souls of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman to breach teh pits and regain her soul. She attempted to manipulate Lex Luthor and Ra's al Ghul into aiding her by faking a prophecy, while Luthor was unconvinced Ra's al Ghul remained with the belief that the Pandora Pits would grant him an army of demons with which he could conquer the world. Circe and Ra's managed to ensnare not just Superman, Wonder Woman but also the heroes Zatanna and Deadman but were stopped by Batman and the Amazon Artemis. Realising Circe was merely manipulating him, Ra's al Ghul turned on the sorceress by stabbing her and pushing Circe into a Pandora Pit. While Circe feared that she would drown in the pits, Wonder Woman dived in after her and pulled both of them out with her Lasso of Truth.
Wonder Woman would later meet with Circe in New Orleans during Mardi Gras and strike a deal with witch to free her ally Barbara Ann from the curse of the Cheetah. In exchange Circe would receive Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth. While Circe successfully managed to bind Barbara Ann she was unable to lift her curse as Barbara Ann refused to consent. As the ritual was a failure Circe decided to return the Lasso of Truth to Wonder Woman and did her best to comfort her old enemy, much to Wonder Woman's surprise. Circe simply stated that it was no fun 'kicking someone when they're down'.
The Witching Hour
When the ancient interdimensional being known as the Upside-Down Man started to 'devour' all magic in the world and distract the magical community, Circe manipulated her patron Hecate into reconquering the magical world through the use of her Witchmarks. Unbeknownst to Hecate, Circe believed the attack would kill her patron as well as the other four bearers of the Witchmarks, one of which was her enemy Diana, leaving Circe as the sole inheritor of all Hecate's power.
During Heacte's conquest of Nanda Parbat and the Parliament of Trees, Diana discovered her own Witchmark and went to Aeaea with her allies in the Justice League Dark to plead Circe to help her with Hecate's Witchmark. Circe feigned compassion for Diana's predicament but concealed the fact she herself had a Witchmark, and taught Diana how to 'use' the power of the marks so that she could fight Hecate. While initially helpful this eventually led to Diana being possessed by Hecate and she launched an attack on Mount Olympus. By this time the other three bearers of the Witchmarks had all either died or been exorcised, ridding them of the marks, meaning that all of Hecate's power, save for the fifth within Circe, had amassed in the Hecate controlled Diana. With this knowledge Circe summoned the Justice League Dark and the former Witchmark bearers to Aeaea where she persuaded them that the only way to stop Hecate was to kill Diana and sent them to Olympus to battle the goddess. Circe's plan was only partially successful however, as Diana managed to regain control of her body and used the power of the Witchmarks to kill Hecate by feeding her to the Upside-down Man.
While Diana survived the affair her connection to the Witchmarks was broken and with Hecate dead, Circe secretly inherited all the goddess's power, declaring herself the new Goddess of Magic. She was later visited by Diana and Zatanna on Aeaea and helped them to find the Chaos Sorcerer Mordru in their search to defeat the rouge Lord of Order, Doctor Fate. After Dr Fate was defeated Circe went about building her own League, at the suggestion of Lex Luthor, to challenge Diana's Justice League Dark.
Injustice League Dark
Circe built her team by recruiting the witchdoctor Papa Midnite, the zombie Solmon Grundy, a plant creature called theFloronic Man and the necromancer Klarion the Witchboy. With her new League Circe would quickly gained control of the Parliament of Flowers and the Necropolis which Hecate had built to rule over the magical centres of life and death.
Despite already inheriting the power of Hecate, Circe wanted to finish her conquest of all magic by acquiring the ancient spirit Eclipso that was created by the gods to counter Hecate's power, as a sort of replacement Upside-Down Man. Eclipso, however, was trapped within a black diamond that was in the custody of the Justice League Dark and so Circe co-ordinated their destruction with her followers from the Injustice League Dark, swiftly neutralizing Swamp Thing and Man-Bat before the Justice League Dark even realised they were under attack. In response Diana risked using Eclipso's diamond to enter the spirit plane of the Moon, which had previously housed Heacte's subconscious, in an attempt to stem the source of Circe's newfound powers. Diana was unsuccessful however as Circe managed to ambush her and take control of her body, trapping her once more on the moon plane.
In possession of Diana's body Circe led an attack on the Justice League Dark's headquarters, depowering Detective Chimp and resurrecting the great dragon Darkul Karfang who had been killed by Diana many years prior. Before Circe could free Eclipso, Diana regained control of her body by making a deal with the Upside-Down Man which also returned to her some of Hecate's which she used to re-slay Drakul Karfang and battle Circe. The turn of events caused half of Circe's Injustice League Dark to flee and the other half to surrender although Circe herself still fought on against Diana, stabbing her with Eclipso's diamond which allowed the spirit to invade Diana. Before Eclipso could fully possess Diana her ally Khalid Nassour reluctantly took up the mantel of Dr Fate and helped Diana use Eclipso's power in tandem with Hecate's to restore Detective Chimp and Man-bat as well as defeat Circe.
Rather than destroy Circe, Diana create a mirror-like prison for her and gave her the magic powers of Hecate and Eclipso that Circe sought so. Diana explained she had done so to prove to Circe that the magical power would not fulfil the emptiness she felt within herself and that while Circe could keep the magic she could not wield it against anyone. Circe's mirror prison was then stored in the Justice League Dark headquarters with Diana believing she could one day trust Circe to be relied upon and use her power to defeat the Upside-down Man.
Whilst imprisoned in the mirror, Circe used her power to great a garden like sanctuary and found some peace in caring for the wildlife she had created there. Eventually Circe would be called upon by Diana to use Hecate's power to trap the spirit of the Upside-Down Man, while Circe feared it may have meant the destruction of her garden and its residents that she created, she ultimately helped to imprison the Upside-Down Man. Whether her sanctuary survived or not is unknown.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Magic: Being an ancient witch, Circe has access to great magical sources, her magic is so strong that even the gods fear her and respect her powers.
- Chronokinesis: Circe can freeze temporal reality for a bit and pull her and others out of the moment.[6]
- Flight[4]
- Geokinesis: Circe was able to form a rock imprisonment around Wonder Woman.[7]
- Immortality: Circe has lived for millenia without aging past her prime years.
- Magic Blasts: Circe can fire destructive magical energy blasts.
- Magic Shields
- Portal Opening[5]
- Possession: She could possess Wonder Woman, being able to speak and act through her.[2]
- Projective Animal Metamorphosis: Circe is able to transform men into animals which she calls Ani-Men. These Ani-Men are subject to Circe's will.[7]
- Shape-Shifting: Circe was able to take the form of an elderly woman, as well as changing her skin tone and hairs style. When performing her "villain" act she changes her hair color to bright red and her skin color to pale white.[8] She can also use the appearance of a young woman with short red hair and purple eyes.
- Teleportation: Circe can easily teleport herself over long distances with a single thought, as well as opening multiple doorways for others to use in travelling form one side of the world to another.[9][1]
- Transformation: Circe can grant life to inanimate beings, such as gargoyles and grotesques.[10]
Abilities
- Deception
- Leadership: She is the leader of the Injustice League Dark.
- Occultism: Circe is both ancient and powerful in many fields of magic, she is therefore extremely knowledgeable on the topic of the occult.
Weaknesses
- Power Limitation: When Circe becomes to debilitated to fight she turns into a sleeping kitten.[11]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
Notes
- This character or object is an adaptation of Circe, a character or object in traditional stories. These include, but may not be limited to religious texts, myth, and/or folk lore. More information on the original can be found at Wikipedia.org.
- Circe was first adapted for DC Comics by Robert Kanigher and Harry G. Peter and debuted in Pre-Crisis Earth-Two continuity in Wonder Woman #37. She first appeared in Post-Flashpoint Prime Earth continuity in Men of War (Volume 2) #2 by Ivan Brandon and Tom Derenick.
Related
- 49 Appearances of Circe (Prime Earth)
- 30 Images featuring Circe (Prime Earth)
- 11 Quotations by or about Circe (Prime Earth)
- Character Gallery: Circe (Prime Earth)
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Justice League Dark and Wonder Woman: The Witching Hour #1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #17
- ↑ Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #18
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Men of War (Volume 2) #2
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Trinity (Volume 2) #14
- ↑ Justice League Dark (Volume 2) #9
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Superman/Wonder Woman #16
- ↑ Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #56
- ↑ Superman/Wonder Woman #15
- ↑ Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #1
- ↑ Wonder Woman (Volume 6) #5
- ↑ Wonder Woman/Tasmanian Devil Special #1
Wonder Woman Villain(s)
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." |
Justice League Villain This character is or was primarily an enemy of the Justice League, in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Justice League Villains." |
Injustice League member |